Choices
by Mystic25
Summary: UPDATE CHAPTER 28 SUMMARY: Jessie finally asks Max about her past
1. Default Chapter

From: "Veronica Bowles"  Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 14:24:07 -0400 Subject: New Post Source: direct Title: Choices Author: Mystic25 E-mail: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com Distribution: Archive, as long as my name is kept on it Genres: Story/Angst/Romance Relationships: Max/Logan Romance, Kendra/Max/Cindy friendship Bling/Logan friendship Max/Bling friendship Content Warning: violence, swearing, adult situations, and images of child experimentation(basically that means Max's memories from Manticore) Keywords Alternative unniverse Rating: PG Spoliers: takes place around "The Kidz are Aiight" Summary: After an encounter with Logan Max is pregnant. How do they deal with it? Author's note: Some of the 'Manticore' history may not be 100% accurate, also I changed some of it around to fit the storyline..but the important ideas are still there ***** 10:30 a.m. The loud noises coming from the street was what woke Max up. She opened her eyes and did a double take. This wasn't her apartment. This wasn't her bed. She became more awake as she saw the sleeping form of someone next to her.  she rephrased the question in her mind. Heat. That every four month, full moon bitch that made her want to get it on with anything male that was warm blooded. She hated it, feeling like a trashy fifty cent whore every time her animal chromosomes wanted her to pass on her Alpha genes. She quietly inched her way over to the bed's other occupant, she needed to see who she had "chosen" in her feverous passion to mate.  That was the first thought that came to her mind as she gazed at Logan, still asleep beside her. He looked so innocent, like a little boy. And he was obviously nude under that cotton blue sheet. Come to think of it...  she said mentally, checking herself.  Further evidence to this revelation lay strewn about Logan's hardwood floor. A pair of jeans, a blue ribbed man's sweater, her own black tank and leather pants.  she remarked with a small smirk. Flashes of the night suddenly came to her <"You're so beautiful Max" his voice was husky, "I never thought I could do this again" He kissed her and wrapped a leg around hers> Wait, back that up...he used his *leg*..but that can't be. She looked around for his wheel chair, but didn't find it.Another memory filtered it's way into her mind. <"I can't believe this" she cried enthusiastically launching herself at him> <"Neither can I" he hugged her back "But here I am, or rather here I *stand*"> Now she remembered everything. He had recovered, was able to walk again, and had surprised her with dinner, which turned into *other* things later. She had told him that she was in Heat, but he said that he didn't care, that if this was what she needed every four months, who was he to deny it. <"But, it won't be *real* emotion Logan, I'll just be responding to instinct" she said while trying to contain her treacherous hormones> <"Don't you get it Max?" he held her face in his hands "I *do* have emotions for you, and I know that you do also, and after this cycle is over I will still be here for you"> He had sounded so sincere, so reassuring that she had given in, let him give her what she needed, and what he wanted. And after that memory, came a bolt of realization that struck her like a blow to the gut by one of Lydeker's goons. Fuck! she was in Heat, and she *gave* in. She had never given in, always being strong enough to ward off the urges, because she knew of the consequences. She jumped out of the bed and raced towards the bathroom. She retched, again, and again until there was nothing left but noxious stomach acid, and when she was done she slid, exhausted to the floor. "Max, are you okay?" Logan's voice came through the door of the bathroom "Yea" she called out with more reassurance then she felt. Her mind was racing as well as her heart, and her stomach ached from all that heaving. Logan came through the door, obviously unconvinced. He kneeled by her on the floor. He took in her appearance, of her sweat soaked hair, and pale face. "What happened?" "Nothing" she replied "Something I ate just didn't agree with me" She stood up, wincing as she did, and then realizing that she was still naked, she yanked a towel around her body. She walked back on shaky legs to the bedroom and retrieved her clothes off the floor. Logan had disappeared, and now came back with a damp cloth. He took her hand and made her sit down, and she followed him, without argument. "You sure you're okay? you look pretty crappy" Logan asked again, wiping her face with the cloth. "I'm *fine*" she spat back. He just shot her a look, setting the cloth down. There was an uneasy silence that hung about them. Max pulled some lint off the towel that she wrapped around herself, and Logan re-adjusted the sash on his robe. "So about last night" Logan began, but Max interjected "If this is one of those 'I'm sorry, but it was just a one time deal' speeches, spare me now" she said with an assertive tone. Logan shook his head "I wasn't going to say that, I was *going* to say that it was incredible, and if you do THAT every time you're in Heat then you came hide out here all the time" he finished his remark with a smile. Max didn't reply at first, she was to busy thinking. _ She looked back up. Logan was still waiting for a response. She didn't have one. "Hate to screw and run, but I have to get to work" she stood and went to get dressed, leaving Logan sitting there. ***** Upper Seattle Women's Health Center One Week Later 11:30 a.m.  Max noted sitting on the examine bench in the shitty little paper gown they made her put on. She glanced back at the clock for about the twentieth time in five minutes _ The doctor told her it would only be a minute, and that was forty minutes ago. She was already late for work. Normal was going to blow a gasket, if he hadn't done so already. The door to the room opened, and the doctor came back in. "Sorry that took so long" she apologized walking up to Max "I had to see another patient who re-scheduled at the last minute"  Max fumed to herself, but said to the doctor: "I understand" She fell silent, unable to think of the right words to use for her next statement, but finally decided on: "Am I knocked up?" It seemed like forever, but it was actually three seconds later when the OB/GYN responded "Yes, the test was positive" Max let the information seep in. She was pregnant. There was a baby growing inside her, LOGAN'S child, and she was terrified. She had successfully avoided him all week. Coming over only when necessary, this put a terrible strain on their relationship, but she need space to think. "You're only about seven days along, so right now I can't tell you anything other then that the embryo is healthy" the OB told her  she mused. "Can I go now?" her tone was edgy, she wanted to get out of this place. "Yes" the doctor responded, and handed her a pill bottle "This is an iron supplement, take it twice a day, and avoid things like asbestos, cat hair, these can harm the developing embryo" "Doctor" Max began in her 'you-don't-know-shit-tone' "In case you haven't realized, it's a crappy, dirt ridden world out there, how can I avoid stuff like that when it's just one big land fill outside?" The doctor looked at her for a long moment before speaking "Ms. Guevara, I am fully aware of what life is like out in Seattle's 'real world', and I *know* about all that "stuff" as you like to call it, but for the health of your baby, you will just have to take extra care" her tone was like that of a exasperated mother telling her child that the sky was NOT purple, it was blue. "Fine I'll do that" Max spat out snatching the pill bottle from her.She collected her clothes from where they lay on a table. "Do you want me to run a paternity test?" the doctor's tone made her turn back around.  Max's thought's were angry. She knew *excatly* what the doctor was getting at, that she slept around, basically that she was putting all those girls on the streets out of business "No that's all right" she responded coyly "I'm sure I haven't crossed paths with any of you're married lovers" She spun back around and went to get changed, ignoring the doctor's enraged look.  Max slammed the door to the ladies room She yanked her clothes back on, her thoughts were racing. _ she decided suddenly.  She pulled the navy blue sweater over her head, and smoothed her hair down. She exited the room, and walked out the building. ***** Jam Pony X-Press 12:40 p.m. "Well well, you finally decided to show" Normal said to Max as she peddled her way into the building on her bike "To what do we owe the privilege of you lateness?" "I had business" was all Max said as she dropped the bike in a heap on the floor. Normal just looked at her "The only 'business' you have is here, with me" he said to her. "Normal, leave my girl alone" Original Cindy told him straight up "So she's a little late, people have LIVES" Cindy crossed her arms, daring him to say anything more. As usual Normal was up to the challenge. "No, you use to have lives,*now* you have jobs, and next time I want comments from the peanut gallery, I'll but some Planters" he paused and looked at Max "Next time I'm gonna start deducting your pay for every minute you're late" "Whatever" Max muttered under her breath. She walked over to where Cindy was siting on an over turned crate. "So what's the dealio girl?" Cindy asked looking up at her "You've been actin' weird all week" her voice was that of a concerned friend. "I just have allot on my mind" Max answered truthfully. She flipped an old office chair around and sat, resting her chin on the back. "Things okay between you and Rich?" Original asked "I guess" Max shrugged Cindy pounced on her "What does that mean? either you're in pixie land, or you're bitchin', ya know what I'm sayin'? There's not much of an in between'" "Okay, I haven't spoken to him in a week" Max answered. "See, Original Cindy knows what she's talkin'' about" Cindy said, scoring one for herself. Max just rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant, we TALKED, just not on a-" she paused, searching for the right phrase "deeper level" "Oh, I hear ya" Cindy stated. "Max, this one's yours" Normal shouted at her. Max groaned in annoyance and walked up to him. He handed her a package. "It's headed for Indigo Valley" "Ooo.." Max shook the box "I bet it's drugs" "We don't worry, about the contents, we just deliver the stuff" Normal told her. Max sighed and retrieved her bike. "Wait up chica" Cindy called out "I'll go with you" "You're working remember?" Normal interrupted "I'm taking a break 'kay?" Cindy glowered, and Normal was actually silent. ***** "Thank you for using Jam Pony" Max said with over coated sweetness to the tall black man, who accepted the package. He slammed the door in her face. "Same to you pal" she sneered and walked down the rickety wooden steps that led back down to the ground. Her stomach suddenly did a one eighty, and she hopped off the steps to yap in the bushes. "Hey Max, you all right?" Cindy approached her concerned. Max nodded, and heaved a few more times.  She had gotten it everyday like clockwork for the last week. This was another reason she wanted to avoid Logan. She couldn't very well hide the fact that she was carrying his child if she was visiting the Tidy Bowl man all the time. After she was done, she wiped her mouth off, and stood up, meeting Cindy's scrutinizing glare. "What is up with you Max? You're all keyed up all week, you haven't spoken to you're man in all that time, and now this" "It's nothing" Max shot back, walking back over to her bike. "That ain't nothin'" Cindy stated, looking at the stained grass, before going after her. They peddled for about five minutes, when Cindy spoke again. "Ya know I'm only askin' ya 'cause you're my home girl, and I care 'bout you're well being" Max stopped peddling "You're not gonna let this go are ya?" Original shook her head "Okay" Max began "I'm uh, sorta pregnant" Cindy nearly fell off her bike "What?" she looked Max full in the face "Are you serious?" She nodded "About one week along" "Does Logan know?" Max let it slide that she had jumped to her obvious, but in this case *correct*, conclusion, and answered her "No, not yet" "Why are ya holdin' out on him?" Cindy wanted to know "I have my reasons" Max shot back "Anyway, I just found out today" "*Are* you going to tell him?" Cindy went in another direction. "I don't know" Max answered honestly, finding the dirt filled road a little more interesting. She stared at it a few more seconds before looking up. "Don't tell anyone about this okay?" her tone was more demanding then asking. Cindy nodded "Original Cindy knows when to keep her mouth shut, but you DO have to tell him sometime" Max didn't say anything more. ***** Upper Seattle 7:30 p.m. "Logan?" Max called out to him. She entered his penthouse cautiously. "In here" he called out. She followed the sound of his voice and found him sitting at his computer chair in his office. He was typing feverishly, the glare of the screen was bouncing off his glasses. "I need a favor to ask of you" "What is it now?" he asked not bothering to turn around. Max tried not to cringe under his stinging remark "I need you to delete some stuff for me." "What kinda 'stuff'?" he asked still facing the screen and not her. "Uh" Max stumbled for the words "In the women's health center on Lindsor" She waited as Logan typed up the main data base before going on "Under the OB/GYN section" Logan went where she said. "Who's the patient?" he asked "You'll know it when you see it" she replied, suddenly feeling the need to distance herself from him. She stepped back across the room. Logan scrolled down the list on names and diagnosis's, and stopped at the listing on her. His eyes scanned the screen for a few seconds,reading the information, before he turned back around. "Why didn't you tell me?" his tone was demanding. He deleted the file and then stood up and walked over to where she was standing in the middle of the room. "I didn't want to burden you with this" she said, her eyes down cast. "That's why you avoided me all week?" he asked raising her chin up to look at him. She nodded. "Who's the father?" Max was taken aback. That was NOT what she wanted him to say. She then did something she didn't normally do to Logan, she slapped him, hard. "Hey" he cried out rubbing his cheek "Why the hell did you do that?" he rubbed the red spot that was forming on his face. "How DARE you ask me that kinda of fucked up question Logan!" her voice was razor sharp. She got all up in his personal space, her breath hot on his skin. "You're suppose to be a *intelligent* man, not revert back to those prehistoric ways" "It was an honest question" Logan said in his defense "I haven't seen you that much all week, how was I to know?" Max's anger grew "I am *not* a scank Logan, I don't party harty, I worked my ass off all week so I wouldn't have to see you, but here I am, and I *thought* you would be different, that you wouldn't ask me that kinda shit" she back away from him, eyes glowering. "You wanna know who the fucked up father is Logan?" Max shot back when Logan didn't say anything else "*You* are, and believe me you we're fucked up long before you got me *knocked* up" Logan was taken aback. *He* was the father? This was his child? "How?" he asked, but then be-rated himself for asking such a stupid question. That was something he learned in third grade. "That is a stupid ass question Logan" Max said his thoughts out loud "Remember that little romp from last week? Remember the remark I made about being in HEAT? well I kinda forgot to mention that I get my groove on during then I get seeded" she finished. "You should've told me" Logan stated "I wouldn't have done it if-" "If what? If you found out that you'd produce heirs by me in one sitting?" her tone was very high, and very pissed. "I didn't say that" Logan interjected. "Yea, but I can read you like an open book" Max retorted. She backed off from Logan and whirled around, but then at a second thought she faced him again "Ya know I thought you we're going to be different. This is terrifying the hell outta me, and I thought that since this was partly YOUR fault, that you would help me, but maybe Zack was right, maybe you are just a liability" her voice was longer angry, it suddenly became heart achingly sad. A solitary tear wove a path down her cheek. "Gotta blaze" she said wiping the moisture off her face. She spun back around and walked out of the office. "You come by later, and we'll talk?" Logan's tone had softened from earlier. "It's to late for that" she said not turning around or stopping. She left him there, standing alone in his cold office. ***** The Crash Lower Seattle 9:30 p.m. "The nerve of men!" Kendra shouted out, pounding her fist on the table. She took a swig of her beer before going on "They expect you to play nice in the bed, and then bolt when they realize they've planted a seed in the field" "Why did you have to tell Kendra?" Max asked Original Cindy who was seated next to her at their usual hang. Cindy placed a hand over hers "'Cause suga, your girls are here for ya" Max didn't say anything, she just played with the froth on her cappuchino. "Anyway" Kendra stated "If Cindy didn't tell me I *would* have noticed all that weight you would be putting on" She paused "Have you thought of a name yet?" Max shot her a look "Kendra, it's about the size of a walnut, and it has NO sex organs yet, so how can I name it?" "Still you could *choose* one, didn't you ever do that when you we're little?" "I had an unusual childhood" Max replied. __ "How about Tamarki?" Kendra asked "It's a very popular in Japan" "Girl this ain't no pagoda" Cindy interrupted "This is good 'ol Pulse stricken America , so we got to give him a good name, how 'bout Trevon?" "How do you know it's male?" Max asked with the first smirk on her face in days. "I told ya, Cindy knows these things" she said "And it got you to smile" Max just rolled her eyes teasingly. "Trevon is an unique name" she admitted. "Yea" Kendra said "But it has to go with 'Cale' How about Morgan?" "I like Trevon better then 'Morgan'" Cindy shot back "It sounds less like a car salesman" "Well Trevon sounds like the guy who runs the local Ring on Palo" Kendra replied "What about you Max? Which one do ya like?" "I think their both to much to the extreme" Max answered honestly. "I need something that's in-between car seller and Ghetto Seller" she ignored the looks Cindy and Kendra shot her and searched her mind for a good name "How about Jesse? that way if Cindy's wisdom is off, it's also a good, but not to lacy name for a girl" "Jesse Cale" Kendra tried it out "He need a middle name though, so how about what I mentioned earlier?" Max shook her head "Personally I like Cindy's better, I don't want him being beat up by the Sector Police for a whimpy name" she laughed at Kendra's hurt look. "Jesse Trevon Cale" Kendra spat it out at first, but then she grinned "Gotta admit it's catchy" Original Cindy smiled "See that Jesse" She leaned down towards Max's flat abdomen "Aunt Cindy and Aunt Kendra are getting along" Max looked at her with a raised eyebrow "Aunt Cindy?" "Damn right" Cindy said pulling back "I better be something to this kid of yours" "Of course" Max agreed "The 'aunt' part sorta threw me off" She grinned at her to let her know no hard feelings, as they began talking again. ***** Logan's Penthouse Upper Seattle 10:30 p.m. "..and that's why I asked you over here" Logan finished and looked up at Bling. He had just spilled his guts over the incident that happened a few hours earlier. "Man" Bling said leaning against the table "That's a no brainer, just *appolgize* to her" He crossed his arms over his chest. "For what?" Logan replied. Bling just knocked him upside the head "You're dense for a smart guy" Logan rubbed his head "Yea I get that a lot" Bling went on "YOU did the wrong here guy, it was obvious that she was scared about this and you sorta fucked it up even worse, after you fucked it up I mean" he tripped over his words near the end. Something flickered across Logan's brain. Despite Bling's slightly broken english in his last statement he got the meaning of it.  Logan mentally kicked his own ass for his previous actions. Bling looked at him knowingly "I know, now how are you gonna fix it?" ***** 10:45 p.m. "What is it?" Max snarled stepping into Logan's penthouse. He had nearly blown up her pager at Crash, so she, along with an admirable amount of 'just *talk* to him girl' lines from Kendra and Cindy had come back to the place she swore she would never set foot in again after what happened. She found him standing in almost the same position as before. "I wanna have that talk now" he said approaching her, but she backed away defensively. "Max please" Logan held up his hands "Just hear me out" he took another step towards her, and this time she didn't back away. "What I said earlier-" he paused "I was shocked, I didn't mean that you were a bed hopper" his tone was sincere. "Yea well, what you meant *isn't* what you said" she stated matter of factly, her eyes as hard as tempered steel "You got me knocked up,and then accused *me* of being a whore" despite her outward anger her voice sounded lost and vulnerable. Logan was about to interject, but realized that she was right. He didn't say the word "whore" but he might as well have made her parade around Seattle in a scarlet cocktail dress with a sign that said 'free for all' He looked up again to meet her gaze and was shocked at the sadness he saw in her eyes, an emotion that *he* had placed there."You're *not* a whore Max" he replied in all honesty. She gave a humorless noise of what would have been a laugh, if she was in a laughing mood, but rather it came out as a rush of air "I know that Logan" she shot back "I've always known that, and I could even deal with that bitch Obstercian callin' me one, but-" here she paused,her voice becoming colored in the same sadness as her eyes "I thought that you believed that I wasn't" She turned away from him so he wouldn't see her tears. She didn't want him to know how badly he had hurt her.  she thought half angry half dejected  She hugged her arms tightly around herself, and tried to stiffen the sounds of her crying __ Logan came up behind her, wanting to say so much, to fix things,only he didn't know where to start. "Just go away" she said, her voice so low he might have missed it if she wasn't right beside him. She had never sounded so unhappy before. Her normally hard and straight composure had broken under the strain of her emotions. Logan could feel a tug at his heart. His strong and beautiful angel had fallen by his own hand. He placed a tentative hand on her shoulder, feeling her stiffen at his touch. "We have to talk about this" he said in a strong, but gentle tone. "We already did" she pointed out, still not facing him. Logan applied soft, but firm pressure to her shoulder with his hand "Not on the level we should have." She turned to face him, her eyes wet "what the hell other *levels* are there?" she demanded, "You already gave me a clear idea as to where you stand on this" she placed a hand on her abdomen, her intense gaze never wavering from him. Logan reached out to touch her hand where it lay on her stomach, and he was glad when she didn't pull away. Her hand did clench a little a he knew that if she wanted to she could easily take him out, but he was willing to risk it, should it come to that. "I was wrong" he admitted in a strong tone "I should have had more faith in you." "Damn right" she spat out, but her tone held no mirth as it usually did when she offered him a snide remark, it was just desolate sounding. "If I could take it back I would" Logan went on. He kneeled beside her and replaced her hand on her belly with his. "I'm sorry little guy" he spoke to his unborn child in Max's womb "You deserve better then that, you and your mom, and I only hope she'll forgive a asshole like me" he kissed her stomach, and stroked it softly. It was that gesture that was Max's undoing, a tear fell from her eye landing softly on Logan's head. He stood up once more to meet her gaze. "I.." he trailed off, searching for the right words "I'm sorry Max, sorry for what I made you go through alone, and sorry for causing you so much pain" Her eyes filled with more tears. His apology wouldn't set any new standards, but it was the sincerity in his tone that got to her."Damn you bastard, for making me love you so much despite why I shouldn't" she closed the small distance between them and embraced him. He wrapped his arms around her holding her close, feeling the tension released in her toned shoulder muscles. And he silently thanked what ever deity might be around for giving him a second chance. "I love you too Max" he responded to her statement from earlier She pulled back stunned for a moment  Her thoughts were silenced as Logan kissed her. A sweet gentle kiss, but one of pure emotion. They pulled back, and Logan held her face in his hands "Do you still hate me for knocking you up?" She shook her head "No" she had that mirth in her tone that was missing the last time "But ask me later when I'm in estrogen overdrive" Her statement induced a smile from Logan. The tension been lifted. This is the way it should be. "In that case I better do this now" Max was confused "Do what?" His response was to walk to his dining room table, only to come back a moment later with a small velvet jewelry box. She took it when he handed it to her, opening the lid carefully. It was a band made out of a deep purple jade that had been criss-crossed with thin silver as fine as silk thread. "This is beautiful" she remarked, not daring to say anything more. Things seemed to be going at an incredibly fast pace. her soldier side warned her. But this was Logan standing here, looking at her with such love, such remorse at what had done earlier, and she knew *excatly* what she was getting into. He took it out of the case "I had it made at one of those specialty jewelry stores that still exist around here" he took her hand and placed the ring on her right ring finger, and then in an old fashioned gesture he kneeled on one knee in front of her. "I made a promise like this before, and I got burned. Valerie loved to play games, and it cost us our marriage, but-" here he paused, looking deep into Max's eyes "you are more amazing and more beautiful then she could ever be. You have such a fire in you Max, and I don't want to ever loose that, what I'm trying to say is-" "Yes" her voice interrupted him. She knew where he was going with his little speech, and she already made up her mind. Baby or no baby she *did* love this man, and she didn't plan to stop loving him anytime soon. Logan looked at her quizically "Yes?" "To the proposal" she replied  Logan's face broke with the widest smile she had ever seen. He stood up again and caught her in a fierce hug. Max wrapped her arms around him as well, gasping slightly at the pressure he was applying to her ribcage. "Oh god, I'm sorry I didn't hurt you did I?" he asked, pulling back in alarm. "Logan" Max began in slight exasperation "I'm not made of china, I won't shatter under pressure, and neither will Jesse." Logan looked at her "Jesse?" Max nodded "Yea, something the gals and I came up with, Jesse Trevon Cale." "Trevon was Orginal Cindy's contribution huh?" Logan asked teasingly. He was a little surprised that Max had used his last name for the child. After what he did, he figured that she would want nothing more to do with him, but yet again this woman surprised him, and he wasn't about to complain. "Is that a problem?" she asked with a raised eyebrow He shook his head "No, it's nice, it sorta rolls off your tongue" She smiled wickedly "I have something else that'll roll off your tongue" she kissed him, shoving half her tongue in his mouth. Logan groaned and slid his tongue in her mouth as well, dueling with hers. The sound of the door made Max pull back, but she still remained in close proximity to Logan's body. As in he could see a small portion of black lace from her bra peeking out of her red v-neck sweater, which was not a bad view either. The guest was Bling. He walked through the doorway and then stopped a few feet short of where they were. "Damn" he drew out the middle syllable, surveying the scene before him. Max just smiled, before realizing that she had to throw up *again* she raced to the bathroom before she heaved all over Logan. Logan watched her go in slight alarm, but then realized what she was doing. __ "What did you give her man?" Bling asked with a raised eyebrow "Nothing" Logan responded "She's pregnant remember?" It still felt weird to think about Max as being pregnant, and it was even harder to grasp that it was *his* baby that she was carrying. Max came out of the bathroom a moment later, feeling slightly better. __ She walked back over to Logan "Sorry, this kid is doin' a number on my stomach." she wrapped her arms around him "now where were we?" she smiled and began to kiss a line down his neck. "You sure you didn't give her anything?" Bling asked "I'd swear you turned a Femi-Superwarrior in to a Nympho" he finished teasingly. Logan, shook his head, well as much as he could with Max attached to his juglar vein "I just asked her to marry me." Bling stood, dumbfounded "You serious?" Max pulled back from her task and looked at Bling with a smile "Straight up" she wagged her engagement ring-ed hand in the air A shit eating grin broke across Bling's face "It's about damn time." he proclaimed walking over to them. He hugged Max, and turned to Logan. "You gots a good thing here guy" Bling said "two for the price of one" Logan laughed "I know my stuff" "Don't be getting to cocky 'bout this Logan" Max warned "I still know *my* stuff" she finished with an air of teasing in her voice. Logan laughed lightly "Yes ma'am" end of part one.. ***** Eight Months Later Life had become different in Seattle. Oh sure, their we're still homeless people living in shanty towns, and Sector police beat up everyone when ever the hover cams were not focused on them, but for Max and Logan it had changed, and for the better. Two weeks to the day of Logan's proposal, they we're married. There was only about a twenty people in attendance. Logan was afraid anymore would attract too much attention, and that Lydeker would be able to locate Max. Bling was there, along with Max's friends from Jam Pony. Natalie had talked to Max before the ceremony, saying how happy she was for her, and a little disappointed because she and Logan were tying the knot after a two week engagement, while her and Sketchy have been shacked up for a while and haven't set a date yet. But, nonetheless, she wished Max eternal bliss. Along with Max's gang there were a few decent members of the Cale family, and some who just heard about the nuptials and wanted to see who Logan had snagged. The ceremony was held on a small beach over looking Puget Sound. Max had not wanted to wear in her words a "white nasty ass dress that cost more then re-building my baby from scrap" so she had settled on a simple, yet elegant dark purple silk slip dress. She had done up her hair in a loose chiffon and covered it with small white flowers. Logan still could smell their fragrance, and could still remember the way she had looked walking up to him on the beach, wearing that dress that matched the Jade in her engagement ring. Even the most hypocritical of Logan's relatives took a liking to Max when they saw her. He remembered the way Bling, who was his best man slapped him manly on the back and whispered "You did good this time around" Twenty minutes later they were pronounced man and wife. And after the vows we're exchanged they partied all night, and through part of the next morning. Since this was a 'high social affair', meaning Logan could pay off the law, the Sector Police did not complain about the late hours they kept. Max could not drink, but that did not stop her from having a good time. Cindy told Logan more then once during the reception he had better treat her girl well or she would attack him in the night, which was a remark that still made him laugh when he thought about it. And after the ceremony the newlywed couple had ridden off on the Max's Ninja to their honeymoon at the cabin that belonged to Logan's parents. They had to take extra care to not leave a paper trail for Lydeker.This meant deleting sector checks, although Max was a little disappointed that the file at that last check stop that addressed them as Mr. and *Mrs* Cale had to go. She rather liked the thought of the new attachment to her name. Whilst Max and Logan were away Bling kept Logan's penthouse clean, collected his mail, and answered the phone. One time he didn't pick up fast enough and the machine kicked in. Logan's dull and monotone 'You have reached the number you dialed' message was had been replaced with Max's "Can't talk, getting screwed,leave a message, if you don't I can hunt you down anyway." Cindy thought it had been kinda funny when she called one time, but Logan's Aunt Claire thought it was distasteful when she called to tell her 'favorite nephew' congratulations on finally being practical again and starting a family. Bling had to spend a full thirty minutes trying to convince the woman that Max was not something cheap that Logan had picked up in a bar when he had to many. He was glad when she finally just gave up and ended the call, he knew that Logan detested the woman, and it wouldn't make him any happier if he knew she thought that his wife was a sleezy call girl. Max had moved in with Logan when they got back from their honeymoon. She had no attachment to her old place. It was nasty and filthy, not a real home, and even Cindy remarked that with her expecting a kid it wouldn't help for her to find a rat on her leg, or *in* her leg, seeing as how they loved to bite people. So she had relented the crap hole for Logan's nicer digs. Her Ninja had it's own spot next to Logan's Aztec, and across from that was the candy apple red Impala Logan gave her for their one month anniversary. "You can't ride that cycle anymore" he had told her once teasingly, rubbing her stomach that was now noticeably swollen. The pregnancy was the normal thing, she got that shitty morning sickness for a few months, her ankles started to swell, and she was always full of emotion. That pissed her off more then anything. She had always been an independent woman, hard as steel, and now she actualy lost it over the fact that she couldn't find *anything* in her closet that matched her(stretchable) black sweater. She had given up leather pants two months ago, but refused to wear the flowery shit they made for pregnant women. She came out of her daydream as she found the sweater she wanted, it had fallen on the floor. Logan had caught her one day in a fashion panic, an would have laughed at her if she didn't look so sad. He instead, wrapped his arms around her, which was no small feat now. "Baby just calm down" he rubbed her back in gentle circles "I can't" she sniffed "I look like a *whale* and *nothing* of mine fits anymore, and their ain't now way in hell I'm gonna drape a flowered canvas over my body" He had soothed her as best he could, and the next day had promptly maxed his credit card on every piece of high fashion and stylish maternity wear he could find. He even got her a full length leather coat after she remarked how hers wouldn't fit anymore. After she pulled on the sweater she pulled on the cotton twill pants.  She brushed her hair and added a little lip gloss. She didn't need to use anything else, she was positively glowing. That, and the newly acquired cleavage was one of the few things (besides Jesse of course) that she liked about being pregnant. Satisfied with her appearance, she walked out into the living room. Logan was sitting at the dinning room table with Bling. He stood up when he saw her. "Hey sweetheart" he gave her a kiss "How are you?" "Fine" she spat, she hated being doted on, but he was just being nice, so she added "Sorry, I just have a short fuse lately" Logan grinned softly "That's okay" He handed her a cup of decaf, which she took. "There's a seat right here" Bling said patting the empty chair next to him. She walked over and sat down where he indicated. Needless to say she had to back up the chair a few inches from the table. Logan sat down opposite her. "So how are you Max?" Bling asked "Can't complain" she replied sipping her coffee. She made a face. She hated decaf. "No you just do that to me" Logan teased. She flipped him off, but her eyes were still light. Bling held up his hand "Hey now, none of that, I just stopped by to give ya'll a baby present" "*Another* one?" Max shot back. Bling had gone out of his way by supplying enough stuff to last until Jesse was six years old. "I'm just you're basic doting friend" he remarked. He pulled out a basketball from his lap and laid it on the table top. "Uh Bling" Logan began "That'll be as big as him when he's born" Bling laughed "It's for later man, when me and my boy can shoot hoops with his dad" "And his mom" Max remarked "Of course his mom too Max" Bling replied "You know you're my girl" He tossed her the basketball, which she caught in one fluent motion. "You still got it" Bling said with a smile. "Mmhmm" she responded standing up "I'll just put it with the others" She walked off to the nursery. It was located adjacent from their bedroom. It use to be the spare room but now.. She stepped into the room with the purple walls. Kendra had done that, she said that blue was so stereotypical, and Max had agreed whole heartily. Pink for girls and blue for boys was something she always hated. Purple might have been a color of contraversey in the last century, but Max liked it. Next to the large window was a black crib, and a few feet from that stood a wooden rocking chair. It had belonged to Logan's mother. Logan's Aunt Claire had invited Max over to her house one day, and Max had decided to go, if she despised her she would simply tell her so. When she got there, the first thing she noticed was the chair in a corner of the sitting room. The damn woman was using it as an end table! Logan had told her how much that piece of furniture had meant to him, how his mom use to snuggle in with him when he was sick, or at bed time and read to him, and she wanted him to give those same kind of memories to their son. She had told her idea to Aunt Claire, adding a few choice words like 'damn thief' and 'bitchy snob' making the elder Cale woman furious. "Listen to me honey" her eyes were cold "You just married into this family, so how can you *possibly* know about what my nephew needs, other then a good screw now and then" Max became lividly angry then, pinning the woman down with one arm. She tried to squirm to free herself, but the five foot five, one hundred and twelve pound blonde was no match for a Manticore warrior such as herself, even at six months pregnant. "I *hate* it when people jump to conclusions" Max's words were clipped and angry to the other woman she was holding down. "As I recall Maxine, *you* called me a bitch" Claire's voice was angry, but not as hard as Max's. "That ain't jumpin' to conclusions woman" Max shot back "You *are* a bitch, and as for your comment I am a little fucking tired of being called a whore by snooty people like you" she released her grip then. She then proceeded to swipe everything off the rocker and carry it out the door to her car. She drove home, angry thoughts swirling through her head, the rocker bumping around where she had lashed it to the back of the car. When she got there Logan had asked where she went, to which her immediate response was to run into the bedroom crying. A knock on the door a few minutes later revealed Logan. He approached her, and asked her again what was wrong. She had promptly told him, a little embarrassed at her flood of emotions, but Logan was awestruck that she had done something like this for him, and being called a whore by Aunt Claire too! He thanked her repeatedly, and more so later that night, but not before telling Auntie Claire over the phone that he no longer wanted to see her unless it was to her own funeral. Max placed the basketball on the floor and settled down in the old chair. She rocked back and forth, lost in her own thoughts. During the first few months she had several ultra sounds, which showed that the baby was healthy, no abnormalities, which was a relief to her. It also showed something else, a small growth in between the fetus' legs. "I knew it!" Cindy had remarked with a look of triumph when she had gone with them to the doctors one day. Logan's hand on her shoulder startled her out of her memories. "Sorry" he remarked "S'okay" she said "I was just thinkin'" She checked her watch "Oh shit, I'm gonna be late" She moved to stand up, but found it a little hard. Logan laughed at her lightly "Trouble?" he said offering her a hand up. She just glowered at him and went back out to the living room. "Sorry I can't stay Bling" She remarked, grabbing her coat off of the couch "Duty calls" "That's okay" he said rising up to meet her at eye level "Ya gotta do what ya gotta do." "That's right" she replied "even if It's boring" "Why don't you just play hooky?" Logan said to her. "Can't babe" she told him "I'd go crazy without anything to do" She walked over to kiss him goodbye. "I would've found something fun" his tone was seductive. "Logan I'm eight months pregnant, I'd crush you" she remarked and he laughed. "Don't work to hard" his tone was serious. "Moi?" she teased leaving the apartment. ***** Jam Pony X-Press 12:30 p.m. "There's my two favorite people" Cindy remarked as Max came through the door-less entry. Cindy walked over to her, and laid a hand on her belly. "Hey Jesse, how's my boy today?" The baby kicked in response, Max cringed, but Cindy smiled "He's a tough lil frigger, 'cmon do it again baby" "Don't teach my son how to fight, that's *my* job" she teased removing her coat, and hanging it on the back of "her chair" When it had become apparent that Max could no longer *sit* on a bicycle Normal had given her a sort of "sorting" job. She would hand people the boxes and they would deliver them. Next month she would be taking her maternity leave, one that she made Normal re-instate by crushing his windpipe, but for now she still wanted to work. "Sorry about being late Normal" she said sitting down "It's gettin' harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning." "Don't worry about it" he replied Max looked at him in a 'say what?' gaze "You goin' soft boy?" He shook his head "I am still the reigning God of all, but in your case I'll be a little lenient" "I'm flattered" she remarked dryly. Skethcy waltzed up to them "Got any for me today Max?" he asked leaning on the handles of his bike. "Yep" she said tossing him a small box "This one's headed for the corner of Dovan and Wesser." He took it, but made no move to go "So how's Logan?" "He's fine dude, but you better get outta here or you won't be" she threatened lightly. "Still have that attitude" he remarked. She yanked him down by the collar of his shirt. "And I could haul you're ass easily with all this extra weight I'm carrying" "Sorry" he remarked pitifully as she let him go. He took his bike and the box and left hurriedly. ***** The rest of the morning passed by basically normal. At one Max took her break with Cindy like always. Max was starving and finished her food in about forty seconds. "Damn girl" Cindy remarked "You sure pack in a lot of food." "I know" She replied wiping her hands off on her napkin "I'm *always* hungry nowadays" "You must be" Cindy said picking at her sandwich "'cause food from Earls' Cafe isn't exactly fine dinning." Max smirked, brushing some crumbs off her pants. She stood up to throw away her empty plate and gasped. "Oh shit" she muttered doubling over "Max what is it, what's wrong?" Cindy asked standing up. "I think Jesse wants out" she said through gritted teeth. Cindy was alarmed "You've still got one month left" "Yea I *know*" Max replied and gasped as more pain hit "But you try telling *him* that." "Okay girl, just take it easy" Cindy said helping her up and grabbing her coat "I'm gonna drive ya to the hospital" she maneuvered Max to the door "Somebody's gotta call Logan" Max gritted out "I got that" Cindy replied and shouted at Normal "Yo Norm-Norm, call Logan and tell him his wife is havin' a baby" "Already?" Normal was just as surprised as Cindy. "Yea already" Max called out "Just give him the message 'kay? He already knows which hospital." The whole Jam Pony crew stopped to watch, and Max would have told them to stop gawking, if she didn't feel like someone dropped an A-bomb in her stomach. Max and Cindy slowly made their way out to the parking lot. "Your car or mine?" Cindy asked "I personally don't give a fuck which one" Max managed while trying to breath. Cindy steered them towards Max's Impala. "You got a better ride then me" she remarked as she helped Max in the car and raced around to the driver's seat. "Just hold tight suga" Cindy said lookin' at her friend "Original Cindy's got your back" she floored the gas and sped off. ***** Logan and Bling were still chatting away when the phone call interrupted their conversation. Bling answered it. "Hello?" "This is Normal, who am I speaking to?" "This is Bling" he replied, wondering why Max's boss would call here, but he didn't want to alarm Logan, so he waited for the conversation to play itself out. "Oh, well is Logan Cale there?" "Yea" he remarked looking at Logan "He's here" "Could you inform Mr.Cale that Max has left for the hospital" "*Now*?" Bling shouted making Logan shoot him a look. "Yes that is correct" Normal replied and hung up. Bling did the same. He turned to face Logan "Max went into labor" Logan looked at him shocked "It's one month early" "That's kids for ya, they never do what you want them to" he replied. Logan hastily jumped up and retrieved his jacket. "I'll drive" Bling told him, and Logan didn't disagree. ***** Seattle General Maternity Ward Upper Seattle 3:30 p.m. "Excuse me, I'm looking for my wife, she was brought here by a friend" Logan said all in one breath to the woman seated behind the desk. "What's the name?" she asked not bothering to look up. He was about to respond when Original Cindy's voice called out to him "Logan, over here" He and Bling rushed over to her. "How's Max?" Logan asked Cindy gave him a look that made him uncomfortable "What is it Cindy?" "Logan" her tone was completely dead panned "Max had a seizure on the way up here, it was brought on by her contractions" Logan's heart stopped, and it was a while before he could find his voice "Is she okay?" "She's fine, it wasn't too long, and she had her meds with her" Cindy's statement lifted the rock that was in his throat. "And how about the baby?" Here Cindy did not reply so soon "They don't know yet, they're running tests, the doctors say they have to see if" here she paused "If he will have any neuro damage" "What do you mean 'damage?' Logan asked, his voce rising "I don't know, I ain't know doctor" Cindy responded and added in a lower tone "They're sayin' he might not even live"  He looked back up at Cindy "Where is she?" "Room 102, just down the hall" she said and he didn't even look at her he just ran down the white corridors. Cindy turned towards Bling "You got a few bucks guy? 'Cause something tells me that the coffee machine down the hall is going to be seeing a lot of us" Bling nodded and handed her a five, and they walked there in silence. end of part 2... ***** "Is he okay?" Max's voice was anxious, as she felt the familiar sweep of the ultra sound move over her stomach. She was somewhat comforted when she heard the sounds of Jesse's hearbeat. The seizure had hit her out of no where, and she was terrified about what the outcome could mean for him <"Jesse, *Jesse!* the young Max cried to her sister as the doctors hauled her away to the back exam rooms. An op yanked her back "Get back to your training 32, the doctors will take care of that one"> The high risk ob/gyn that had been called after Max was brought here looked at her for a moment. "It's to early to tell right now" he said as Logan burst through the door. He took a minute to compose himself, before walking over to where Max lay on a hospital bed. "Hey you" he bent down and kissed her "I got here as soon as I could, or rather Bling did, *I* would've killed someone" She smiled slightly "Logan I had a seizure" her voice was trembling. He drew his forehead down towards hers "I know" was all he said. "I take it you're her husband" the doctor's voice made him turn. "Yes I am" Logan replied and added more importantly "Is the baby okay?" "As I was telling you're wife just before you came in, it's hard to tell at this moment. The seizure, she said lasted only a few minutes,but to a fetus, it only can take that long to cause damage to it's brain" his words seemed so cold to Max. This baby was not an 'it', *he* was her son. "When will you learn more?" she asked "When we get the results of the tests back Mrs. Cale, I'll be able to give you more information" he responded. She nodded "And for future reference my *sons's* name is Jesse so please refer to him that way" her tone was sharp and hard. The doctor cringed slightly, and she felt some small satisfaction in knowing that she still could knock'em down. "I have my rounds, the tests will be back in about an hour" he nodded to both of them and left the room. In all this time Max had not had anymore contractions. When it became obvious that they induced her seizures, the doctors had given her medication to stop them, while deciding on the best plan of action. Max was not in any physical pain, but that was not the case on her emotions.She could not sit still, every few seconds she would change positions in the bed, fiddle with the IV needle in her arm. After about her fifth time around Logan stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Max, you need to calm down" his tone was strong despite the fear he felt in the pit of his stomach. "I can't fucking calm down Logan!" her words we're angry, not really at him, but at the circumstances they found themselves in "Our son may have brain damage, hell he even might DIE and you want me to be cool and collect?" she was shouting at him now, admitting the thing that scared her the most.  She looked up at him with such sadness that it took his breath away. "Why is this happening now?" her voice was just a whisper, and Logan wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know what she meant. "What baby?" he asked as gently as he could she wouldn't misinterpret it. He rubbed her arm in a soothing gesture with his right hand. She melted into his touch for a moment before going on "Lydeker tried hard to make the perfect Alpha female, strong, fast, but his creation had a flaw" she was speaking about herself, but she did so in a way that made it sound like a clinical analysis, it was a tactic she learned at Manticore. She didn't have to deal with the pain if she separated herself from it. "Your seizures" Logan finished for her She nodded, her eyes clouding over "Yea the *one* thing that made his Grade A prototype a dud. But he kept training us, even the ones like me. I remember how he use to talk about 'breeding' us like we were dogs with a pedigree or something" here she gave a humorless laugh "I use to watch every day as the ops would take girls into what they called the "Fertilization chamber" Some we're even as young as 11, but they didn't care, so long as they had their cycle. There were doctors there that would inseminate them with the sperm from the Alpha Males" she suddenly gave a passionate sob, making the ekg monitor jump sporadically. "I think you need to stop" Logan said. More stress was something that she did *not* need right now. "No, I *need* to get this out" she reached out and touched his face. He grasped her hand with one of his "Okay, but if you get into deep, I want you to get out" She nodded before continuing, to tell him the story of why she chose their son's name, remembering a dark hell hole called Manticore. "One day they took some of us away from training, me, Brin, Jesse and Jondy. We didn't know what was going on, but knew we had to follow orders. They led us to the Room, and told us to undress. There we're metal exam tables everywhere, and they made us lie on them, and they stuck this long metal tube in our-" here she had to stop, the memory becoming to much. Logan noticed her hands were shaking, so he covered them with his own, letting her know that she wasn't alone, grounding her back to the present. Max went on "the tubes were placed in our-" she searched her mind for a word that would take away some of the edge "*bodies* Each one contained sperm from a select group of Alpha males. Most were from mine, X-5, but there were a few from the X-12 section" She gave a slight laugh lacking all humor "I guess he wanted to hybrid his hybrids" Logan just looked at her, appalment on his face "How old were you?" Max searched her memory for a moment "It was a few weeks before we escaped, so I guess I was about nine, yea that's right 'cause I remember I had just gotten my period a few weeks earlier, we we're all early developers" Logan was lividly raged. How could they have done that to children? Little girls? to *his* girl? Max squeezed his hands a little and continued with her dark tale. "After it was over we were returned to the block operator. The insemination had been a success, we were all pregnant. I later learned that Zack was one of the ones, 'picked' to be a stud" her voice was full of malice "But we were young, and the constant physical exertion took it's toll, both Brin and Jondy suffered miscarriages. But Jesse, she carried the baby almost four months, when she had a seizure and it triggered early labor, the doctors tried to save the them, but it was too late, Jesse died because of complications, and the fetus choked to death on it's cord. They didn't even bury her, they just cremated her with the baby still inside. Lydeker said that he didn't want the world to know of his mistake. I had to watch it, I myself was three months along, and after it was over I snuck away to the sergeant's quarters and swallowed a whole bottle of aspirin. I passed out, and when I came to I knew I had succeeded in my goal by all the blood on the floor" "You aborted the child?" Logan asked gently, there was not a trace of anger in his tone, but his mind was seething. "I felt it was necessary at the time" she answered "I was afraid that something like that would happen to me, because I had seizures like Jesse did. We knew no such thing as motherly love, we we're just knocked up to produce more of our genes, and when I did what I did, I rationalized it by telling myself that I was defective, and my offspring would be too. But now" she paused with a hand on her swollen abdomen "There are no guards, no cold rooms, I have a child that I *want* to keep and this happens" tears leaked down her face. Logan pulled her into a embrace, placing himself next to her on the narrow hospital bed. "Why would Manticore give me this body, this fucking heat cycle to create a child whose only purpose was to die?" her question was so heart breakingly sad, and her next words were so soft, it might have been the creaking of the bed "I didn't even get a chance to hold him" Logan had heard enough, he pulled her back and look her full in the face "You will Max" he said half gently half firmly "You will, I will, Manticore may have given you the genes but *we* created the baby. Jesse *will* live okay?" his voice was raising slightly "You have to believe that" "I want to" Max replied "But, I'm scared" "I am to Max" Logan responded "But if we give up on him now, he *is* as good as dead, and your sister deserves to have her memory honored through this baby, and Jess doesn't desrve to die so young." Max looked at him in understanding "Let's hope" "I don't hope Max" Logan told her "I know" ***** 55 minutes later Max had exhausted herself by taking for so long, so Logan insisted that she take a nap. She objected at first, but then realized how tired this ordeal made her. Logan laid down beside her, and she curled around him and fell asleep almost instantly. He just watched her. She looked so innocent when she slept. It was hard to believe that someone with those gentle features could take on Ninja warriors, and haul the ass of every sleeze in Seattle without even batting an eyelash. She must have felt him looking at her because her eyes soon opened, looking into his. Logan smiled at her "good nap?" "Yea" she replied stretching "What time is it?" "5:00" he responded brushing a stray lock of hair from her face. The door opened and the ob walked in the room. Max, who had been still somewhat sleepy from her nap became wide awake. She locked both eyes on the man in the white lab coat, and felt Logan's arm go across her shoulders. "I just got the results of the tests in" the doctor said holding up a manila envelope "*Jesse* shows no signs of neuro damage, or any other risks that might threaten his life" Max broke down and Logan hugged her, relieved "Thank God" He kissed her with deep emotion before looking up at the doctor "What happens now?" "Giving that she was in active labor when she arrived we can't send her home, however in light of the risks of her delivering vaginally I think it would be best to do a cesarean" the ob responded Logan nodded satisfied with his statement. "Let's get it on then" Max said with renewed energy. Her child was all right. He would live to learn the story of his namesake.  ***** Wating Room 1-b 6:45 p.m. "What do ya thinks takin' so long?" Original Cindy asked pacing around the row of chairs for about the fifth time. "Beats me" Bling said watching her "I'm single remember?" She laughed a little and plopped down beside him. "This is unreal huh?" Cindy asked looking at him "My girl is going to be a mama" "I know" Bling admitted "It seems just yesterday that Logan was bitchin' that being alone sucked, and now he's finally re-married and he's a breath away from being a father" "Word up" Cindy said "Max was like that too, all 'I don't need no man' and even though Original Cindy's into True Love she knew lyin' when she saw it" she smirked. "They grow up so fast." "To true" Bling agreed. The doors swung open and Logan came out, still dressed in the scrubs that the had to wear to be in the OR. Bling and Cindy stood up. "7 lbs., 6 oz" Logan said proudly displaying the pink bundle in his arms. His little eyes were closed, and his face was pinched but to Logan he was beautiful. "Oh my god" Cindy said looking down at the baby "Look at him" She stared at Jesse for a long time "He's perfect Logan" she stated "He looks just like you" she grasped a tiny hand in hers and squeezed it. "No I thinks he resembles his mother more" Logan stated looking down at his son "He's got dark skin, and brown eyes, plus when he came out he cried so long that the ob said his lung power was exceedingly well off" Cindy laughed "Oh yea he *is* like my girl all right" she paused and then added "How's Max doin'?" "She's a little tired, and sore, but overall she's fine" Logan replied.He walked over to Bling. "So how do you like the goods?" he said holding up his tiny burden. Bling laughed at his statement "He's fine lookin' to me" he touched the head of the sleeping newborn "Remember how I said at your wedding you done good?" Logan nodded "Well, Bling went on "You did even better now" Logan smiled, and kissed his baby's head "Oh yea, I'm two for two" At that moment the doors opened and Max was wheeled out. She made the orderly stop for a moment, and looked over at the people around her "Wow, what a party" her voice sounded tired "It's all for you baby girl" Cindy stated walking over to her. She kissed her on the cheek "Ya made it out alive" she teased "Barely" Max quipped lightly looking over at Logan holding their baby. "But, if this is what escaping death feels like, I can live with it" she reached out and touched, at least *tried* to touch Jesse's head. Logan moved closer, the anesthetics were still keeping Max's body numb from about her collarbone down so she couldn't go anywhere. He kissed her softly "you and me both" Bling walked over to her as well and kissed her forehead "I'm proud of you girl" "I'm lovin' all this attention guys" Max said through a yawn, "but,I'm kinda drifting here" her eyes began to close. Now that it was over, she allowed herself the luxury to sleep. "All right suga" Cindy said "I'll come back later, right now I gots to spread the good word" she offered Max another friendly kiss on the head and went in search of a pay phone. Bling said that he would come back as well, he knew that they wanted to be alone with their new baby, and Cindy would probably have the whole Jam Pony crew descend upon them soon enough, so he bowed out. As he passed Cindy he heard snatches of her conversation with Kendra "Kendra you should seen him, he looks just like Max" "Mmhmm, brown hair and brown eyes" "Of course it's Logan's kid" "Just because he looks more like our girl doesn't mean their doin' the 'whose your daddy' game" "Logan has brown hair too 'kay?" Cindy caught the sight of Bling lookin' at her "Now you got me people starin' at me. Gotta go, tell the gang, and make sure that Normal hasn't gone and fired me, Jess don't need a poor auntie" "You to suga" she hung up and faced Bling "Kendra thought Max had a little action on the side?" he asked Cindy nodded "I love my chica to death, but sometimes she's a little off" she said taking the coffee he offered her She took a swig appreciatively "This is good shit" Bling sipped his and nodded "I sorta wheedled a doctor here to get it for me from the lounge, being a therapist has it's perks" "Good man" Cindy said taking another drink of the hot liquid. Her eyes scanned over at a cute looking doctor in green scrubs "'Scuse me Bling" she said taking one last drink before setting it down "Auntie Cindy could use another lil pick me up" she began walking over to the woman. Bling left her to do her stuff and retreated down the corridors. ***** Three Weeks Later Max checked her position as she blew by Bling and sunk the ball in at the three point line. "That's game" she called out triumphantly. Bling took a minute to compose himself "That ain't right, that makes twice in a row" he wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt. "It's not my fault that I got game boy" she sauntered up to him and got up in his face. "You just can't handle the pressure" she teased "I can handle it Max" Bling said in his defense. There conversation was halted when Logan approached them, cradling Jesse in his arms. "I hate to break up such a good post game argument, but one of the players is needed by her son" Max laid down the ball and wiped off her sweat with one arm. She walked over to Logan and grinned at the sight. "Don't my boys look cute" her statement made Logan smile. Logan was wearing a Knicks Jersey underneath black athletic shorts, and Jesse was dressed in a smaller basketball jersey that Bling had custom made for him. "He's hungry again?" Max's voice had a loving, but slightly exasperated tone. "Yea" Logan said handing her their son "I offered to help but, he turned me down" Max laughed at this "Daddy's a idiot huh Jess?" she kissed him on his small face, before leaning over to kiss Logan, a deep passionate kiss with her tongue, her teeth, every aspect of her mouth. She pulled away, after lack of air. "But daddy's got a hell of a good mouth so he's forgiven" she grinned at him seductively. "He can here you babe" Logan said with a gentle firmness "You have to curve you're language" he leaned down towards the child's face "Mommy has a good mouth to Jesse, she just has to tone it down sometimes" Max smacked him lightly "Okay, me and Jess got a date" she walked over to one of the benches and sat down. Her hands moved to lift up her blue tank top. Jesse gave a small cry. "Hang on sweetie" Max lightly scolded the impatient infant "Mommy can only go so fast" She finally got her squawking son positioned at her breast and felt him start to feed. Jesse's soft baby breath was warm on her exposed skin. She sucked in her breath as he exerted more force on her to obtain his meal. "You wanna ease up a little down there?" she said to the greedy baby "I kinda need those later" After he was done, she replaced her tank over her chest, and placed him on her shoulder patting his little back to get him to burp, which he did, loudly. Max laughed at this, before standing up. "Okay kiddo, the bar is now closed" She searched around for the baby carrier, but couldn't find it. Leave it to Logan to leave no spot for their son to sit on out here. "C'mon Jess" Max said, draping him across one shoulder "Let's go ask daddy where he put you're v.i.p seat, so you can watch mommy beat the sh- I mean the *snot* out of Uncle Bling some more" she caught her foul language before she spoke it. He would have plenty of opportunity build his 'other vocabulary' later, so he didn't have to learn from her right now. She walked back out in the middle of the court, where apparently no one had been playing ball in her absence. Rather she found her man, and Bling talking to a young woman about her age. "Hate to interrupt" Max stated stopping in front of them. "You weren't" Logan responded looking at her "We were just talking" "We meaning-" Max asked. Bling caught what she was saying "Oh, excuse me, I have no manners today, Clairce, this is Max, Logan's wife" "Nice to meet you" the woman said, extending out her hand. Max shook it, carefully holding the baby with her other arm "You too" Jesse coed softly, as if he wanted to be introduced also. "All right, I'll tell, her" Max said to him "This little seed is our son Jesse" Clarice smiled "Happy to meet you there" she said to the infant. Jesse coed again, making Logan laugh "He's such a lady killer for a three week old" "Wonder where he gets it from" Max teased before adding "Baby, didn't you bring his carrier out?" Logan nodded "I think so, why?" "'Cause I can't find it" she replied "And I can't hold him AND kick Bling's ass at the same time" she had forgotten to tread lightly on the language, but one slip now and then wouldn't hurt anything. "I'll go look for it" Logan said, and went in search of the needed item. "I'll hold him for ya Max" Bling said "Even though you made that remark about my ass kicking" Max carefully passed him the baby "That remark is soon to be reality" she teased. Jesse settled comfortably on Bling's shoulder, his babbling, and cooing ceased. "Now why can't he do *that* at three in the morning?" she said Bling chuckled "He's just like you Max, a night owl" he held Jesse above his head "Ain't that right little man?" Jesse giggled. "I have to be" Max responded "He keeps us up so late" She looked towards Clarice "You got any one of these?" She laughed and shook her head "No, not yet, I gotta find a guy first, and there's the whole loosing you're figure thing, although I must say you look damn good for just recently having one" Max smiled at her statement "This is a good woman Bling" she said, focusing her attention back on him "You kids outta get together" Bling didn't say anything as Logan came back with the carrier. "I guess I never took it out of the car" Logan admitted sheepishly. Max playfully knocked him upside the head "What the hell am I gonna do with you?" Logan caught her hand as she was pulling it away and yanked her close to him, setting the carrier on the cement, and wrapped both arms around her waist. "I have my suggestions" his tone was low and seductive by her ear. "Logan" she began relaxing in his embrace "We're on a basketball court" "I'm into new things" he murmured Max smiled at this "It would give whole new meaning to the phrase 'I got game' "Woah there now" Bling interrupted "This is a little x-rated for your son to here" "He's gotta learn eventually" Max said teasingly. She pulled out of Logan's embrace, and retrieved Jesse from Bling. "But I guess some things are better learned later" she finished and set him down carefully in the seat. After seeing that her son was secure she picked up the carrier, and looked back up at Bling "Right now all he needs to learn is how bad I can knock you around in a basketball game" her voice was teasing Bling looked at Logan "Your woman is dissin' me boy, aren't you going to do something?" Logan shook his head "You forget I have to go home with her later" Max laughed at this "Good man" she said to him, spotting Original Cindy at the benches that lined the side of the court. "My baby sitting service has arrived" Max stated turning towards Clarice "Sorry for such a short meaning, but I need to deliver a package to my girl over there" Clarice laughed lightly "No problem, I have to leave as well, it was nice meeting you" The two women shook hands again, and Clarice walked to her car parked by a large maple tree. Max pounced on Bling again "Really guy, you need to shack up with that one." "Max" Bling had a warning edge in his tone "I'm just sayin' is all" she interrupted "as I recall *you* did the same thing to us" she indicated her and Logan "and look what happened" this time she pointed to the baby carrier she was holding, where Jesse had managed to fall asleep through all the conversation. Bling had to laugh at her remark "You got me there" he answered honestly. He dribbled the basketball he was holing a few times "Go give Jess over to your girl there, 'cause me and you gots business" he had a competitive edge in his tone. "Ooo.." Max's voice was full of her trademark attitude "Wanna loose some more huh? well if that's what your trip is" she finished before walking over to Cindy. "You made it" Max said approaching her friend. She set the carrier down on the bench beside Cindy. "Uh huh" Cindy said lookin' up at her "I wouldn't do this for know one but you boo. I had me a rendezvous with this well built blonde at the farmer's market, but, I had to tell her that I had to meet my guy" Cindy turned to Jesse who was still asleep. She traced his forehead gently before continuing "And suga, blondie was a little pissed 'cause she thought I was bi" Cindy finished looking back up at Max. "Sorry about ruining, your moment" Max said apologetically. Cindy waved her off with one hand "Don't worry about it baby girl,'cause youz alwayz been my woman above the rest, and this boy here, well if I don't watch out I might cross over to the other realm." Max laughed lightly at Cindy "He's a keeper huh?" she sat down next to her son, stroking the small amount of brown hair that was covering his head. "Defiantly" Cindy responded looking at Jesse again "You and Logan make nice lookin' babies together, you outta think about doin' it again" "Oh no" Max said raising her hand "I got my hands full with this one, plus it'll be awhile before I do the whole pregnancy thing again" They grew quiet as Logan walked up to them, he smiled over at Cindy. "Thanks for coming on such short notice Cindy" Logan said "Max, gets a little, how shall I put this - "competitive" when it comes to this game, and with *me* having to make sure she doesn't kill Bling over there, there's no one to watch Jess" "Don't worry about it" Original responded "Max is my home girl, and you and the little seed are her boys, so it's all good, I *do* have a favor to ask of you" "What?" Logan asked "Since, I'm doin' you a service, you need to sell Max on my idea of giving Jesse some more family to play with" Cindy responded. Logan gave her a shit eating grin and walked up to Max, laying a hand on her shoulder "You oughta listen to her on this one baby" he finished waggling his eyebrows at her. She just shook her head standing up "I'll think about" "Right now, I gotta attend to something" "Take'em down Max" Cindy said with a smirk. Max nodded in reply, and looked at Logan "After this game is over, I'm gonna be all sweaty, so I'll need a hot shower" her tone was low Logan caught what she meant, and a ripple of desire went through him. They haven't had sex in weeks. Oh sure they kissed, and cuddled, but because of her c-section the ob had outlined no intercourse for until her incision healed. That was two weeks ago. Max was up and around she was still off work for about three more weeks, and well, they had to do *something* to occupy all that free time. Max saw the desire in his eyes as well. It's the first time she felt truly turned on in weeks. Her estrogen levels had been all over the place lately and she had been acting like some fuckin' sissy ass teenage girl. She knew that it would pass eventually, her ob said in about two to three weeks after delivery, but when she caught herself loosing it over a damn Hallmark card commercial on tv she wanted to literally suck all that excess female hormone out of her body and flush it down the crapper. She had been getting better though. When Bling had asked them to come shoot hoops with him, she had taken the opportunity to re-aquatint herself with her *other* baby, the gray one with crome and leather handle bars.Logan offered to take Jesse in his car, knowing how much she missed ridding the Ninja. It felt great too. Just like before, the wind in her hair, the feel of leather seat under her legs. Well it wasn't QUITE like before. Then she didn't have her husband and infant son trailing her by a few miles. The streets of Seattle *were* how she remembered them though, with the Black Market booths and the street sleeze. When she slowed to a stop at the end of a four way street one of them approached her. He was tall, wearing a red bandanna, trashy jeans and a plaid shirt underneath a navy blue cotton jacket. "Hey chicky chicky" he said running his eyes over her body appreciatively "That's a nice hog, you got there, but I gots a better way for you to feel vibrations in between your legs" he was positively leering at her. Obviously he didn't see her wedding ring on her right hand, or he didn't give a shit. Max figured it was the latter, 'cause the "locals" didn't discriminate. She was starting to get pissed. Not only was he de-grading her, he *actually* thought he was gonna score. "Hey" Logan's voice came from out of the window of the Aztec. He had obviously caught up with her. Now normally she wouldn't mind when he defended her, but she had enough of that in the last few months. She was sick of being the 'weak little woman' But, Logan was very much aware of that fact because the next words out of his mouth were: "Stop hitting on my wife before she makes something bad happen to you" Max felt relieved, and looked at the scuz "You heard my man" she said with a growl. Scuzz obviously didn't care, 'cause he tried to grope her "What's a little thing like you gonna do, 'sides give me some of that sweet sweet love. And no offense doll buy your man needs to mind his own business" The traffic light changed colors. "Green light" Max announced she revved up the Ninja, making sure her baby backed up enough to nail the guy in the balls with her back wheel before going forward. The guy doubled over cursing. Logan slowly wheeled the car over to him "Told ya" was all he said before following Max down the road. Max came back to the here and now and looked at Logan "Does my plan sound good?" she asked locking eyes with him. "Oh yea" Logan replied "Plus it saves water" his voce was husky "Always Mister Practical" Max said with a laugh, leaving them and walking over to Bling "Let's go" she said stopping in front of him, and snatching the ball.She began to dribble it down the center of the court. "You forgot to check it" Bling said Max threw the ball hard at his chest, where it landed with a loud thud "Check" Bling just shook his head and bounced it back to her "*Now* let's go" She grinned as the game got underway. Logan watched her from the sidelines. "She does love to strut her stuff huh?" Cindy said looking up at him with a smirk. "That's the truth" Logan responded "But that's why I love her so much" he walked over to the game in progress. After he left Cindy turned to Jesse who was now awake. "Jess" she began turning the carrier so that he faced her "Your aunite met such a nice woman earlier, but she blew her off to see you" She tickled the baby's stomach and he giggled "But, I don't mind, she was a little to built for me, plus I don't think that was her real hair color" she talked to him like he understood "Can you say 'bleach blonde'?" Jesse just stared at her quizzically. Cindy turned her eyes up to the court. Max had obviously won the game of Horse cause she was doin' her victory dance and Logan came up behind her and spun her around in circles. Cindy watched this observantly, turning back to the baby "Your moms and dad love each other a whole lot baby boy" Cindy's mouth pulled back in a grin "I think I'd better check on you tonight,'cause I think they gonna love each other a *whole* lot tonight as well" she finished. ***** End This took a while to complete. I originally planned to have Max miscarry the baby because of a seizure, but I'm such a softie I couldn't *do* that to even an imaginary child. Plus then I would have to get into that whole angst thing, and depression that women undergo after miscarriages...it was just to deep. I did add a little drama with the whole birthing thing though...didn't want this to be just all mush and sap. I hope you enjoyed it. I've already written a sequel, and think I may turn this into a series, let me know if you liked the first one. _


	2. Without Consent

From: "Veronica Bowles"  Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 18:19:59 -0400 Subject: Sequel. New Post Source: direct Title: Choices II -"Without Consent" Author: Mystic25 Email: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com Distribution: Archive, so long as my name and info are kept the same. Genres: Story/Romance/Angst Relationships: Max/Logan married Content: violence and sex (they're married, it's not like it's a sin.) Keywords: Sequel. Alternate universe Rating: I'm gonna say PG14, it might be R, but I don't think the sex is that detailed. I'll let the archivist decide so I don't get yelled at for using a wrong rating. Spoliers: none. one small reference to "Flushed" Summary: The strength of Max and Logan are put to the test when Logan's ex kidnaps their son. Disclaimer: I don't own Valerie, Logan, Max, or any of the other characters associated with Dark Angel. They are the property of Cameron/Egle and Fox. Jesse however is my own creation, and so are any characters introduced in this story. Author's note: This story won't really make any sense unless you have read the first story "Choices" But I think this could be read alone as well. ***** 5:15 p.m. She opened the door silently as possible, and was surprised how it made virtually no noise at all.  She closed the door, and moved silently through the building. She was glad she had kept the house key to this place, and was still a little surprised how her ex still wanted her to have a key to *his* house. There was no one in the living room except for an elderly woman asleep on the overstuffed couch. Valerie took stock of her old place. In all this time Logan never changed the furniture. It all looked exactly the same as when she lived here, right down to those 'Scientific American' Journals he kept in a stack on the coffee table. Valerie moved over to the bookshelf against the north wall. There were *some* things that were different about this place. All the photos of her and Logan were gone. Now there were ones of him and his new wife, on their wedding day, when she was pregnant, and many of their baby, either alone, or with them. She picked up the closet one, and examined it, a smile tugging at her lips. He looked like him. Wonder if he looked the same in real life. She placed the picture back where it was, and walked off to the hall, careful not to wake the old woman, couldn't have her interfering. She reached the nursery and made her way over to the crib. Peering down at the small child something tugged at her heart. She had never had the chance to be the mother to Logan's children, and now the thought of another woman given the opportunity made her angry. She reached down and gently picked up the infant. His little eyes opened, and he pondered her with a wary look. "It's okay little one." she reassured, in a soft tone "I'm just gonna take you on a trip." She walked out of the nursery and into the living room. The woman was still asleep, and that made Val's life all the more easier "Let's go take a ride." she said to the infant, before walking out the door as silently as she came. ***** 5:45 p.m. "..and then Skethcy landed flat on his ass" "That sounded like an interesting thing to watch" Logan replied through the phone. "Funny as hell" Max said with a smirk, from her end. She was just telling Logan the latest escapade of Sketchy and his amazing 'bike tricks' "Are you at home now?" she added to her husband. "Yea" he responded, shifting his cell phone so he could dig out his key with the other "It didn't take that as long as I thought to pick up some gouda." He had just come back from the local store with the ideal topping for his fetuchini al pesto. Max loved this dish, and had called him earlier to tell him how she hadn't eaten a thing all day except for some Doritos at lunch break, which was cut short thanks to Normal's 'work 'till ya drop' ethic. Logan knew that since she was still breast feeding Jesse that she needed extra calories in her diet. And so he suggest his culinary, artery clogging masterpiece, both for their son, and because she sounded so damn cute when she whined to him like that. "That's good to hear baby" Max responded "'cause this woman is *starving*." There was some noise at the other end, followed by Max's voice proclaiming "he's my husband you moron." She removed her hand from the receiver "Sorry, one of the new guys thought I shouldn't say 'baby' over the phone. I swear he'll be a miny Normal before his first week." Logan laughed at that "That would be a bad situation." "Tell me about it" Max said straight out "Is it still okay for Cindy to come over?" she added. "Of course it is sweetheart" Logan began "She's a friend of yours, and you don't have to *ask*, we're married, it's just as much your house as it is mine." "I got it" Max replied "I just wanted to make sure her reservations were confirmed" she finished teasingly. "Yes they are" Logan told her inserting the key into the lock. "Well then I'll let you go so you can prepare" she replied with a smile. "Okay I'll see you in a bit angel." "Bye baby" Max said, shooting a 'don't even think about it' gaze at Mason, who was about to say his remark from earlier. "Bye" Logan said in reply, hitting the 'end' button. He turned the key in the lock, and soon realized that the door was already opened. That was weird, he was sure he locked it before he left. Maybe Mrs. Culverson went out for a minute and forgot to lock it again. He entered his penthouse and shut the door behind him. "Back so soon?" Mrs. Culverson said from her spot on the couch. "The market was unusually less crowded then it normally is" Logan replied unearthing the gouda from the plastic bag. He looked back towards her "Thanks for watching my son on such short notice." "It was my pleasure" Mrs. Culverson responded "That is the sweetest baby I ever sat for, didn't even make a sound" she smiled at Logan "He must get that from his father, because any man who goes out for expensive cheese so he can make his wife one of her favorite meals has to rank high on that scale." "Your flattery is greatly appreciated, but really not needed" Logan replied walking into the kitchen He unwrapped the cheese from the plastic it was in and began to crumble the dried mass into a shaker. Mrs. Culverson stood up from the couch and made her way over to the kitchen. She sniffed appreciatively at the rich aroma of pesto sauce "Your wife is a lucky woman, my husband can't even boil water." Logan smiled as he stirred the bubbling green sauce "Kinda sounds like my Max, she re-built the frame to her motorcycle once after it got messed up by some idiot car, but when it comes to cooking, let's just say it's a gray area" He closed the lid to the pot and addressed the elderly woman again "I'm gonna go check on Jess, could you make sure that this doesn't boil over?" "Of course" she responded. Logan smiled his thanks "You are a wonderful woman" he smiled again as he saw her blush. "Save that sweet talk for her" she said, shooing him away from the kitchen. Logan walked down the hall towards the nursery. He pulled the door opened slowly, in case the baby might still be asleep "Hey Jess, let's go watch daddy cook-" he stopped in mid sentence when he saw that the crib was empty. He raced back out to the kitchen "Mrs. Culverson did you move the baby anywhere?" "Why no" She responded stirring the sauce with a wooden spoon "He is still in his crib" "No he's not" Logan replied, seeing her shocked look. "Where could he be?" she asked, becoming concerned as well. "I don't know" Logan responded in a panicked voice The two adults began to do a through search of the penthouse, but there was no sign of the baby. After Logan came our from checking the bedroom, a horrifying revelation dawned on him  He ran back out to the living room, and examined the front door "Mrs. Culverson did you go outside at all?" "No" she replied negatively "After I set Jesse down for his nap I sat down to read." "This door was unlocked when I came home" Logan said "And I remember locking it after you came" his voice took on a higher tone of worry "Did anyone stop by after I left?" "No" she answered again "I sat here the entire time reading before I fell asleep-" she broke off as she realized the meaning of her statement "Oh my god Mr.Cale I'm so sorry" Logan didn't respond he just ran out into his hallway. His eyes scanned up and down the corridors, there was no sign of the baby. "*Jesse!*" he called out, his voice reverberating against the walls  He dashed back into the house and grabbed his cell phone from where he left it on the table. He hit speed dial two, and tried to collect himself before the call went through. "I am so sorry, so sorry" Mrs. Culverson kept chanting from her position behind him. "It's not your fault" Logan reassured, running an aggravated hand through his hair. The other party on the phone picked up "Matt it's Logan" he began and said one of the things that every parent fears "My son is missing." ***** Jam Pony X-Press 5:53 p.m. "Max it's for you" Normal shouted to her. She got up from her place on a crate by Cindy and strolled over to the counter "Make it quick" Normal said handing her the phone "This is on company time" Max glowered at him before placing the phone to her ear "Yea" "Max it's me." Logan said from his end "Checking up on me?" she teased "I wish that was the case." "What's wrong?" she asked, sensing that something happened "Jesse's gone" came the reply "What do you mean *gone?*" Max shouted so loudly that everyone stopped to stare. She lowered her voice "gone where?" "I don't know" came her husband's panicked response "When I got home the door was unlocked and-" he paused to catch his breath "he wasn't in his crib" "Oh my god" Max stated in disbelief, this seemed like a horrible dream "I'm coming home" she announced abruptly ending the call. She sprinted to where she had left her jacket and yanked it on her body. "What's wrong boo?" Cindy asked seeing the frantic look in her eyes. "Jess is missing" Max got out, jamming her hands into her leather riding gloves. Cindy stood up "What happened?" "I don't know" Max answered sounding as panicky as Logan did on the phone "I need to get home" she raced out to the entrance of Jam Pony, where her Ninja was. "Where are you going?" Mason asked going after her and grabbing her by the arm "Work isn't over" "Get the fuck out of my way you prick!" she snarled kicking him in the chest so that he realized her arm. She jumped on her Ninja and sped towards home. ***** 6:15 p.m. Max had made it to the penthouse in record time, going 75 miles all the way. The elevator ride seemed to take forever, and when it finally dinged on her floor she practically pulled apart the doors and raced out into the hall. As she neared her house she could see officers with the Seattle PD lining the hall. Her door was opened and yellow police tape was stretched out across the frame. She ducked under that, but a hand stopped her from going inside "You can't come in here Ma'am this is a crime scene." "This is my fuckin' house!" she growled back, and the officer let her go. She walked through the doorway, the place was crawling with cops. "Max!" Logan called out to her where he was talking to his friend Det. Matt Sung. She approached him, and they met halfway "I can't believe this is real." she stated, surveying the scene "All the way up here, I kept saying that this was just some crazy nightmare." Logan embraced her hard "I wish it was" Det. Sung approached them "Mrs. Cale?" he said addressing Max. She pulled apart from Logan and looked at Matt. "I'm Detective Matt Sung of the Seattle PD, I just want you to know we're doing everything we can to find your baby" "How did it happen?" she demanded "From what we have right now it looks like someone came in and kidnapped him. Mrs. Culverson said she fell asleep about fifteen minutes before Logan came home, which leaves plenty of time for someone to take the child out of his crib and leave without notice." Max was satisfied with that statement up to a point "But it couldn't be just anyone off the street Det." she shifted from Logan, asserting her knowledge of forced entries "The door was unlocked, which means that they somehow manipulated the locks. The person had to know exactly where we live, otherwise it would have taken to long to locate the building, find the correct floor and *then* still manage to pick the locks and leave all in a period of about fifteen minutes." Sung was impressed by her knowledge, and collectivenss of the situation. She didn't fit all the other profiles of the panicky mothers. "That's a possibility Mrs. Cale-" "Call me Max" she interrupted "Max" Sung finished "I'll have my team look into it, also I'll need a recent photo of the baby" Max nodded and walked over to the mantle. She pulled out a small framed picture of Jess. It had been taken by Bling, and showed Jesse smiling away in that little custom made NY Knicks Jersey. She handed it to Matt "This will be fine" he said looking at it Max nodded again, feeling tears prick the corner of her eyes, along with another type of 'wetness' making it's presence known along her shirt. "Shit" she cursed to herself "I have to take care of this" she said to Logan and retreated towards the bathroom. She retrieved the electronic milk extractor from under the counter. It had been a baby shower present from Kendra, but Max hadn't used it that much. Usually she was home when Jess had his feedings. The machine's suction felt strange on her breasts, so cold, not like Jesse's warm baby breath. Her eyes teared up again, who could do this to them? She switched off the machine, moving at first to clean it, but decided to screw it, she had more important things to worry about. She left her soiled shirt where it lay, and pulled on the first thing that she found clean in the hamper, which happened to be Logan's old MIT sweatshirt. She left the bathroom hurriedly and rejoined the others a second later. Det. Sung was no longer talking to Logan, he was now helping another officer dust for prints around the door. "Anything?" she called out to Matt, moving to stand by Logan. Matt looked up from his task "We got a few prints around the door knob, Mrs-I mean *Max*" Sung corrected himself before going on "You're probably right about our guy knowing where to find you, but that doesn't mean they have to be a smart kidnapper" He finished up and stood to face her and Logan at eye level "Were almost done collecting here, and then we'll run the evidence with the guys in forensics" "How long will it be 'till you know?" Logan demanded "With the finger prints, it shouldn't be to hard, we just have to run it against the ones in the database" Matt reassured them "It should take a few hours" The other officer's were packing up their equipment and beginning to file out the door. Sung stared to leave as well, but not before addressing Max and Logan once more. "I call you the second we get the prints run" Logan nodded "Thanks" he voice was devoid of all emotion, he just felt dead inside. Matt left them, the door closing silently behind him. Max turned towards Logan with a sad gaze. It was one that he had only seen once before, when she had a seizure caused by her labor, one that almost cost Jesse his life. "This can't be real" she whispered brokenly, the sadness in her eyes intensifying, and she uttered one word "Why?" Logan embraced her again, drawing her head into the hollow of his shoulder "I don't know baby" he answered sadly, and felt her start to cry. This released the damn in him as well, they clung tightly together, feeling the aftershocks of the terrible event that occurred that day. ***** Unknown Location "God *please* stop crying" Valerie spoke harshly to the wailing infant. He had been doing this ever since she left with him in the car. Thinking that he might be hungry, she tried feeding him. Okay so she tried giving him milk, knowing *full* well that it wasn't healthy for a baby, but she sure as hell didn't have any baby formula on her, and going out to get some was out of the question. Knowing Logan, he probably had the whole Seattle PD canvassing the city for this baby. Jesse continued to wail, his little face becoming redder. "You sound like your daddy when he screwed me" Valerie stated bluntly, drawing up vivid images from memory of those passionate filled nights. She shifted Jesse in her arms so that he was looking her in the face "Does mommy scream as loud as you do when she comes?" she couldn't believe she was having this discussion with a two month old baby, but it's not like he would say anything she didn't want to hear. "I'll bet she does" she smiled lazily "Something as dark as her probably has a deep throaty yell" her last words were tinged in bitterness. Val had only met her once, but that encounter was enough for develop a disliking for the woman. Physically she was striking, dark eyes, long curly raven hair, and a chest that she would kill to have. But that was not the root of her distaste for her. It was her attitude. The ways she talked to her ex made Val realize that Max was someone who did not take crap from anyone. Oh sure *she* was like that herself, after a couple of beers, but this woman, the way she talked to Logan, she had a certain edge that Val lacked. Logan *never* talked to her like that, even when she was drunk. He always treated her like a delicate flower, being careful to make sure she didn't break. But he was edgy with Max, shooting out comebacks as fast as she gave them to him, never once breaking their banter to ask if he said something that could have upset her. He knew that she was strong, and that she didn't need anyone to coddle her. This revelation was what drew her over the edge. And now to see the living, breathing creation of their love bound in the same strength, it stirred her hatred all the more. She had originally just planned to take Logan's little 'wifey' hostage, but knew that taking the baby would hurt her far more then anything she could do to her physically. Although Logan would be caught in the crossfire of her little game, it was something Val was willing to risk. After all she wasn't married to him anymore was she? She set Jesse down on the crappy excuse for a bed, and made her way over to the dresser. She checked the clip on her hand gun, happily noting that it was full.  She replaced the gun on the rotting dresser. Opening the little refrigerator, she produced a bottle of Scotch. She sat down on the nasty mustard yellow blanket and began to down the alcohol. "This should make that crying of yours less annoying" she said with a sleazy smile, and raised the mouth of the bottle to her lips again. ***** Downtown Seattle 19th Precinct 9:15 a.m. The Next Morning Detective Sung was sitting at his desk when Max stormed up to him "Why the hell didn't you call? You said it would only be a few hours" her tone was razor sharp from the sleepless night she just came out of. "We had a major robbery at Chase National Bank Max, so I was kinda tied up with that" he stood up to meet her angry gaze. "Oh so *my* son's kidnapping suddenly got pushed to the side? Is that what your saying?" her words were livid. "You know that wasn't the case" Matt interjected. He gestured for her to sit. Max flipped the wooden chair around and angrily sat where he indicated. "We are *still* trying to find who took your baby Max, despite what you think, but this is a broken city, there is a lot of stuff that can go down" He moved to lean against the front of his desk. "Sorry" she finally admitted "I just didn't sleep last night" she placed her hands on the back of the chair. Matt touched her shoulder softly "It's understandable" He picked up a file from among the pile of others that littered his desk "I *did* find something" Max immediately perked up "What is it?" Det. Sung sighed slightly "I'm afraid our guy is a little smarter then we thought he would be. There weren't any finger prints on the knob except for Logan's, and I as sure hell know he wouldn't try to take his own son" "Dammit" Max cursed under her breath "That fucker was wearing gloves" She ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "That's what I gathered as well" Sung agreed, and added "You seem to know a lot about this type of thing, do you work in law enforcement?" This produced a small smile from her "I'm a bike messenger Detective, the only enforcing I do is making sure people sign for their packages" Matt smiled slightly at her remark "You'd make a damn good cop." "If there were such a thing anymore" Max responded. She looked up at Matt "excluding you of course, you seem pretty decent" "Thanks" Sung replied "I try to come off that way" Max gave him a half grin "Better then most" she got out, suddenly feeling her body tremble. Matt noticed "Are you okay Max?" "Fine" she returned, producing her pill bottle from her leather jacket pocket. She popped open the bottle and shakily downed two into her mouth. After the Tryptophane took effect, the seizure stopped "That got it" she muttered. All the stress she was experiencing wasn't doing good things to her brain's seratonin levels. She looked back up at Matt "These things can be a real bitch" He nodded, suddenly realizing where he remembered her from. She had been arrested about a year ago, for breaking into a hospital for stealing drugs, most likely the same ones she had with her. Now he knew how she knew so much about forced entries. He had helped break her out, Logan telling him that without the medicine that she tried to steal, she would lapse into a coma and eventually die. He had often wondered what happened to that spirited woman that Logan had wanted him so desperately to break out of jail. Now he knew, Logan had *married* her. "You remember me don't you?" Max said straight out "Deleting my file didn't erase your memory" Matt nodded "Who could forget a woman who tried to jump the fence while on of our prisoners distracted the guards by singing opera?" he said this quietly so the other officers wouldn't hear. Arrest or not, she was a decent woman, and he didn't want to land her back in jail. "Yea" Max remarked "It was one of those 'magical nights'" Her pager beeped, she pulled it out from the carrier clipped to her waist "Work asap" it read. She sighed. "Trouble?" Matt remarked "My boss is bitchin' me for being late" she replied, replacing it at her waist. "I better get going" she stood up "It'll be a welcome distraction to just sitting at home" Sung stood up, in a polite gesture. "Call me if you can think of anything else we might find useful" He placed a hand on her shoulder again "I'm gonna find him Max" he looked at her with a strong gaze "I promise you." Max nodded softly, and turned to leave, maneuvering her way through the maze of desks. Matt watched her retreating figure. He really felt for her and Logan. Having three kids himself made him well aware of the pain of a missing child could bring. Officer Jonson placed a file on his desk "Got one for ya Matt, an auto theft case" "Give it to someone else" Matt said, handing the file back to him "I have a more important case I'm working on" ***** Jam Pony X-Press 10:35 a.m. "Where have you been?" Normal pounced on her as soon as she entered the building "You are thirty minutes late" Max blatantly ignored him, leaning her bike against a wall and retreating to her locker. "Any news?" Cindy said approaching her Max pulled out her navy blue baseball cap and angrily slammed the door to her locker. She turned to face Cindy with teary eyes "No" "Oh boo" Cindy replied sadly, she hugged her friend tightly. Cindy pulled back after a moment "Who the hell could do something like this?" "I wish I knew" Max sad voice suddenly became angry "I'll beat the shit our of them when I find out who it is" she yanked her hat on backwards and walked to retrieve her bike. After she recovered her wheels she sunely made her way over to Normal. "Got any for me?" her voice was completely deadpanned. Normal threw a small box at her "this one goes out to that little marine shop by the water front" Max sighed "That's a long way for this puny thing" she complained jamming the package into her backpack. "Well if you want this job you'll do it" Normal informed her, and added "Speaking of puny things" he held up a small rattle "I believe this belongs to your little rugrat" Max snatched it from him "Where did you get this?" she demanded Normal didn't answer fast enough for her liking because she soon jumped over the counter and had him by the collar "I asked *where* did you get this?" her anger was livid. She pounded him against the wall for emphasis "Answer me!" "Max stop!" Cindy called out going through the metal door that led to where she was. She grabbed her by the arms, trying to pull her off him. Max eventually let go of Normal, but she still remained only centimeters from his face "Do you know where he is?" she was now screaming. "No where who is?" Normal asked confused "All I know is that I try to do you a favor giving you back this nasty, slobbery piece of plastic and you attack me" he pushed Max back with his arms to get her out of his personnel space "You are a loose cannon girl, I could fire you for this" "Whoa now" Cindy said, holding back Max with her arm, seeing her about to jump again. "No one is getting fired okay?" she turned towards Normal "Her son has been kidnapped" Normal looked at Max in disbelief "Well why didn't you say anything about it?" Max didn't answer him, breaking loose from Cindy's grip she wheeled her bike out the building. "I got shit to deliver" she announced over her shoulder, not turning around. After she was out of sight of the others she examined the small plastic rattle, looking at the tiny finger smudges that Jess's little hands had made all over the handle. She hastily wiped away the tears that had fallen from her eyes, placed the rattle in her jacket pocket and began the long journey to the waterfront. ***** "Does that meet your approval Logan?" Matt's voice asked over the phone. Logan stared at the flyer that his friend had faxed to him. Jesse's picture had been enlarged and placed in the center. And below that it read : JESSE TREVON CALE Missing: April 15, 2020 DOB: February 6, 2020 Age: two months If anyone knows anything about this missing child contact Detective Matt Sung of the Seattle Police Department's 19th Precinct. 555-2486 ext. 124. "It looks just like what it's suppose to look like" Logan replied, stating the obvious. "I mean is there anything else you think I need to add?" Matt asked. "How about what I plan to do to the perp who did this?" "Logan, I doubt my superiors would allow you to stab our suspect with the blade of a bayonet and *then* empty the shells into his heart" "It works for me" Logan spat out. "For now let's stick with what we have" Matt replied. pausing briefly before adding "We'll find him Logan" "You better" was all Logan said before hanging up. His door opened, revealing Bling who approached him where he was seated at his computer chair. "I heard about what happened" he said "News travels fast" Logan mumbled to himself spinning the chair around to face Bling. "Are the cops looking into it?" Bling asked Logan shoved him the flyer "Hot off the press this morning" his words were laced in bitterness. "No one's gonna pay attention to a flyer like this" his expression was angry "People just throw these kind of things out with the trash, no money, no sex, just a *boring* story about another missing child." Bling ignored his remark "How's Max holding up on this?" "About as well as I am" Logan replied hastily. He ran an aggravated hand through his hair. "It's so quiet without him here." he added suddenly. Bling placed a firm hand on his shoulder "It'll be loud again man, don't worry." he hoped his words sounded encouraging. They lapsed into silence which was broken several seconds later by the ring of the phone on Logan's desk. Bling made the move to answer it, when Logan didn't "Hello?" he paused briefly "Hey girl, how ya doin'?" he paused again looking at Logan "Yea he's here, hang on a sec." he placed his hand on the receiver "It's your woman" he handed Logan the phone. "Hey baby" Logan said, once the phone was up at his ear. "Hey" came her soft reply. "How are you doing?" "Hangin' in there" she responded honestly. "Normal so graciously gave me back a rattle that Jess left at work one da-" her voice broke on a choked sob at the last word. "Sweetheart, are you still there?" Logan asked, not being able to hear her anymore. "Yea." she finally responded weakly, sniffling "still here" "Will you be okay?" he asked concerned. "Not until I get my son back." she responded. Logan felt the twinge at his heart that his wife was experiencing at that same moment across town "Me too." he replied. "I gotta get moving." she said "I'm suppose to be delivering a package here." "Where would that be?" he responded curious. "Maryana." "Normal made you pedal *way* down there?" he asked stunned "That's fifteen miles away from Jam Pony." "It's a good distraction." she stated He caught her meaning, and didn't press the subject anymore. "Then I'll let you go." "Okay" she responded "Bye Logan" "Bye" he said, and caught her before she hung up "Max?" "Yea?" "I love you baby." "Love you too." she answered back, disconnecting the call. Logan hung up from his end. He stood up to face Bling. "You wanna go get some coffee? Just sitting here is driving me insane." "Sounds good bro." Bling responded to his friend. Logan snatched his leather jacket from where it was draped on the back of his computer chair. He grabbed his keys off the marble counter top, along with his cell phone. Bling killed the lights, and locked the door, and the pair left the penthouse silently. ***** Unknown Location The bottle of Scotch was long gone. Val laid horizontally across the bed, her legs dangling off the end. Jesse had managed to fall asleep for a brief moment, but being only two months old, and also having his mother's odd sleeping patterns he was soon wide awake. He began to cry again, his diaper soiled, and now he was developing a rash from not being changed in almost a day. Val came out of her alcohol induced haze and looked at the infant "Your just like the damn energizer bunny." she sneered drunkenly. Her head throbbed like a bitch, so she reached for the bottle of aspirin that was at the corner of the 'night table' It helped clear out the cobwebs, but now she could hear every pitch of the infants cries. "What is it that you want?" she growled, staring him in his red eyed face. A fowl smell assaulted her senses. "Damn" she muttered pinching her nose "You dropped a bomb." She needed to change him, the smell was starting to make her nauseous, however she had no diapers on her, so she settled on ripping off a corner of the bed sheet instead. She changed him out of his soiled diaper and into her little improvisation. "All better." she announced, but Jesse didn't believe it, because he continued to cry. Val was at the end of her rope "SHUT UP! PLEASE!" she chanted. But he couldn't, he did what he only knew to do at his age, he wailed. ***** Seattle West Side Black Market 'Shopping District' 12:25 p.m. "Hey gorges, back it up over here." Max stopped her pedaling, and turned to face the man behind the booth with a scowl "What the hell do you want?" The man held up his hand "Hey calm down sugar, I just want to offer you some of my quality merchandise." he held up a small test tube containing white LSD crystals. Now Max was not normally a patient woman, and what little she did have had left during the last day from hell. She dismounted her bike and prowled up to the guy. He obviously thought she was interested because he started in on his 'sales pitch' "This is the good stuff, one hundred percent pure trippin' power-" his marketing strategy was interrupted by Max's leather gloved hand crushing his trachea. "You tryin' to sell angel dust to a nursing mother?" her voice had a definitive growl. "Didn't know you had something to feed." he squeaked out. "Yea well I do." she snarled, increasing her grip on his neck "Next time it would do you good to ask." she abruptly let him go, where he landed in a unceremonious heap at her feet. "By the way, your pitch really sucks." she left him lying in the dirt, and returned to where she left her bike. She peddled on for about a few more minutes, before nearly running into a small boy who came across her path. "Hey Niko, where you headed?" The small four year old Chinese boy looked up at her "I got this for mommy." he held up a small bag of tea leaves "She ran out." Niko's mother worked a medicine booth on this strip. Under the counter stuff, Max had bought many a bottle of Tryptophane from her, even when she didn't need them. She knew how hard it was trying to get by with little money. "I'll walk you home." she announced suddenly, this place was not exactly safe for a child to be out alone, even in broad daylight. She dismounted her bike, and walked with Niko to his mother's booth, which doubled as a home by the small shed like building behind it. "Here's you tea momma." Niko announced once they approached where she was working. The tall woman with long black hair said thank you in Chinese to the oriental man who had just bought some aspirin from her, and turned to her son "Thank you Niko, put in the house for mommy please?" Niko nodded and went in back of the booth. "Hey Ju-Yin." Max called out to the woman. She obviously didn't realize that she was there because she looked up surprised "Max" she smiled "It's been a while." she placed the bills she had just received in her dented cash box. "You haven't been around to see me in a while, you find another supplier?" "Fraid so." Max admitted, pulling off her left leather glove, revealing the jade wedding band on her ring finger "'Cept I told him I wanted more then just pills." "You finally hooked up." Ju-Yin said examining her hand. "About damn time." she admired the band "He must be worth a lot, purple jade is a bitch to find, and even more to buy." "He is." Max admitted, when Ju-Yin released her hand. "But I didn't just shack up with him for his money. He's sweet, and has this amazing body." she grinned sinfully at the thought. "You gonna show me a picture? Or leave me to use description?" Ju-Yin asked, closing the lid to her cash box. Max pulled out a small picture she placed in the pocket of her jacket. She normally didn't carry around anything, except for some lip gloss, but after what happened, she needed something to feel close to her son. Ju-Yin took it when she handed it to her "He is handsome." she agreed, looking at the photo of Logan and Jesse that Max had taken about two weeks ago. "Is that your baby?" Max nodded. "Boy or girl?" It was hard to tell by the photo. "Boy." Max answered "His names is Jesse" "That's the same name on the poster the Sector Police stuck on my booth." Ju-Yin announced, handing Max back her photo. Max was confused "What poster?" Ju-Yin placed her hand near the roof of her booth and pulled something off of it. "See for yourself." Max took it from her. Her expression clouded over as she read the information that Det. Sung had printed up. The light went on in Ju-Yin's head "It's your son isn't it?" Max nodded slightly, shoving the flyer back at her. "I'm sorry." the other woman said taking it from her, when Niko walked back out. "Do you want me to help you momma?" "Not today sweetie." Ju-Yin said to her son "There isn't that much business." Niko noticed the flyer she had in her hand "Did anyone find that little baby?" he asked with all the concern of a four year old. "Not yet." Max answered "How do you know?" Niko asked defensively, well as defensive as a little boy could get. Max approached him an knelt down to his level "because that is my little baby." Niko looked at the flyer and the back up to Max "You are his mommy?" Max nodded. The small boy hugged her "Then I *really* hope he is found." Max hugged him back "Thanks hon. I appreciate it." she released him and stood back up. "You oughta think about getting a gun." Ju-Yin said out of the blue "If you do find out who did this you might need it. Word is babies are expensive." Max was horrified as she caught the hidden meaning behind her words. She herself was well aware of the circle who sold off children for medical research, but she never thought it could happen to her child. "There was a woman who bought one here a few days ago." Ju-Yin went on, breaking Max's train of thought. "She said that she had a baby of her own to protect. Seemed strange though, she looked like upper society and she bought from us." Ju-Yin stated. Max to thought this was odd "Why would an upper crust by a rod from the Lower Markets?" "Beats me." Ju-Yin replied, straightening out her merchandise "All I know is that Bilone was happy for the business. She dished out a lot of money for it." They were interrupted my the beep of Max's pager. She checked it "Where the f**k are you?" She sighed, and looked back up to Ju-Yin "Gotta motor, my boss is gettin' pissy again." "Take care of yourself Max." Ju-Yin stated, wrapping her arms around Niko. "I hope your son comes back to you safe, and if you need anything that the mainstream doesn't sell, come by." Max smiled "I will." she laid down two twenty dollar bills on the wooden 'counter.' Ju-Yin opened her mouth to object, but Max interrupted her. "Consider this a down payment for my next visit." she smiled at her and Niko and walked back over to her bike. They watched her pedal away. /Being married to wealth hasn't changed her/ Ju-Yin though with a smile placing the bills along with the others. She made a mental note to say a prayer to Budda for Max's son's return. ***** Jam Pony X-Press "Where were you?" Normal demanded, after Max walked back into the Jam Pony headquarters "You were gone for almost an hour." "It's a long way to Maryana last time I checked." Max growled back. "I delivered your precious package, so why are you bitchin' me out?" she retreated to her locker, not waiting to hear another one of his idiotic responses. She dropped her backpack into the metal storage space, and slammed the door shut again, and then at a second thought, she re-opened her locker, and yanked out the cell phone she kept in the front pocket of her backpack. She walked back out of the cubby of lockers, to get better reception. As she approached Normal's desk he raised up his hand "Phones off limits Max, you suck all this companies money with that running mouth of yours." "Relax" Max responded annoyed, making a big show of holding up her cell phone. She hit speed dial one. Getting the answering machine at home, she proceeded to hit the next speed dial button, Logan's cell. This time someone answered "Hello." "It's me." she replied "What's up?" "I need to talk to you." "You are." Logan pointed out. "I mean not over a line that can easily be traced." she responded quietly. "Okay then hang up." Max became confused "What?" she then felt a hand on her shoulder, and automatically whirled around in defense. Logan stood there, his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Don't do that." she ordered closing her cell and placing it in her jacket pocket. He did the same as well "Sorry, I was just in the neighborhood, and thought you could use this." he held out a steaming syrofoam cup of Colombian Supreme. "Thanks." she said taking it and drinking appreciatively. "So what did you want to tell me?" Logan asked "Not here." Max responded snatching his arm, and dragging him over to the lockers. "What's up?" he asked once they were out of earshot of the others. "I think I have something on Jess." Logan looked at her, all serious "What is it?" ***** ten minutes later. "..and she didn't say who it was?" Logan asked after hearing his wife relay the events of the previous hour. "Just that she was rich." Max responded "which is strange considering the location." Logan nodded, agreement written on his face "Did she talk to this guy at all?" "A little, but nothing more then a few casual words among retailers." she replied. "But what makes you think this has anything to do with Jesse's disappearance?" he asked, confused. "Mother's intuition." she replied. "I don't know Logan." she added, seeing a small amount of disbelief in his eyes. "I just have a feeling about this." "But the police can't go on a feeling Max." he shot back. "I'm not asking them to." She stood up. "Your gonna talk to this man, J.J. Bilone, yourself?" "Yea, so what?" she responded, starting to walk off. He followed her "Max-" "What is your problem with this?" she turned to face him. "Don't you want to know?" "Of course I do." Logan said in his defense. "But we need more to go on then a hunch." She whirled on him "Since when have my urges ever steered you wrong?" Both Max and Logan were so intuned to themselves, they didn't realize the crowd they were attracting. "I didn't say they did." he responded. "But that's what you were implying." she retorted "There was no implication Max." he replied "I'm just saying that you sometimes your urges have consequences." "Like when?" "Not counting all the others, how about the one eleven months ago?" he spewed out the words before he realized what he was saying. /Oh god, I didn't/ He could see rage written on her face "Max I-" he was interrupted by her backhanding him across the face. There was an eerily silence that settled on the place. Everyone had seen what had just happened. Logan took a minute to straighten out his glasses, and wipe the trickle of blood her maneuver had drawn. "Max.." he began again. She interrupted him by shoving a piece of paper in his face. "This is the place, meet me there at four. if you want to go on my 'hunch' that is." she whirled around, and faced him on a second thought, just like that other time she was this pissed at him. "And as for my 'urge' I'm not the one who said it would all work out." she stormed off to retrieve all the accumulated packages that she let pile up because they were to far to deliver. "I'll be out for a while again." she snarled to Normal. She shoved them all in her backpack and yanked her bike from against the wall. Logan watched her go, her posture rigid./There you go shooting off that wise ass mouth of yours boy/ Herbal approached him, with a tissue "Thought you might need this." "Thanks." was all Logan said, taking it from him. Cindy had just come in as Max left. "What the hell happened?" She took in Logan's appearance "What did you do?" "You should've seen it." Sketchy responded to Cindy's question "Logan said something or other to piss Max off and she knocked him one." "What did I tell you about that?" Original glowered at him. "There's been enough ass kicking today Cindy." Logan shot back hastily, placing the paper Max shoved at him in the pocket, and chucking the bloody tissue in the trash. "You better damn well apologies for whatever it was." she said to him. "I'll grovel my heart out later." Logan responded, walking out of the building. Cindy just rolled her eyes "This is why men are second class citizens." ***** 4:02 p.m. Max dismounted her Ninja, placing her yellow tinted glasses atop her head. After she finished at Jam Pony she went home to change. Logan had not been there, which was just as well, because she wasn't in the mood to see him right now. She walked up to the Strip for the second time that day. As neared the market place she caught site of Logan's Aztec parked by a booth. /What did you expect? you told him to come/ She mentally flipped off her conscious and headed to where Bilone set up shop. Logan appeared out of the shadows "You're late, you said four." his eyes were teasing slightly, trying to break the tension. Max was not in the mood "Spare me the lectures." He held up his hand "I'm sorry." "Whatever." she muttered under her breath. "I mean about before." he said going after her when she walked off. "I didn't mean what I said." /why does this situation seem so familiar?/ "Like I said spare me another one of your lame ass excuses." she kept walking. "It's not an excuse." Logan said, catching her by the arm. "It's an apology." She stopped then and turned to face him "Why did you say it?" "I don't know." he answered honestly. "My mouth sometimes shoots off before my brain has time to process." he spun her around to face him completely. "I may not get this urge that you have, but that doesn't excuse my behavior. You and Jess are the most wonderful things that happened to me, regardless if we went in reverse and conceived before tying the not." "So you didn't just marry me out of obligation?" Logan was shocked that she would even think that. /you really fucked up this time man/ "No." his response was fierce. He held her face in his hands. "I love you Max. I've always loved you. Jess is living proof of that. I never in anyway felt that it was expected of me to marry you. I am old fashioned in a lot of ways, but not in this. The only 'obligation' I fulfilled when I proposed is making sure that the woman that I loved didn't slip out of my reach another time." Max looked at him sadly, tears brimming in her eyes "Sorry I hit you." she noted the redness that was still evident on his face. "I deserved it." Logan interjected. "I was an ass." "Yes you were." she said hugging him. He hugged her back strongly. "Are we okay?" he asked, unsure. "Yea." she responded, pulling back "As good as any couple who lost their baby." one tear fell from her eye that had been forming there. Logan wiped it away with the back of his hand "Let's see if we can do something about that last part." She nodded, and together they continued to their destination. "Hey J.J., like a word with ya." Max said standing in front of his business. She wiped off her eyes, and placed a hard expression on her face. Bilone looked to her gaze, obviously pleased that she was there. "Hey girl, what can J.J. do for your sexy thang this afternoon?" "This girl's 'thang' is well taken care of." Max shot back with a glance at Logan. "My *husband* and I just need a little of your time." J.J. became disappointed at the word "husband." He shot an unreadable look at Logan. "what is it?" he suddenly felt the need to be business like. "My girl Ju-Yin told me of a big sale you made to a High Class lady the other day." Max replied. "The medicine woman speaks the truth." J.J. responded, leaning back in the folding chair he was sitting at. "It was a twenty-two Smith and Wesson." "How much did the transaction cost?" Logan asked "Five hundred." Bilone responded "Cash up front?" Max inquired "Only kind of money J.J. accepts." he responded. "Cause what's a man in my kinda work gonna do with some travelers check or shit like that? There aren't any cash deposit boxes on this strip last time I checked." "Didn't seem odd to you that someone had that much cash on them?" Logan asked suddenly. Bilone looked at him "How much are you packin' right now dude? Youz obviously from the same stock." "Which is why I asked." Logan said. "The 'stock' you claim I associate with are a lot more paranoid then the locals here. They like to make sure their money is safely tucked away someplace steel and locked." "I didn't ask." J.J. answered finally. "As long as my customers hand me the green I don't give a damn if it came from hell." he paused. "Did she mention anything about a baby?" Max asked "Yea, chick mentioned something about 'protecting' her kid, or some crap like that." he responded. "But I didn't see no kid." "Where did she go?" Logan asked. "Do I look like the travel buereau?" Bilone shot back. "I handed her the iron and she slinked away like a cat, uppity bitch." "Didn't like her?" Max asked of his last statement. "She kept acting like she was Grade A prime rib or somethin'" J.J. sneered. "Not that she didn't have a nice package on her, but way she was advertisin' you'd think that gold came out of her center." "What she pay you in?" Max asked suddenly, "Large or small bills?" "Small." Bilone responded. "All in twenties." "Let me see them." Bilone blew her off "Why? so you can rip me off?" Max reached out and grabbed him by his gold chain "What part of 'let me see it' didn't you understand?" she growled. Bilone broke free from her grip "Aiight girl, just take it easy." he yanked out his stash of bills, shoving a twenty at her. "That's one of them there." Max took it from him, scanning the bill with her keen eye. Like the door knob, there were no finger prints, but that's not what she was looking at. "I appreciate it." she remarked when she was finished, giving him back the money. "Are we done here?" J.J. asked "'cause I gotz payin' customers to attend too." "We'z done aiight." Max spoke in the same ghetto fashion as Bilone. She walked over to her bike, Logan following her. "You wanna tell me what just went down?" he asked as she mounted her Ninja. "Not here." she said using the same cryptic reply as earlier. "Max-" Logan started in. "Just trust my intuition on this 'kay?" she looked up at him with a piercing gaze. Logan sighed briefly "Okay." "Meet me at the nineteenth precinct." she said, lowering her glasses back over her eyes. She started the engine and sped down the road. Logan climbed back in his car. /Truthfully when HAS her urges ever let me down?/ He headed down the street with that thought in his mind. ***** Seattle PD 19th Precinct 5:30 p.m. "Max, Logan." I was just about to call you." Matt said when the pair entered the lighted room. He gestured for them to sit. Logan took the chair on the right, and Max took the one on the left, mirroring her earlier position by flipping the chair around. Once they were seated Matt opened a file. "I found hair on that picture you gave me of Jesse." he addressed Max. "Our guys are running it now." "How long will that take?" Logan asked. "About two days." Matt responded "It takes a little time to break down the DNA of the strand." "Forget that." Max interrupted "I have something now." Matt gave her his full attention. "What is it?" "I know a woman who works the Strip," Max began "And she said that there was some chick that ranked up in the Hierarchy who bought a weapon from J.J. Bilone." "As in Mr. Seattle NRA?" Matt asked breaking in. She nodded "Me and Logan paid a visit to Bilone this afternoon, and he had in fact made 500 on an 22 S&W to a lady claiming that she had to protect her baby with it." "And you think she might have something to do with this?" Matt was slightly confused. Max nodded "How many rich women go shopping on the strip in daylight, carrying a wad of twenties?" "I agree with you Max, but there aren't many hover cams in that part of town, which is one of the reasons people like to set up shop there. So we won't be able to get a clear idea of what the woman looked liked." "But Andrew could tell us." Max took in the two men's confused faces, before going on. "I got J.J. to let me look at some of the green. The bill was crisp, almost new, which means that she had to have made a withdrawal that afternoon, otherwise the money would have gotten bent or something." "Yes, but that still doesn't help us." Matt interjected again. "A lot of banks carry new money." "But not the ones that don't need it Detective." Max stated. "When the bank runs low, the Feds send an armored truck and hooks them up with more cash. That bill was almost *brand* new, it had to have come from a shipment that morning." "And how many banks in Seattle had cash shipments that morning." Logan replied, suddenly realizing where Max was going with this. "Do you know?" he asked, looking at his detective friend. "I could check." Matt replied "But it's still a long shot, there are hundreds of people in Seattle, and who knows how many of them made withdrawals." he picked up his phone. "Hey Joey, it's Matt I need the listings for all the armored car services in Seattle." "But how many yanked five hundred in all twenties?" Max asked. "Thanks." Matt said hanging up. "I've got someone faxing it to me." A few minutes later Matt's fax machine came alive. "Damn, there's twenty-one services in this city." He took a pencil and drew two lines on the fax print out, and then ripped it into three separate sections. He handed one to Max, and the other to Logan. "It'll go a lot faster then doing it myself." They wordlessly took them from him. Matt sat back down at his desk, and dialed the first number on his list. While he waited, he scribbled down two badge numbers on his blotting pad. "They were two former partners of mine who got killed on duty. I doubt they would mind if I used their badge numbers to help this go along more smoothly." Max just smiled her thanks, as Matt's call came thorough "Yes this is Detective Matt Sung of the Seattle PD, I'm calling in regards to your delivery hours.." ***** thirty minutes later. Both Logan and Matt had no luck with the services they called. None of them delivered any new bills on that day. They sat back in their chairs, defeated. Matt had wisely moved their little escapade into an interrogation room, knowing that 'civilians' could not use false identification. Max had just hung up on her line. "I'm really racking up the free vacation points on this cell." "Is that all?" Matt asked "I still have one left." Max said punching the number into the key pad. "Hello this is Officer Mendez of the Seattle PD." "My badge number?" "JTT038632." Max no longer needed to look at the paper, her photo graphic brain having long ago processed the information. "I'm calling in regards to-what?" "Yes they have female cops down here." she became annoyed. "I need information on-NO I don't want to strip search you idiot." "Disrespecting an officer is a federal offense." "You don't want to know where I plan to aim my gun." her tone had become a low growl. "Now I need to know if your company made any shipments of cash to any banks on April fifteenth between the hours of nine and three." "Uh-huh, yea, I'm getting it, Cradock Marine twelfth street branch." "Thank you." she disconnected before he said anything else. She then dialed the number the moron from earlier gave her. "This is Officer Mendez of the Seattle PD, badge number JTT038632." she cut to the chase. "I need some information on a shipment of money that was delivered to your bank by Truman Armored Car Service on April fifteenth." The bank transferred her to account information. "How can we help you officer?" the manager of the section asked. "I need to know how many people made a withdrawl from the bank after the armored car service you deal with delivered your new shipment of bills." "There were quite a few officer Mendez is it?" the man on the other end responded "About one hundred." "Can you narrow that down by just giving me the names of women who withdrew money sometime before three o' clock p.m.?" There was clicking of computer keys at the other end before he responded "I have it listed here that there were fifteen women making a transaction that time of day." "Now even further." Max said into the phone "Give me only the ones who took out at least five hundred dollars all in new twenties." she could feel them closing in. This time the list was considerably shorter. "I have it listed here that a Valerie Stylinder withdrew 650 dollars at 2:15 that afternoon." Max paused to catch the breath that suddenly left her. "Thank you." she hung up. "What did you find out?" Matt asked Max turned to face him "Valerie Stylinder made the withdrawal from Cradock Marine that afternoon." Logan turned to face her "As in my ex Valerie?" "The one and only." Max replied "Guess she decided to hang around after all." "Oh god the key." Logan groaned, dropping his head to his hand. He looked back up to Max "Now I know why the door was unlocked that day, she still had that key I gave her." "That would explain how she got in and out in such short time." He looked to Max as well "looks like your intuition paid off." "I am so dumb." Logan be-rated himself. "No your not baby." Max interjected, with a hand on his shoulder "You didn't know that she would pull something like this." He whipped back up to face her "The one time I *wasn't* paranoid, and looked what happened." Max rubbed her husband's shoulder "It wasn't your fault. The world is just fucked up." Logan reached for her hand that was on his shoulder "Not all of it." Max caught his hidden meaning, and kissed him gently. Matt had been typing up Val's file, who had numerous DUI arrests. He printed out her picture and handed it to Logan. "I think it's about time for an Eyes Only Bulletin." ***** Crash 6:15 p.m. "It seems so quiet without my boo here." Cindy stated to the others seated around the table. "I know." Herbal agreed "But after what the woman went through she probably be visiting far away places by now." "Unless Logan apologized." Kendra put in her two cents, and took a healthy drink of her beer. "He better have." Cindy shot back "otherwise I'm gonna send him back to that wheel chair." "Can I watch if you do?" Sketchy asked. Cindy shot him a 'whatever' look, and sipped her margarita. "..Do Not attempt to adjust your set, This is a Streaming Freedom Bulletin. It will run approximately sixty seconds, It cannot be stopped, it cannot be traced, and it is the only free voice left in this city." Valerie's picture appeared on the screen. "This is Valerie Stylinder, who lived a relatively quiet life until April fifteenth when she kidnapped this child  "Two month old Jesse Trevon Cale." This drew their attention "Eyes Only knows who took our boy?" Cindy gazed intently at the screen. "Her whereabouts are unknown." the broadcast went on "But it is imperative that there are. She has recently purchased a .22 Smith and Wesson. Children and guns are not a good scenario, and this is true now. If there is anyone who knows where this woman is at, call Detective Sung immediately at the Seattle 19th precinct." the message faded as fast as it came. "Some psycho with a gun has Jess?" Kendra said in disbelief. "I think I'm gonna do like Max suggested." Cindy began "And kill the little bitch who's responsible for this." she finished the rest of her margerita in one slam. ***** Unknown Location Nicholis Mercde watched as the TV finished it's broadcast. He did not speak english very well, so he really did not understand what it was about. The little switch board contraption lit up on Room number 23. Nicholis sighed, it was that woman again. She had done this at least twelve times in the last hour. Since he was the only person who worked there he went to see what she wanted. He climbed the stairs to the second floor and made his way down to room 23. "Senora?" he rapped on the door "Que es?" The door opened and Val looked at the short little spanish man. "There's no running water in here." she pointed out. Nicholis didn't understand her. "Que?" Val then made a big show of slowing down her english, thinking that this would help her translation. "There is NO..no.. ..AGUA, no agua, sen-ior." "Ah." Nicholis got the gist of what she was trying to say. "Lo siento Senora, pero los gentes son trabajado en el agua." seeing that she didn't get it he held up a notice that was posted on the door that told of the water problem. "Mira senora." Val signed /that's just great, this place is a rat hole/ "Never mind." she shut the door in his face, just as Nicholis realized that she was the same woman from the TV broadcast. He pounded on the door. "SENORA! Necessito hablar con tu, SENORA!" "Go away." Val cried flopping back down on the bed beside Jesse. /Well at least he stopped crying/ She stroked the baby's face with the cool metal of her gun. Jesse looked up at her. "You like that huh?" she smiled, her hand fumbled on the trigger slightly and the gun went off.. Into the wall. She had been touching Jess's face with the handle, not the barrel. "These clips aren't for you, there for mommy." she smiled, wiping the tears of the baby who became alive with wailing after the gun went off. ***** Foggle Towers Logan had completed the broadcast, and now sat back on the couch. Max was curled up beside him her head resting on his shoulder. "Do you think anyone will call?" she asked "I don't know baby." he replied honestly, his hand rubbing the skin of her belly. "I hope that there are still a few decent people in the world." She sighed a little at his contact. "Why would your ex do something like this?" "I don't know." he answered again. "Val was always one to be unpredictable. During our honeymoon she didn't want to have sex every night, she wanted it ALL the time. And she video taped us doing it so we could watch WHILE we did it for real." "Are you sure that wasn't something that you enjoyed?" she asked, recalling their own honeymoon. "As I remember it, we never did get much of a chance to see the 'nature' you said was beautiful at your parents cabin." Logan chuckled slightly. "What about that night by the lake?" "I wasn't focused on the great outdoors." she responded huskily, remembering how they had come out to take a little break from their 'excertions' and taken each other again on the sands of the shore. She could still recall the way the waves lapped at her back, and the feel of the sand on her skin. She shuddered. "The scenery WAS beautiful." she remarked her hand beginning to travel lower in Logan's lap. He caught her hand in his own. "So was my view." his eyes suddenly dilated ten times their size. He kissed her once on the forehead, then on each eye, and finally claiming her lucious mouth. Max wound her arms around his neck and deepened their contact. She nibbled his lower lip to get him to open his mouth, and when he did she assaulted him with her tongue, claiming the places she knew so well now. Logan pushed her down gently with his weight so that she was lying underneath him. He lifted up her green sweater with his teeth, yanking it up over her head, and then proceeded to blaze a trail of kisses from her juglar vein to the valley in between her breasts. She moaned against him while working to rid him of his sweater. After the barrier was gone she moved her hands lower, feeling him hardening through his jeans. She teased his head with the tip of one finger, and he groaned, even through the hard demin fabric. She rolled him onto his back, which giving the narrow width of the couch sent them both onto the floor. Logan groaned again, and Max laughed "Sorry baby." She straddled his waist and proceeded to place searing kisses all over his exposed chest. His hands slid up her bare back, caressing the silky skin there. He pulled her closer and gently bit down on the tendons of her neck. This was an action that he discovered drove her crazy. While his mouth was occupied he reached one hand under the waist band of her pants and her satin underwear. He teased her wet core with elegant fingers. She arched against him with a deep moan, her hands moving lower to unbutton the brass button of his jeans. Freeing the ring from the hole, she slid down the zipper. Logan's hand caught her wrist, halting her actions. "I hate to ruin the moment angel, but we need some contraception. You're still breast feeding." He immediately saw how his statement broke the mood by the cloud that rolled over her eyes. He stroked her long curls softly, and drew her face down towards for a kiss. A few tears splashed on his neck and rolled down his muscular chest. The phone at Logan's desk began to ring. "That could be Matt." Logan said, suddenly becoming serious. Max's mood changed as well. She moved off of Logan so he could get up. Logan walked over to the phone, and picked it up. "Hello?" "What is it?" "Yea?" he paused, in disbelief "Are you sure?" "Okay" "Thanks, we're on our way." He hung up and turned towards Max. "They found that a Valerie Styinder checked into a rundown hotel on West Ave. on April fifteenth at five o'clock." "Did she have Jess with her?" Max asked, yanking her sweater back on her head. "The manager of the hotel had really broken english so Matt said it was hard to tell." Logan caught his sweater when she threw it at him, and pulled it on, and added to that his leather jacket. "Let's take my Ninja." Max announced pulling on her leather ridding gloves. "We can make it there faster without worrying about traffic." Logan nodded, grabbing their sector passes, and followed her out the door. In the hallway Mrs. Culverson stopped them "Mr. and Mrs. Cale." Max and Logan turned to face her. "Did they find Jesse yet?" "They have a lead on the person." Logan replied. "Oh I am so glad." the elderly woman replied. "I hope he is all right. I have been at my wits end, worrying about what happened, because I fell asleep that day." "It wasn't your fault." Max responded, using the same phrase Logan had used when this nightmare started. "You had no way of knowing." Mrs. Culverson smiled "You are a very forgiving soul dear. That baby couldn't have a better mother." Max smiled softly. "Thanks." they began to leave, when Mrs. Culverson called out again. "I'm glad to see that you still managed to try and do normal things inspite of this mess." Logan was confused. "What is she talking about?" he whispered to Max. She couldn't help but snort at the woman's remark. "Sweetie, you need to zip up your pants before we hit the street." Logan realized his state of dress, and pulled the metal clasp back up to full mast. He laughed slightly as the pair made their way too the elevator. ***** West Ave. Outside 'Siesta Hotel' Matt was standing by the entrance of the building, along with another officer, when Max and Logan pulled up on the Ninja. Max killed the motor, and she and Logan dismounted. "Is she in there?" Max asked turning to face Sung. "I'll bet my pay check on it." Matt said, turning to look at her. He then addressed the other officer. "Jonson, this is Max and Logan Cale, the parents of the child." They exchanged greetings, before heading into the building. In the lobby there was no one except for a small spanish man behind a desk. "Sir" Officer Jonson began pulling out his badge "We're with the Seattle PD, we are under the suspicion that a Valerie Stylinder is registered here." Nicholas again looked confused. "Que?" "Great." Jonson complained. "One of the only guys who can lead us to our suspect, and he can't speak the english lingo." "Senior." Max began pulling out the picture of Val that Matt had printed up "Estamos buscando a esta mujer." She shoved the printout in his face. "Su nombre es 'Valerie Sylinder'. Ella aqui de Abril el decimo quinto." "Si." Nicholas began exasperated "Esa es esa mujer loca!" he gestured to a small box on his desk. "Ella suena mi senal sonora cada quince minuites y se queja. Si ella no deseo permanecer en un agujero de la rata, ella no debe haber venido a esta cara de la cuidad!" he pounded on the rickety table with both fists. "La tiene contolo hacia fuera todaia?" Max asked, putting the printout back in her pocket. "No ella todavia esta aqui, ganadome y reganado toda la hora maltida." "Ella tenia un bebe con ella cuando vino?" "Si Si." Nicholas replied shaking his head. "Ella dijo que era su hijo." "What is he saying?" Jonson demanded of Max. She turned to him. "He says that a woman named Valerie did check in here with a baby two days ago." "Did he say what room number?" Logan asked. "I'll find out in a second." Max responded addressing Nicholas again. "Que numero de habitacion?" The man suddenly leered at her "Como sobre usted deje la ley aqui, podria mostrarle los accomidations." he ran his eyes over her body. Max suddenly seized him by his collar and dragged his upper body across the counter "O como me rompo alredor el pene por la mitad con mi zapato!" her voice was full of rage. "Ahora en donde esta en ella?" "23." Nicholas squeaked out "habitacion numero veinte y tres. Segundo suelo." "Gracias." she let him go abruptly so his fell back on the floor. "He says she's staying in room twenty-three, second floor." Max informed. "What else did he say?" Logan asked sensing there was more to it then that. "Just that he wanted to show me a good time. I threatened to dismember his balls." she said this all in a low growl. "Okay then lets go." Jonson said removing his weapon from it's holster. He looked to Max and Logan "You two would be better off outside." "Like hell I would." Max shot out, heading over to the stair case. Jonson caught her by the arm, which she snapped back in one fast maneuver. "You wanna help me or not?" "It isn't safe for you up there Max, you are inexperienced-" Max snorted at this remark. "There's a lot you don't know about me Officer." she moved away from him, taking the stairs in twos. "Max!" Jonson called out to her. He looked back towards Matt. "Cover me at this level in case she tries to run for it." He then cast a glance a Logan "That wife of yours is a piece of work." he sprinted up the stairs as well. ***** Max had made it to the second floor long before Jonson ever did. She moved silently through the halls, looking for room 23. When she found it, she pressed herself flat against the wall. In one maneuver she picked the lock, and entered the room. There was no one there. She prowled over to the bed, and saw the empty bottle of scotch. And in the waist basket there was one dirty diaper. She also checked the dingy bathroom, but it two was empty. She moved to exit the bathroom, when the door, caught her in the forehead, and she fell back against the sink. She recovered from the blow in time to hear the catch of a gun's safety being released. "Hello there." Max stared into the face of Logan's ex, who was holding her son with one hand, and the S&W with the other. Max made a move to come forward, but Val moved the gun from her to Jess. "Uh uh." She actually let Jess play with the cool metal of the barrel. "He is a handsome baby Max." Val spoke in a calm voice, walking over to the bed and sitting down. "He must get that from Logan." Max decided to play along with her game. She didn't want to do anything that would hurt her baby. "Why did you take him from us?" Val laughed slightly. "I don't know. It seemed like such fun. I debated on taking him or-" she broke off to look at Max "you, but I decided that this would hurt more then if I took you." "Why do you want to hurt me?" "Lots of reasons." Val shot back. "I just happen to think you're a bitch." Max looked at her with a 'say what?' gaze. "You think *I* am a bitch after what you did, and what your still doing?" "Don't you get it Max?" Val came back looking at her with a scowl. "What I do is not half of what you do. You have given Logan everything he wanted. You are his counterpart. The strength I lacked. He can be rough with you because he knows that you can take it. I was ALWAYS the fucking delicate flower, something to be guarded." "That ain't my fault." Max retorted, trying to keep her anger low, but finding it harder and harder to do. "I can help the way I live my life." Val smiled cynically, pointing the gun at her. "But I can help the way it ends-" Jonson broke though the door "DROP THE WEAPON!" he shouted at Val. "DROP IT NOW!" Val raised her hand in a surrendering gesture, but then at the last moment made a dash for the hall. Max chased after her with Jonson right behind. They made it out to the rail. Val stopped suddenly, and aimed the gun at Jesse's head. "Don't even think about it!" she screamed. "VAL PUT THE GUN DOWN!" it was the voice of Logan from the bottom of the stairs. "Hey lover." she called out to him "Wanna see what this delicate flower can do?" Her face was turned away, so Max took the advantage, and kicked the gun out of her hand. It skitted by her feet and she hastily pushed it up to her hand by kicking it. "Guns are dangerous around babies." "So are ledges." Val stated, placing Jesse over the edge and dropping him off. Max's heart stopped "NO!" she screamed dropping the gun. She took a dive over the rail, going after her son. She held her posture in a vertical position to give her body more weight so she could get under him. Her hands managed to grab her baby's small body seconds before they both crash landed into a wooden table. "MAX!" Logan screamed hurrying to where they landed. She was on her back, both arms firmly grasping Jesse who was still crying historically. Her eyes were closed, and a thin trickle of blood flowed from her forehead, and she wasn't moving. "Max, can you hear me?" Logan shook her gently, worriedly, vaguely aware of Matt calling for an ambulance. Logan locked two hateful eyes on Val, who in the midst of Max's fall had lost her upper hand, and Jonson had gained his. He soon had her handcuffed. "I could kill you!" he shouted hatefully. "Why did you have to do this!" During his tirade, Max's eyes fluttered open "Logan?" He turned immediately to the sound of her voice. "I'm here Max. Jess is here too, and he's fine." She gave a small smile, groaning slightly. "Where does it hurt baby?" he asked, brushing a hand over her pained filled features. "Just in my leg." she answered, and much to Logan's surprise she sat up. She winced as she reached out to touch it gently, cradling Jess with her other hand. She held him tightly to her, reveling in the feeling of having her baby back in her arms. "Mommy missed you sweetheart." she said, tears leaking out of her eyes. Logan ran a hand along both her legs. Although there were a few bruised areas on her right leg along with a gash that ran the length of the same thigh, he couldn't feel the telltale protrusions of any broken bones. "I think I just sprained my ankle or something." Max diagnosed. "I had one of my legs slightly twisted when I moved to catch Jess and it unbalanced my weight when I landed, which is why I fell." "We'll let a doctor decide that sweetheart." Logan stated. He moved to pick her up off the floor. Matt saw what he was doing, and moved to help by taking Jess out of Max's arms. "I'll give him back at the hospital." he reassured. Max looked slightly pained to have him taken away from her. "You better." she announced, resting a head against Logan's shoulder. The paramedics had arrived, and wheeled a stretcher into the building. Val was being brought down, just as Logan and the EMS crew met halfway in the center of the room. He laid her down carefully on the stretcher, relaying what he saw happen to the two paramedics. Janis, one of the EMS medics was impressed. "You took a big risk, jumping off that ledge Mrs. Cale." she inserted an IV into Max's arm, while her partner taped gauze over the gash in her leg. Janis taped the needle in place and added "You could have been killed." Max looked over to Val, as she was being led to the cruiser. "That's just the way I am." She winced slightly as Janis taped gauze over the small superficial cut that marred her forehead. As a precaution the medics also immobilized her lower leg and placed a cervical collar around her neck. They wheeled her out of the building, with Logan close in tow. As he climbed into the ambulance he turned back to Matt, who was close behind him "I'll take him now." Matt didn't argue, and gently handed Logan back his infant son. A smile played across his lips as he saw the faint trace of tears in Logan's eyes as he looked down at the baby. "Now I know you took a lot of rides in the last few days Jess." Logan addressed his baby in a gentle tone "But this time you and me are gonna take a ride with mommy to make sure she's okay and that you are too." He kissed Jess's little forehead, and reached out one hand to grasp Max's as doors of the ambulance closed. ***** Crash 7:45 p.m. "Damn" Cindy cursed, ending the call. She was getting no answer at the penthouse, or on Max's cell. "No luck?" Kendra asked, coming back from her 'bathroom break' "No" Cindy replied facing her and taking in her friends disheveled appearance. "Obviously you had some." Kendra nodded with a sly smile. Cindy shook her head, and tried one more time, this go around dialing Logan's cell. "I just hope that he hasn't gone and shot off that mouth of his again." she stated as she waited for the call to go through. After a few rings it did. "Logan" Cindy began, her tone set for a reprimand "Where the hell have you been-" she broke off as she heard Logan's explanation of the events that just went down. "What did you do to her?" Her tone changed when he corrected her on her thinking "Is she okay?" She listened intently to the rest of the conversation "I'm coming down there." "What is it?" Kendra asked "Did they find him?" "Yea they did." Cindy responded, turning to face her "But he and my boo had to take a spin to Metro." "Oh my god. What happened?" Kendra wanted to know. "Logan didn't say much over the phone." Cindy pulled her jacket over her green halter top. "I just know I'z gotta get down there." Kendra nodded at her statement "I'll handle the tabs. Just let us know what you find out." her voice and expression were full of worry. "I will suga." Cindy responded and left the dimly lit bar in a hurry. ***** Metro Mercy Waiting Room 1-b 8:15 p.m. Logan sat slumped over in the blue chair. Around him people bustled in and out. This city was full of crime and accident prone people, judging by the number of gurneys that came through the halls, among them were Max and Jess. When the ambulance pulled up she was unloaded from the back and brought into the ER bay. Like a swarm of ants, doctors and nurses approached them, asking questions and running tests. It reminded him of his own accident a year and a half ago. All those doctors and their cold, sterile hands. But now it hurt even more then it did back then. Because he had to watch someone he loved being prodded like meat. He was told that he had to wait while she was being examined in the ER. Also Jess was taken from him for observation. So now he sat alone, not knowing what to do with himself. He had paced for the last twenty minuites, drank bad hospital coffee and watched the clock as a dog watches a bone. "So what's the dealio?" Logan snapped up from his hunched position to look into the face of Cindy, who had sat next to him without his noticing. "No one will tell me what's going on." Cindy went on. "Me neither." Logan admitted to her. "The doctors say they just need to be 'examined." he leaned back against the chair. Cindy turned in to face him "What exactly went down today?" "I found something else that's wrong with my ex." Logan said, not moving from his position. "Alcoholism wasn't good enough for her, she had to add kidnapping and attempted murder to the list." Cindy adapted a stunned look on her face "That Valerie chick is your ex wife?" Logan nodded, solemnly "We found her with Jess in some shit filled motel, and she had this gun." His eyes bore a look of rage. "She just aimed the damn thing point black at Jess's head." his words matched his expression "Max kicked it out of her hand," he could see the 'that's my girl' look from Cindy at this statement "but then Val simply dropped Jess over the rail from two stories up, and Max went after him. She wasn't in the best position or something because they both fell into the only decent piece of oak furniture in that crappy lobby." Cindy was stunned. "What's wrong with that bitch?" she was of course referring to Val. "I don't know." Logan answered, standing up again. He turned to face the wall and lowered his head against the painted white surface. He stayed that way, lost in his own thoughts. "Logan?" He turned at the sound of that voice, and saw Max coming towards him on two wooden crutches. He hurried over to her as well, meeting her half way in a fierce hug. He reveled in the feeling of her warm body against his. She hugged him back just as tightly, dropping the crutches on the floor so she could wrap her arms around him. "I'm okay baby." she reassured pulling back to look into his eyes "It was just a sprain like I thought." she looked down at her foot wrapped in an ace bandage, and then back up to her husband "nothing broken" Cindy approached the pair "Your man isn't the only one who wants some sugar." she kissed her cheek and embraced her. "Glad it wasn't any worse." "Me too." Max agreed and pulled back. "Just a sprained ankle, and fifteen stitches. five here." she pointed to her head "And ten here." she pointed to the small sterile bandage that adorned her calf. "All that came from landing into a table?" Cindy asked in slight disbelief. "It was oak girl." Max informed "That's hard shit, I'm just glad it was me and not Jess." She turned to Logan then "Where is he?" "They had to take him in for observation Max." Logan stated "Just to make sure he didn't sustain any injuries during the fall or prior." Max whirled on him then, not even considering that until this moment "You don't think she did anything-" "I don't know." he interrupted "He seemed fine in the ambulance. I think it's just a precaution." "Mr. Cale?" a doctors voice interrupted their conversation. Logan handed Max back the crutches and the trio made their way over to where the doctor was. "I'm Dr. Rodell. I work in the PICU. I just finished examining your son." "Why is Jess in intensive care?" Max broke in "I thought he was just brought in for observation." "Doctor, this is my wife Max." Logan introduced her to the other woman. Rodell turned towards Max "It's better we place him in PIC-U for this Mrs. Cale. In case something were to happen, we're equipped to deal with it more in there then a ER made for adults." she paused and addressed both Max and Logan "But I'm glad to report that aside from minor diaper rash your son is physically fine." There was a collective sigh of relief "Thank god." Cindy said from behind them. Logan rubbed Max's shoulders and she intern leaned against him, a huge weight lifted off her. "I want to see him." Max stated. It was not a request. "The nurses are giving him a bath at the moment-" Rodell began "I'll wait until their done." Max interrupted. After three days away from her child she wasn't about to stand not seeing him for even five more minuites. Dr. Rodell sighed defeated "PICU is on the second floor." Max gave a slight nod and began limping her way over to the elevator. Logan and Cindy caught up with her as she waited for the doors to open. Once they did the trio stepped into the elevator car, and rode in silence to the second floor. ***** Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Waiting room 6-A 15 minuites later "Suga you need to sit down, you're wearing a hole in the carpet." Cindy advised Max from her seat in a wooden chair. When they had reached the PIC-U department the head nurse informed them that Jesse would be brought back out in ten minuites. Max had not sat down that entire time, pacing back and forth on her crutches and looking at the white door which lead to the room where the newborns were bathed about every thirty seconds. "It's been fifteen damn minuites." Max muttered under her breath. "What's taking so long?" "Girl it's only been five minuites longer then they said it would be." Cindy reassured her friend "Just calm down." At that same moment the glass door opened as Logan re-entered the room. He had made a trip down to the hospital cafeteria to get coffee, or the hospitals equivalent to it. He handed one of them to Cindy "Maybe there's a reason they keep the cafeteria so close to the ER and the ICU wards." he stated, trying to break the tension with a little humor. Cindy sipped her 'coffee' and scowled at the taste "You got that right." Logan laughed softly, and turned to look at Max "Baby come and sit down, you look tired." "I don't get tired Logan." Max informed "It's not in my genes." she never once broke her train of movement. "Yea well regardless of what your DNA was programmed for, you look worn out, and you need to sit down before you fall down." "He's right suga." Cindy agreed "You look like you need a break." Max sighed, and came over to where he and Cindy were seated. She removed the crutches from under her arms and fell back into one of the chairs. Logan took the crutches from her and placed them to the side. He drew her close to him with one arm. "He's just in for a bath." "I know." Max admitted softly "It's just-I miss him." "Me too." Logan agreed gently, kissing her hair. The white door opened and a nurse stepped out. "I think someone here wants to see mom and dad." Max shot up from her position, taking in the sight of the nurse carrying Jesse, who was dressed in fresh hospital baby clothes. She moved to stand up, but the nurse held up her hand "I'll bring him to you Ma'am, you should stay off your ankle." she walked over to them. "Look sweetie." she was addressing Jess "it's mommy." she placed him in Max's waiting arms. Max's eyes teared up as she gazed down at her son "Hey there." She stroked his face softly. "It's been a while kiddo." A tear broke and traveled slowly down her face. She looked up at Logan and saw that his eyes were wet as well. He kissed her softly and gazed down at their son "It was to quiet around the house without you Jess." Logan began "We missed our early morning symphony." Max laughed through her tears, and Cindy came up and knelt beside them. "Auntie missed her boy too." she kissed his little forehead softly. Max broke from this scene to look up at the nurse "Has he been fed?" Though she had pumped regularly since Jess was taken, her breasts were still heavy. She shook her head "I figured you would handle that." Max looked at her with gratitude as she left. She wasn't wearing a nursing bra, or one that clasped in the front, so she began to reach around to her back. Logan saw what she was trying to do and lifted up her sweater and freed the little clasps for her. She thanked him with a smile, and lifted up one side of her sweater and positioned her son so he could eat. He latched onto her immediately and began to nurse. She reveled in the sensation of his warm baby's breath on her exposed skin. She had gone without it for far to long. Logan pulled her back to him, wrapping both arms around her waist. "This is amazing." Cindy stated out of the blue. "I thought that Original Cindy had done it all. Lived through the Pulse, met my first and true love who's lovin' me from heaven now." she smiled skyward at that last remark. "But seeing my suga feedin' her son, that's one that tops them all." Max smiled softly, stroking her baby's soft brown hair. Jess continued to suckle well into to the five minute mark. Cindy had since gotten on Max's cell and had called Kendra. "...yea our girl's okay. Just a few scraps and a sprained ankle." She could hear Kendra relay the good news to the people who were listening by the phone. "Is de baby all right?" Herbal's Jamaican accented voice asked in the background. "Suga tell everyone that my boy'z all good." Cindy stated "He's alert, awake-" "And hungry." Max broke in loudly for the benefit of her friends on the other line. She sucked in a breath as Jess worked harder in getting himself fed. He even placed both tiny hands on either side of his mother's breast to keep his position. Logan had to laugh at the greediness his son was showing. But then again, this was probably the first time he ate something decent in days. He leaned down towards Jesse and kissed his head. Then he placed another kiss on the skin of Max's full round breast. "I know you're hungry Jess," Logan began in a gentle reprimanding tone "But you gotta let mommy have some left in reserve." Max laughed at her husband's choice of words "Reserve baby? What do you think the 'well' is gonna be tapped dry?" her voice was full of lighthearted teasing. "Considering how much our son has been eating, and how little you have, it's a possibility." he put more emphasis on the second part of his statement. She had hardly eaten anything in the last few days, save for some coffee and half of a club sandwich he had originally made for himself. Her body had a very high metabolic rate, so she needed to constantly replenish it. And not eating wasn't helping any. "You're right about that." she stated in agreement. "I am *starving*. I never did get to eat my 'specially requested' dinner." "I kinda got cheated out of that as well." Cindy added, having since ended her call with Kendra "But it's excusable this time." A few seconds later Bling came through the glass doors, totally unaware of the foreshadowing conversation that went on before he arrived. "Who's in the mood for a little pasta?" He held a paper bag in his hand. "Logan here asked me to swing by his house and pick up this." he revealed the corningware container of fetuchini al pesto. "Since we missed out first dinner engagement." Logan began, carefully moving out from under his wife and helping Bling with the contents of the bag "I thought we could have it now." Cindy cocked an eyebrow "In a hospital waiting room?" Logan offered her a smile "It's something different. I'm not doing it because I think my food is bad." He served up his culinary art on the paper plates he asked Bling to pick up. "Not bad." Cindy remarked in-between bites. "You got skills in the kitchen boy." Logan grinned at her from his position beside Max "Thanks." They ate for a little while longer, then Bling chucked his plate in the trash. His hand reached into the bag again and pulled out a bottle of pre-post alcohol. "I'd like to propose a toast." He pulled the cork on the bottle. "With this very tasteful bottle of dark burgundy that Logan had stashed in his wine racks." Max was about to object and remind him that she couldn't drink, but silenced when he also produced a bottle of sparkling water "And this, for my girl." She smiled her thanks and took the paper cup from him. "I don't know if I should be upset that you went through my wine racks, or happy that you didn't bring that bottle of really cheap rose my uncle bought for ten dollars in El Salvador." Logan stated matter-of-factly. "I have taste." Bling reminded, handing out the other two cups to him and Cindy. He raised his cup in the air "Here's to friendship, and the courage I've seen in the last to days." "To my girl." Cindy continued "For taking that woman to school, and being a great mom to my boy." They all laughed at that remark. "To my son Jesse." Logan glanced at the infant in Max's arms. "I am so glad that you are safe, and back where you belong. And to my beautiful wife." He turned his eyes upwards to meet Max's gaze "For the passion of not giving up, and for reminding me each day of why I fell in love with you." Max couldn't help it, she had to kiss him for that one. "To Jess being here again with us, the way it should be." she locked her eyes on Logan "To you baby, for giving me this, and loving me despite was I was created to be." Her eyes glistened with tears. Logan kissed her again, and wiped them away with his hands. "I love you for who you are, not what you were *suppose* to be." he whispered. They all drank to their toast. Max curled up beside Logan, her arms still around Jesse. Her body ached with fatigue from the sleepless nights of the past few days. "Sorry about cutting the festivities short." she remarked drowsily. Logan gently kissed her hair "That's all right sweetheart. It's early, but I think we all could use some sleep." He carefully took Jess from her and handed him over to Cindy. Then he scooped her up in his arms and stood up. Bling snagged her crutches, and they maneuvered their way to the door. Max felt the warm comfort of Logan's body around her, and she let it carry her away. There may be many more battles to fight, but she was content in knowing that she had won this one. ***** 19th Precinct Seattle 9:15 p.m. "Why did you do it Ms. Styinder?" Matt's hard voice echoed off the walls of the small interrogation room. Val stared blankly at him, casually smoking a cigarette "You wouldn't understand." Smoke spewed from her mouth. "What? How you kidnapped a small child from his crib, and nearly killed him and his mother? What's hard to understand?" his tone was cold, clipped. He did not get this woman. She took another drag from the Morley. "There were worse things that I could have done." More smoke. "I did what I had to do." "That's not a reason Valerie." Matt stated, switching to her first name. "You're looking at one year for kidnapping, and another five for attempted murder. That's six years of taking 'community showers' living in filthy cells, and undergoing strip searches every hour. What rationalization do you have to do something to wind up in a place like this?" He stared at her long and hard, demanding an answer. She snubbed her cigarette butt in the ash tray. "I guess I wanted to show Logan that I wasn't a weak woman, that I could be just as strong as *her*." she spat out the last word like it was poison. "Well if 'strong' is defined by taking a baby away from his family, making his parents go through hell for the last two days so you could lure the mother into a trap to try and kill her, then yea Val, you have 'strength' nailed." Matt pointed out sarcastically. He motioned for Officer Jonson to come in from outside the door. "Take her back now." he ordered. Jonson nodded, and hauled Val up from the chair. Her hands remained handcuffed at her back. He led her out of the room and closed the door. Jonson placed her back in her cell. She sat on the cot, watching the woman in the next cell lifting cinder blocks as weights. "Trying to work up the arms to break outta here?" The woman ceased in her actions and shot Val a chilling look. "You wanna start something Richy bitch?" Val backed off. She faced the wall, wishing for some scotch or vodka to make this shitty place more bearable. She didn't want to admit it, but these people scared her. Suddenly all her tough bravado was gone. She wasn't as hard as she thought she could be, and unfortunately she had found that out too late. ***** End This one took a couple of weeks to complete. I kept having lapses of inspiration. I plan to my next one in this series on Max and Zack going back to Manticore to rescue Tinga. Tinga's son and husband re-enter the picture, and Max will somehow wind up getting herself taken, I just haven't figured out how. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. And also tell me what you think about this one. 


	3. Senses

From: "Veronica Bowles"  Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 12:53:33 -0400 Subject: new post Source: direct Title: Choices III-"Senses" Author: Mystic25 Email: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com Distribution: Archive, so long as my name and info are kept the same. Genres: Story/Romance/Angst Relationships: Max/Logan married Content: violence, graphic images, and descriptions of prostitution and sex Keywords: Alternate Universe Rating: R Spoilers: none Summary: When a number of women turn up dead in Seattle Logan and Max go undercover to learn why. And when they do Max must keep herself from suffering the same fate. Disclaimer: All characters that appear regularly on Dark Angel are Cameron's. I won't break them. I just wanna play. Jesse is my own creation and so are any others introduced in this story. Author's note: Thanks to everyone for all the reinforcement on this series. My other idea for the third 'chapter' was a little plot-less. This one has more substance. ***** 35th Ave. Seattle 'Ring of Fire' 7:35 p.m. Adrianna was lookin' for action. And judging by the cars that lined the street there were plenty of people willing to indulge her. She pulled down the pink mini dress lower to show more cleavage. /Can't sell products without advertisement./ Her pale skin shone like ivory in the moonlight. One of the many cars crowded by her normal business spot slowed to a stop. The tinted window of the Benz rolled down and a face with buzzed brown hair in dark Oakley glasses appeared behind it. Adrianna approached her customer "Whatcha need tonight hon?" She bent down and stuck her head through the window. The man smiled lazily at her "A little trip around the block." Adrianna nodded, pulling back and climbing in the passenger seat. The car sped off into the night. Adrianna pulled out her makeup out of her purse and began applying a deep shade of red lipstick to her mouth. "How many stops do you want on this ride?" The man turned to her "Enough to see the scenery." He scratched his right arm, which was bare except for a black Chinese dragon tattooed on the muscled bicep. The ride was silent for a while as Adrianna worked to fix up her face and her customer drove. After a few more minutes went by he pulled up into a small motor lodge. He killed the motor and turned towards her. "Let's get our freak on." Both adults climbed out of the car. The man led her around the first row of mobile homes until they reached a small blue one with aluminum siding. The old screen door creaked as they entered. The place was pretty well furnished, considering the location. He gestured for her to sit on the large king size poster bed that sat in the center of the room. "Nice place." Adrianna remarked falling back on the silk sheets "Wouldn't have known by the neighborhood." "I like to keep out of the mainstream." he remarked from across the room. His hand moved to grasp a spray bottle on the mahogany dresser. Adrianna kicked off her shoes, and was undoing the zipper in the back of her dress when a large German Sheperd appeared out of the back room and leapt up on the bed. Adrianna cried out in surprise. The dog looked at her with large brown eyes. "Down Kaja." he commanded, and the dog obeyed instantly, hopping off the bed and retreating back into the shadows. "I hate dogs." she remarked, brushing the hair off her. "She's good for protection." he replied coming over to her and sitting on the bed. "This isn't exactly the ideal living area." He held the spray bottle in his hand. She looked at it "What's that?" There was a cream colored liquid in the plastic holder. "I make perfume." he responded, spraying her with a gentle mist of the substance. "Like it?" "It's aiight." she responded. Truth be told, it didn't smell wonderful, but it wasn't bad either. It smelled like all those products that claimed they were unscented but in reality had a slight odor. "I'm glad." he said, leaning over to kiss her hungrily. She let him exert control, knowing that pleasing him would be a ticket for more cash. He fondled her through her clothes, and hastily removed his. Within minutes he was straddling her. There was no foreplay before the main event. He rode her fast and hard, making her orgasm almost immediately. She arched against him as she came, and after her body relaxed she turned to him. "It's sixty-five. Cash on the table." He laid some crumpled bills on her sweat soaked chest and climbed off the bed. He pulled on his pants and made his way back to the dresser. She sat up, not bothering to look at him while she got dressed. There were no fireworks, or small talk after these events. It was just a business transaction. "Was it to your liking?" she asked, as if taking a customer review. He nodded "More then you'll know." he whistled sharply. Kaja, the German Sheperd sprinted out again. She sniffed the air for a second and then snarled at Adrianna. This time she couldn't even scream as the dog leapt on her, clamping down with sharp teeth. She dug into the flesh of her chest, biting tearing. Strips of skin came away in her mouth, and soon Adrianna was still. He gave two sharp whistles and the dog climbed off the dead woman as if nothing had happened. Walking back over to the dresser he opened a black book. Under the date May 26, he wrote down: Caucasian experiment: Successful. He retrieved the bottle from where it fell on the floor putting it and the book into a drawer. He turned to the lifeless body, picked her up and left silently out the door. ***** 8:32 a.m. The Next Morning Max stood under the spray of the shower, letting the steamy water pound on her back and shoulders. She enjoyed the hard spray a few more minutes before shutting off the flow from the shower head. Climbing out she wrapped a towel around her head, and slipped another around her body. She exited the bathroom, noting that Logan had obviously decided to get up as well. He never took advantage to enjoy the luxury of sleeping late in the morning. After putting on her underwear, Max moved over to the closet and pulled out her dark army green ribbed sweater, and a pair of dark denim jeans. Pulling the clothes on she mentally complained to herself how it was fuckin' May and it was still sixty-five degrees outside. She removed the towel from her head and tossed it on her side of the bed. Letting the dark locks cascade down her shoulders she combed out all the snarls and replaced her jade wedding band back on her hand. Satisfied with her appearance she left the bedroom in search of her husband. "Logan?" she called out walking through the halls of their house. She found him at his office talking on the phone. She approached him, and kissed the back of his neck "Breakfast?" He smiled from in front of her, and covered the mouthpiece with his hand. "On the table." he gestured to the steaming plates of eggs benedict and fresh strawberries on the large dinning table. "You gonna join me?" she asked. He nodded "In a second baby, I just gotta finish this call." She sighed, the man was a slave to his work. "I'm gonna go wake up my other man." she left him there and retreated back to the hall. Instead of a right she took a left and opened the door to the nursery. Her son was awake and staring intently at the mobile that was suspended above his crib. "Ready for breakfast kiddo?" she smiled at him and reached down and scooped him up. She carried her son out the door and back into the dinning room. She set him down in his high chair, and walked into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator she retrieved a jar of baby food. All natural, made by her girl Kendra. Jess had been weaned from breast milk about three weeks ago, and even though he was still only five months old, she felt like he was growing up too fast. She set the jar on the little plastic table of his high chair. Opening the lid she spooned out some of the dark mush "Open up sweetie." she stuck the spoon into his mouth. Needless to say, more went on the cotton bib then in his mouth. After a few more minutes of this game, she had concluded that he had eaten enough for now. She sat down and began to eat her own breakfast when Logan walked in. "Who was that on the phone?" Max asked in between bites. "An informant of mine." he responded, pouring two cups of coffee from the pot. He walked back out to her and handed her one, and offered her a kiss before sliding into the seat beside her. "Had some information to tell me." "About?" she inquired sipping from the mug he handed to her. Logan took a bit of a strawberry before responding. "Yesterday the police found a woman's body dumped by the alley next to the waterfront." "How did she die?" Max asked, becoming interested. "From what they have it looks like blood loss. Among other things. Her chest was torn open, entrails all out, it was kinda grizzly." he opened the file and placed the photo that was faxed to him in front of her "These are the autopsy photos." She stared at the images of the woman's body, splayed out and covered in crimson blood. The bright pink of her dress mingled grotesquely with the blood that was streaked across it. "Was she a hooker?" Most women opted not to wear colors that bright unless they were trying to attract attention. He nodded "That's why not many cops are looking into it. They figure she got into it with a customer." "But how many men rip open a girl's chest in the heat of passion?" she asked in disbelief. "Maybe he was one of yours." he answered. She snapped her head up "I don't think so. Doesn't look like anything I remember being taught to do" her finger pointed to the wet trail of blood and semen that ran down the dead woman's calf. "If a Manticore solider was sent to assassinate someone he wouldn't decide to get a little freaky before the kill." her voice shook slightly. It was still hard to talk about 'back then', even after all this time. Logan sensed her mood change "You're right, doesn't fit description of what you've told me about the train." he touched her hand. Their somber mood was broken a few seconds later when Jesse knocked the entire jar of homemade baby food off his high chair. The jar didn't break, but the dark mush was splattered all over the floor. Both Max and Logan laughed. "Trying to test the endurance of that jar Jess?" Logan asked his son as he got up out of his chair to get some paper towels. While Logan cleaned up the mess on the floor Max cleaned up the mess on their son. "If only you could absorb food through your skin sweetie, you would be able to eat much more." she wiped off a dollop of apple sauce that hung on his chin. After cleaning him up, and giving him a fresh diaper, Max continued to get ready for work. She pulled on her leather boots, and grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair that she had thrown it at last night. When she emerged again she found Logan on the couch looking over some papers that was faxed to him with the file. "Gotta head out." she stated looking at him from her standing position in the middle of the room. He stood up from the couch and walked over to where she was. "Have a good day baby." he placed the file on the coffee table and kissed his wife lovingly on the lips. "I'll do my damndest." she remarked when they pulled back. "Be back around five." He nodded "I'll just go over more of that file today." "Are you sure it wasn't just an isolated incident?" she questioned. "I don't know." he responded honestly. "But, it wouldn't make any difference. Prostitute or not, a woman was murdered last night, and I want to know why." "Maybe I'll help you when I get back." she remarked with a smile. He smiled back "That's kinda what I was hoping for." She kissed him again "See ya at five then." She turned and smiled at her son who was playing in his play pen. "Be good for daddy." she turned again and left out the front door. ***** Jam Pony X-Press 12:23 p.m. "Two nines." Sketchy proudly announced, laying his cards down, on the crate. "Top that." Max smiled smugly, putting down her hand "Straight flush." She swept up the small wad of bills that was positioned in the center. "That makes two wins in a row dude." Cindy remarked from behind them. "You should've quit while you were ahead." "I thought it was in the bag." Sketchy stated. He turned to Max. "I didn't know you were such a card shark." "Knowledge can be a powerful thing." Herbal stated, who was also watching the game. "Dat is if you wish to use it." He walked over and patted Sketchy on the arm. "Mmmhmm." Max remarked straightening out her winnings "'Cause there's no such thing as a sure thing." she pocketed the cash into the pocket of her capris. "Does Logan know that you gamble?" Sketchy asked out of the blue, still a little upset that he dropped twenty dollars. "Of course he does." she answered back. "We play a lot. 'Cept when we play poker, we don't play for cash." she adapted a sexy little grin on her face. "I hate to ruin this lovely game of illegal gambling." Normal broke in, walking up to them. "But these packages are meant to be delivered, not sit around and take up space in the storage room." He turned to Max "And please keep what you and your husband do in your free time to yourself." he handed a box "This one's for Royala." She took the box from him with one hand, ignoring his other remark. She stood to leave when the cell clipped to her waist came alive. "Bet that's Logan." Sketchy remarked. Max shot him a look and answered it "Yea?" "Baby, it's me." She smiled "What's up?" "Can't a guy call his wife just because?" "In your case." she began "No." He laughed slightly from his end. "You got me. I need a favor." "Who- I mean *what* do you want done?" she corrected herself, hoping that the others around her didn't hear. "There are some records on that murder victim at the morgue that I need. Place is located on fifty-sixth and Morgan." "But baby, It's very exclusive, I can't just walk in." she rephrased what she wanted to ask him, because if she just came out and said she couldn't get the confidential records without special access, people might get suspicious. "Look in the pocket of your leather jacket." he responded, catching on immediately about what she was getting at. She did as he said and found a plastic ID tag. It was a very good copy. "Dr. Anna Richardson?" she said this low so no one else would hear. "Okay the name is a little plain." Logan admitted "But I made it out to be a level four clearance ID. You should be able to get in and out of there without any problems." "'Kay." she agreed, pocketing the fake ID in her jacket pocket. "You owe me." "What do you have in mind?" he asked through the phone. "Wanna play a little poker?" her voice was low, almost seductive. He smiled from his end. "I'll deal." "Aiight." she responded. "See ya then." she disconnected the call and walked out of the cubby of lockers. She figured Logan wanted this file right away, so she needed an excuse to be near fifty-sixth street. "Hey boo" she called out to Cindy. "Whatcha got?" "Tortes." Cindy held up the box with 'fragile' stamped across it in black letters. "For some uppity snit named McKenzee on Rolan Dr." No luck there. "How 'bout you Sketchy?" He looked up, obviously, not paying attention. "What?" She pointed to the box in his hand. "Where is your extra weight headed?" "Oh." the light bulb went on in his head. "Dulan Ave." Bingo. Fifty-sixth and Morgan was two blocks away from there. "Wanna trade with me?" she held up her small box. "It's just to Rolaya, that fish market on Colonial." He looked at her in disbelief "You're willing to take my little brown friend all the way downtown?" She nodded. "I kinda feel bad for snaggin' up your hard earned green." "Thanks girl." he stated, exchanging boxes with her. "Maybe my luck is changing." "Yea." Cindy agreed. "Some beautiful woman might decide she needs to buy fish today." "The possibilities are endless." Sketchy said, grabbing his bike and heading out. After he left Cindy turned to Max. "Why the sudden urge to go across town? Is something up?" "Just taking care of business." Max answered to her friend, as they walked their bikes out of the building. "Doin' a little pan handling for your man?" Cindy asked. Max nodded, showing her the ID. "I get to play doctor." "Anna?" Cindy raised an eyebrow. "No offense girl, but your husband lacks a little imagination on names." Max replaced the ID. "'Cept the ones he calls me." Cindy shot her a look. "Original Cindy's gettin' to much info. from her boo, so she's gonna bow out." she climbed on her bike. "Let's do the lunch thang when I get done handing off the goods." Max smiled. "Aiight." she climbed on her bike as well. The two women went their separate ways. ***** Seattle City Morgue Fifty-sixth and Morgan 1:24 p.m. "Right this way Dr. Richardson." the receptionist said, leading Max to the office of a one Dr. Sinclaire, head of pathology. A tall, red headed woman was seated behind a cherry wood desk. Behind her were many metal file cabinets that took up the entire space of one wall. "Dr. Sinclaire?" the receptionist spoke up. The woman behind the desk looked up from the paper she was looking at. "Yes?" "This is Dr. Anna Richardson." she began, gesturing to Max. "She's with the residency from Eastland." Dr. Sinclaire put down her pen and stood. "Thank you Jerry." The woman nodded and left. Sinclaire turned towards Max, extending out her hand. "Welcome to Seattle Dr. Richardson." "You have a beautiful city." Max remarked, shaking her hand. She made sure she fit the character of what most doctors she knew were like. "Please." the other woman gestured to the seat that sat horizontal from her desk. Max sat where she indicated. Sinclaire moved to stand in front of her. "What brings you to our city?" "I got wind of a murder here last night." her voice had a completely professional tone. "Decided to come and what there was to be seen." Dr. Sinclaire nodded, walking over to the file cabinets behind her desk. "There were a lot of murders last night Dr. Richardson. But-" she pulled out a file from among the scords of others. "I think I know which one brought you all the way up from Eastland to see." She handed her the file. Max opened it in her lap. Clipped to one side, there were the same graphic autopsy photos she had looked at that morning. Beside that was a description of the injuries the woman sustained. "Her name was Adrianna Walker." Sinclaire began. "She was a local prostitute who worked the corner of Belger." Max looked up at her "The Ring of Fire? She must have been something sweet. Word on the street is only the elite get to chill there." "I wouldn't know about that." Sinclaire admitted, crossing her arms over her chest. "All I know is what I see. There was massive blood loss from her heart. Her skin was literally torn in fringes from her body. The cardiac muscle was in shreds." "Like something was ripping at her." Max stated, examining the photographs for the second time that day. "There's a tear in the wall of the inferior vena cava, it looks like it could've been made by the claws of an animal." "I've considered that." Sinclaire agreed. "There are a lot of stray dogs around this city, and some of them aren't exactly friendly. But-" she knelt down and pointed to the same trail of seamen Max had spotted earlier. "That wouldn't explain this. It's human, and was very fresh when the sector police found her, it couldn't be just an attack by a pack of strays." "One of her customers might have had a dog." Max said. Sinclaire shook her head. "It's more then that. If this person wanted to kill her with his dog, why bother having sex with her? Why not just let the animal loose to begin with?" "May I review this some more at my office?" Max asked standing up. She had suddenly realiazed that she had stayed longer then she intended. Dr. Sinclaire nodded. "I have an extra copy in my files." "Thank you." Max replied and turned to leave. Once outside the building she dialed home on her cell. Logan picked up "Yea?" "I got it." was all she said. "Any trouble?" She blew him off "Piece of cake." "Good job girl." he praised to his wife. "Gotta love whatcha do." she replied. "Then I'll see ya when you get home." "And sweetheart?" "Yea?" "Don't wear to much tonight. I want to get to the second round quickly." She smiled mischievously "I'll see what I can swing." She ended the call and climbed back on her bike, peddling down the street. ***** Ceaderview Motor Lodge. 8:34 p.m. "Out of all the guys I've been with, you're one of the best." Suzanne remarked looking at her bed partner for the evening. Club hopping was defiantly paying off. A long, muscular arm stroked her breast. "You're not so bad yourself." The dragon tattoo moved with the flexing of his muscle. She turned to face him completely "What was that perfume called that you made?" "It has no name yet." he replied, staring at the ceiling. "It's still in the experimental stage." He climbed off the bed. "Nature calls." He walked to the back of the trailer. Suzanne lay back on the silk sheets. A man who made perfume was a first for her list of bed mates. A low growling caught her ears. She sat up in the bed, and stared into the darkness. "What is that?" She then made out the sillouette of a dog barreling straight at her. "OH GOD!" she screamed as the animal tore at her chest. "HELP ME!" She could feel each tooth pierce her skin, and the blood poured out of her in rivers. She soon lost the battle and fell limp on the bed. Two sharp whistles and Kaja came off the now dead woman. The black book opened, and he wrote. "African-American Experiment: Successful." ***** Foggle Towers 8:55 p.m. "Royal Flush." Logan stated with a sly smile, revealing his hand. He looked up at his wife "Loose the shirt honey." Max matched his sly smile with one of her own. She pulled the small white tee over her head. Her full breasts were only now concealed from his view by a silver toned satin bra. His eyes roamed over her. "Damn, I love winning." "You'll get yours." she remarked, dealing the cards again. He wagged his eyebrows at her "That's the whole point of this game." The cards slipped out of her hands, all thoughts of poker flew out of her head. She came over to him and straddled his waist in the chair. She kissed him hungrily, moving from his lips to his chest in one fast motion. He teased her through the satin, feeling her nipples pucker under his fingers. He cupped her with one hand and used his tongue to trace a circular pattern around the base of her breast. "Jess is being awful quiet." she managed to get out in between breaths. "That's good for us." he responded, picking her up, with her still straddling his lap. He backed them up into the bedroom, and flipped her over so that he was on top. Looking up into his deep blue eyes she smiled coyly "Who won?" "Let's call it a draw." he responded huskily, undoing the drawstrings of her cargos. Twenty-five minutes later they lay tangled together in the bed. "He didn't even make a sound." Max said, one hand lazily moving across his bare chest. "Should we be worried?" "No baby." he responded, playing with her silky curls. "If something was wrong he would have vocalized it very loudly to us." "Maybe we were to loud to hear him." she remarked. He smiled "Or at least you were anyway." She hit his face lightly with a loose pillow. "It just means you do good work." "The feeling's mutual." he returned, still playing with her hair. The loud shrill of the phone cut through the air, and the baby monitor came alive with the sound of Jesse's crying. "See that's the vocalization I was talking about." Logan sighed and looked at his wife. "You want to do the phone or our son?" "I'll take Jess." she replied climbing out of her side of the bed. She pulled on her discarded clothing and went to see what her son wanted. Logan slipped on his robe and headed out to answer the phone. After tending to the wailing baby with a fresh diaper Max sat with him in the rocker, trying to get him to go back to sleep. Logan softly came through the door. "He okay?" She nodded, standing with the now sleeping baby in her arms. "He just needed a change." She kissed him gently and laid him back down in the crib. Logan came up to them and touched Jess's tiny head with a large hand, before turning to leave, Max following close behind. "There's been another murder." he announced once the door was shut to the nursery. "A woman was found on the shores by Puget Sound." "Same cause of death?" Max asked as they both sat down at the dining room table. He nodded "Massive blood loss, and same wound patterns. Except she wasn't a prostitute." He handed her a photo he received via fax machine "Her name was Suzanne Miller. She was a legal secretary at law firm downtown." Max looked at the images. The flesh had been torn clean away on this woman. Her intestines and spleen were hanging out of the gaping hole in her chest. "Was their evidence of sex?" "Police found traces of semen and slight irritation you would find in a woman who was allergic to latex." he responded. "Although I doubt the practice of safe sex would be a star on this guy's record." "What kinda man gets his ya ya's out my hitting it and then murdering his bed mate?" "I don't know" he answered honestly. "But I plan to find out." He laid an ID on the table. "Meet Dr. Richardson's new counterpart." he slid the piece of plastic across the table to her. "Gerald Whidon?" she arched a eyebrow "Honestly baby, your names lack much to the imagination." she examined the forged name tag. "And how come you made this one out to be a level five?" "Because that'll allow me access into the main data base at the morgue Max." he answered. "So why didn't you do the same with mine?" she asked him straight out. "You're not exactly a computer novice baby." She shot him a hard look. Logan held up his hands. "That's not what I meant. You-" he paused, searching for the right words. "Know enough from what they taught you at Manticore, but I know how to hack into the infrastructure of systems." when he saw that this wasn't helping his situation any he added "Besides, you have more medical knowledge then I do. If that head of pathology wanted one of us to re-examine the body of the latest victim, you-" he paused again "wouldn't make an ass out of yourself." She seemed satisfied with his explanation. "If you were any other guy I'd a wrapped your balls around your neck in a bow and mailed you off as a present to some vasectomy patient by now, but then again you're not just 'any other guy." "I'm glad that I'm thought of so highly." he smiled at her. "So when do we do this bitch?" she leaned back against the chair. "Tomorrow." he replied. "I called ahead and scheduled a meeting with Dr. Sinclaire." "Covering all the angles?" she teased. "It's called the grunt work babe." he looked up at her. "The stuff you usually have little patience for." She blew him off "Boy, you just done got back on my good side, don't mess it up now." She knocked him lightly upside the head, and grabbed his hand. "C'mon." "Where are we going?" he asked, allowing her to pull him to his feet. "We have the whole night left." she answered with a wicked smile "I wanna do my own version of 'grunt work'" ***** Jam Pony X-Press 4:34 p.m. The Next Day "Bip Bip people." Normal's voice cut through the air. "I don't pay you to lie around like beached whales." Sketchy leaned on the counter with his elbows "You know calling your employees whales doesn't make us work any harder." "If you kids worked any harder you might deliver two packages each instead of the usual one." he said adjusting his thick black glasses. He shoved a manila envelope in Sketchy's face. "Goin' out to Mitchell Road." Sketchy took the package and went to retrieve his bike. On the way out he almost ran into Logan who was coming the other way. "You get the breaks checked on that thing?" Logan teased picking up the package that had been dislodged during the fall. Sketchy took it back from him "Sorry 'bout that man. I didn't see you." "That's all right." Logan replied, removing his prescription Oakleys and replacing them with his regular glasses. "Max around?" "I think she's out on a run." he replied walking his bike out of the room. Logan continued the rest of the way inside. "Mr. Cale, what brings you by my lovely operation?" Logan turned to face Normal "Just here to talk to my wife Ray." he replied using Normal's first name. "She should be back shortly, I sent her out to third and Davis about ten minutes ago." As if on cue Max walked in with her bike. "Got a visitor Max." Normal called out, pointing to Logan. Max wheeled herself over to where Logan was. "Hey baby." she kissed his mouth. "Hey." he responded, returning her gesture. "You ready to go?" "Let me change first." she responded, leaning the bike against a concrete support beam. Logan took a seat on a chair to wait. "So how is it going mon?" Herbal asked looking at him. "Great." Logan responded. "Dat little one givin' you and Max any trouble?" "About as much as any five month old would." Logan replied. "He's into a lot nowadays." Herbal offered him a smile. "Me and my woman sometimes be talkin' about having babies, but she wants to wait until da time is right." "There's never a 'right time' Herbal." Logan stated. "You just gotta roll with it." "Ready." Max called out emerging into the 'main room' again. She was dressed back in her 'street clothes' Logan stood up. "I'll see ya around Herbal." Herbal nodded. "I be seein' you as well my brother." Max headed over to Logan. "You find someone to watch the baby?" Her husband nodded. "I got Bling to do it." "Does he know where everything is?" "No." Logan began teasingly. "All those times he watched Jess before, he didn't bother to remember where things were kept." Max glared at him. "Very funny." Logan held up his hands "Relax sweetheart, YES Bling is well aware of the location of all our son's necessities." "Then let's go." she replied, turning and beginning to walk out the door. "Making today an early one Normal, gotta run errands." she stated when she passed her boss. "As opposed to the ones you already have?" he shot back. "But you know what, never mind. Go. The company time is your own, take it." She ignored his sarcastic remark and left the building with Logan. ***** Seattle City Morgue Fifty-sixth and Morgan 5:15 p.m. "This is a very nice set up you have here." Logan commented the lab technician who stood behind him. After they arrived at the morgue he had been directed to the back where the morgue kept it's main frame system. Max had again gone to talk with Dr. Sinclaire. The man smiled "The government has *way* to much free time if they can keep such good records on dead people and not enough on helping the living." "It's a crazy fucked up world." Logan shot over his shoulder, typing up the file on Suzanne Miller. The file soon came up, giving descriptions of the autopsy findings. "No signs of edema." he began reading the report out loud. "Cause of death due to massive blood loss from ruptures in the pulmonary artery and tears in the wall of the right atrium made by a something jagged." "It's most likely from a sharp weapon." the technician who's name read 'Roberts' stated "Probably from a knife, like a switch blade or a dagger." "But that wouldn't account for the fraying Roberts." Logan interjected. "the skin was torn from each of the victims chest in loose strips. I don't think any of these women would have just sat by and let this person just carve on her chest until he achieved that affect." "Maybe he slipped something in their drink before hand, some sort of numbing agent." Roberts concluded. Logan shook his head. "Tox screen says that nothing unusual was found in the digestive juices in the stomachs of either women. Suzanne Miller did have traces of burgundy in her blood, but that would hardly be enough to block out the affects of some lunatic slicing and dicing on your abdomen." "And what does your colleague Richardson think?" "She believes it could be some sort of animal attack." Logan responded, still reading the report. Roberts shook his head in slight agreement. "That could account for the severity of the wounds. But does that mean some freaky women are doing the wild thing WITH wild things and then getting killed after it?" "I don't think my colleague was insinuating that these women were some zooaphiliacs. Just that the pattern of the wounds could have been made by the claws of a 'wild thing' as you call it." Logan responded a little annoyed. He was tired of playing twenty questions with this guy. "You're the professional Dr. Whidon." Roberts replied. He was silent for a moment before speaking. "This might be a little off subject, but Dr. Richardson, is she seeing anyone?" Logan stopped typing and turned to face the other man. "She's my fiance." he lied, well actually he wasn't lying. Max HAD been his fiance, at one point. "Oh." Roberts responded. "I was just going to say if she wasn't then we might-" he broke off. "But if you two are shacked up then that just blows me out of the water." The wooden door opened as Max came through, now dressed in a pair of green scrubs, obviously borrowed. Her prosthetic ID was clipped to the upper corner of the light green shirt. "I think you need to see something." she stated to Logan. He nodded and stood up from the chair. "Buy the way, congratulations." Roberts broke in as they were leaving. Max turned to him as soon as they were in the hall "What is he talking about?" "He wanted to know if you were free. I told him you were my fiance." "Why is it that men feel the need to stake their claim?" her voice was slightly annoyed. "You ARE my wife Max." Logan responded quietly as they moved through the halls. "I'm sorry if I don't like some man hitting on you." "I guess it's excusable." she whispered back when they finally reached their destination. "'Sides, he was kinda ugly." Logan smiled at her remark as they entered the main lab section of the morgue. "Found him Dr. Sinclaire." Max called out, as the pair made there way through the rows of metal tables and cadavers under plastic sheets. Sinclaire looked up from the large magnifying glass she had over an uncovered body. "Your colleague found something interesting Dr. Whidon." Logan and Max came to a stop in front of the body of Suzanne Miller. "What is it?" Logan asked, trying not to breath in the stench of formaldehyde too deeply. "There's a foreign liquid around the chest and vaginal area." Sinclaire answered, holding up a culture swab. "What are the components?" Logan asked. "I won't know for sure until I run an analysis, but it's got a distinct odor. Kinda like you would find in perfume. I also found traces of this same substance in Adrianna's corpse." "I don't get how that's going to help us any." Logan began in confusion. "Lots of women wear perfume." "Two random women, each from different walks of life. What are the odds that they would shop at the same department store?" Max answered Logan's question with one of her own. "She's right." Sinclaire agreed. "The chances are next to nothing that these two would happen to stumble on the same deal. And besides similarities in the wound patterns, this is the only other concrete piece of evidence that ties these two killings together." "How long will it take you to run the analysis?" Max asked. "It depends." Sinclaire began. "If the substance has a fairly simple structure, maybe a couple of hours. However if it's made of stuff that's much more complex it might take as long as two days." "What happens if another woman dies while you're waiting for the results?" Logan asked rather coldy to Sinclaire. She turned to him. "That's why I'm having this run as soon as I'm done here Dr. Whidon. I can't prevent this from happening again while an analysis is being run. I don't even know if this has anything to do with these women's murders. The police might already have something on this case, and my evidence might be just circumstantial." "I don't mean to be rude Dr. Sinclaire." Logan apologized. "It's just.." he paused for a moment "People are dying." He looked the other woman straight in the eyes. She shook her head in understanding. "I understand your need for the answers here. But we aren't God Dr. Whidon, we just put together the pieces of some of the sick things His creations can do." She placed the sample taken from the culture swab into a test tube and sealed it with a rubber stopper. Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of Logan's cell. "Excuse me." he stated and flipped open the phone. "Yea?" "Hey Logan, it's Matt." Det. Sung's voice came through the other line. "Listen, I have something on those two murdered women. I know you're looking into it, so you might want to come down here and see what it is." "Sure." Logan answered "I can be there in fifteen." "Also bring Max." Sung said. "She might be able to catch something we missed." he was speaking of the first time he had met her, when Jesse had been kidnapped about three months ago. "Will do." Logan responded, ending the call. He turned towards Max. "That was the guys at Eastland." he lied "They need us back for a consult." She nodded, and faced Sinclaire "Keep us updated on this." she handed her a piece of paper with her cellphone number on it. Sinclaire took the paper from her. "I will. Hopefully between the three of us and the police, we can bring this guy to justice." Max gave one more nod in the doctor's direction before she and Logan left out the door. Once she changed, and was back outside Max placed the key in the ignition of her Ninja before turning towards her husband. "Who were you talking to in there?" "It was Matt." he answered back. "He's got something on this case that he wants us to see." Max looked at him in slight confusion "Us?" "He remembered you from last time." Logan responded, his tone becoming slightly down trodden. It had been months, but the memories were still very fresh. He had come so close to loosing his family. Max touched his hand gently with her leather gloved one, sensing what he was thinking. For a woman who had been through all of the seven hells in her so far twenty year lifetime, almost loosing her son to a revenge seeking psychotic woman was the worst thing she had ever experienced. "I'll consider that a compliment." she tried to lighten the mood with a little humor. Logan smiled slightly. "Then let's do this bitch." he used her words. They both climbed on the motorcycle, Max in the drivers seat, and headed down the road. Neither of them noticed the figure heading across the street to a large medical complex. He moved up the stairs, his tan trench coat flapping in the wind. He opened the right side of the double set of glass doors and entered the building. The woman at the large oval desk that sat in the center of the brightly lit lobby smiled at him. "I thought you were taking a day off Steve." The man smiled at her. "I am Gerry, I just had to come and get some files out of my office." he began walking to the back and down a long white corridor. Stepping into the office with the name plate that read 'Steve Mason M.D." he retrieved a manila envelope from off his desk and headed back out to the front. "Working on a day off. There's no fun in that." Gerry stated with a raised eyebrow. "Just a little light paper work." Dr. Mason reassured "Once I'm done with them I'm going to enjoy the rest of my evening. I have a date." "With who?" Gerry asked curious. "Haven't figured that out yet." Dr. Mason responded with a coy smile. "Just thought I'd go bar hopping and see what rolls in." "You dawg." Gerry said with a laugh. Mason laughed as well and headed out the door. On the steps he stopped to scratch his arm. He rolled up the sleeve of his trench coat revealing a short sleeved T-shirt underneath. He scratched vigorously for a few seconds, making bright red marks appear on the dark dragon tattooed there. He replaced the trench coat over the rest of his body, and walked the rest of the way to his car. ***** Seattle Police Department 19th Precinct 5:25 p.m. "So what did you want to show us?" Logan asked to Matt once they arrived. After letting the couple get situated Matt opened the file in his hands. "I was examining the autopsy photos on the two victims-" "Kinda looks like feeding time at the zoo." Max interrupted. "Not gonna argue with you there." Matt agreed. "This defiantly looks like the kinda maiming done by an animal." He pointed to the open and shredded cavity of Suzanne Miller. "The marks and tearing pattern here are almost similar to the ones I've seen on our suspects when one of the K9 dogs has to take him down." "Are you saying you think a police dog did this?" Logan asked confused. Matt shook his head negatively. "I mean the wound patterns are consistent with those made by our large dogs. Maybe our suspect has a similar pet living with him." "That still wouldn't account for the sex." Max stated. "Unless these women were exploring their options, which is something I seriously doubt and REALLY wouldn't want to know about." Matt shuddered slightly at her remark. "I don't think that was the case here Max. Also I found something a little more concrete." He rummaged around on his desk until he pulled out a black and white 8x10. "One of the hover cams picked up an image of a man making a call to Adrianna the night she was murdered. The car was to obscured in the shadows to get a licensee number, but I noticed a dark spot on his arm. So I enlarged it and-" he handed Logan the photo. "See for yourself." "That's a Chinese dragon isn't it?" Max asked, looking at the photo. "There suppose to symbolize luck and power." she laughed humorlessly. "In this case the symbolism is half right." "You're knowledge of mythology is good Max, you and Logan must have rather interesting conversations." Logan shot Max a mischievous look. "Sometimes we communicate without words." "-Anyway." Matt interrupted before they got off topic to much. "I did some checking and only a few tattoo pallors even carry that design in their books. There's three in Chinatown, San Francisco, and a few right in Seattle. I'm going to make some more calls, and see what I can come up with." "Be in touch then." Logan advised, standing up. Matt nodded "I will, and that goes for you two as well, if you come up with anything on this call me. and-" he paused and looked at Max, struggling with what he was going to say to her for a few seconds "I KNOW that you are capable of handling yourself Max, but I still want you to be cautious. This guys targets so far have all been women." "I'll watch my back." Max reassured him. "I will as well." Logan chimed in. Matt smiled "Then I'm sure you're in good hands Max, So-" he went in another direction "What are you two doing tonight?" "Going to meet some friends." Max responded. "Yea." Logan agreed. "That is if Bling doesn't mind watching Jess again." "He can't." Max interrutped, "He's gonna be there tonight." Logan turned to her confused "Then who's gonna watch our son?" "I'm gonna bring him along." Max responded. "Kendra has been bugging me forever to bring the baby on an 'outing' and since we don't do book clubs or picnics, well-" "You're going to bring our five month old to a bar?" Logan asked in disbelief. "It'll be fine." she reassured. "I won't let anything happen to him." Logan sighed quietly, it was going to be an interesting evening. ***** Crash 7:36 p.m. "See that sweetie." Max cooed to her son, watching Sketchy miss his shot. "That's what's known as a scratch." "Dammit." Sketchy cursed. "This just doesn't seem to be my night." he angrily slammed down the end of his pool cue on the floor. "Watch your mouth in front of my nephew suga." Cindy advised, taking her turn. She knocked in the eight ball and two others. "That's game." Skethcy sighed. "Oh well, at least I didn't bet anything this time." "Which is good for you." Cindy said, laying down her pool cue and walking over to the bar. Max handed her a glass of beer. "In honor of my boo's win." Cindy took it from her "Thanks suga." she downed most of the alcohol in one gulp. She wiped the foam off her mouth and turned towards Jesse in Max's arms. "Did you see me make those good shots baby?" she tickled his stomach and he laughed. "Just remember Jesse." Sketchy began walking over to them "No one like a winner who gloats to much." Cindy rolled her eyes and gave him a 'whatever' look. "Guys." Kendra called out, walking over to them "I'd like you to meet someone." she turned towards the woman behind her. "This is Melinda Nok. She works over at that bookstore where I buy my translations books." "Hey girl." Cindy said in greeting. "That's Original Cindy." Kendra introduced and-" she began pointing out people "This is Sketchy, That's Herbal Thought." she pointed him out from at the bar. She turned beside her "this is one of my closest girls Max and-" she pointed out again to a group of tables "That guy in the glasses and leather jacket is her husband Logan. The one next to him is Bling." Both men gave little waves in Melinda's direction as they were introduced. "And-" Kendra said finally getting to the end of her 'meet and greet session' "this guy, who is the most handsome man in this place, is Max and Logan's son Jesse Trevon." she tickled Jesse's chin. "Trevon was chosen by me." Cindy pointed out. Melinda laughed "It's nice to meet you all." "Especially you." she cooed to the Jesse. She grasped one tiny hand in hers. "He's a beautiful baby." "Thanks." Max stated. "He is isn't he?" "Already attracting more girls then I ever did at that age." Sketchy pointed out. "Or still do now." Max quipped good naturidly. She smiled at her son. "And daddy didn't want to bring you along." "At least daddy's intentions were good." Logan said coming up to them and glancing at Max. Max grinned lightly "That's why I married you baby, good intentions." "There it goes again." Bling warned coming up to stand by them as well. "There are little ears in here." "Hey that wasn't bad." Max said in her defense. "I could've said-" "Uh we haven't been properly introduced." Logan interrupted "I'm Logan Cale." Melinda shook the hand he offered. "Nice to meet you." "Since you interrupted me." Max broke in "How about I kick your ass at a little pool?" "Ooo." Sketchy began "Me-ow." "All right." Logan stated to his wife "Let's go." Max laid Jesse back down in his car seat. "Don't guzzle anything okay?" she turned towards Cindy "Would you watch him for a sec?" Cindy nodded "Sure thing boo." Max placed her drink down on the bar and grabbed a pool cue. "Rackem up." "Can this be a threesome?" Melinda asked grabbing a cue as well. "I'm addicted to this game." she set her drink beside Max's. Logan nodded "Fine with me." he lifted the plastic triangle from the balls. He looked up at Max "You break." Max took her position and sunk in three balls. "Nice shot." Melinda commented taking her turn and landed three balls as well. "Not so bad yourself." Max complimented. Logan took his turn and sunk five balls into the two back pockets. "It's all about geometry." he said with a smile. They were so intuned to the game that they didn't notice a man approach the bar where they were at. He retrieved something out of his leather jacket and dumped the champaign colored liquid from the test tube into one of the two drinks that were there. Once the game ended the man stepped out of the shadows, "Excuse me, I don't want to sound to forward, but might I ask your name." he was speaking to Melinda who appeared to be interested. "It's Melinda." she smiled setting down her cue on the pool table. "Melinda Nok." The man smiled "I'm Trevor. Your last name, is it Chinese?" "Japanese." Melinda corrected, "My parents immigrated here before I was born, a few years before the Pulse." "So you're of direct descent of Asian ancestors?" Trevor asked. When seeing the look Melinda gave him he went on. "I don't mean to sound rude, I am a professor of Asian Culture over at Berkley, and even though I'm suppose to be on vacation my work can never really leave me." "I can't believe she's bying that." Max whispered to Logan from their observant point from across the room. "He's so full of himself." "I can't believe you're eavesdropping on a private conversation." "Hey if I have super hearing, I might as well use it." she shot back. They both watched as Melinda retrieved her drink from the bar and walked with the man to the other side of the building. Max retrieved her drink from the bar as well. "Looks like she found her something sweet." she took a swing of her beer. Kendra sighed "My friends have all the luck." "I think he looks a little snooty." Max said laying her drink back on the table. "I overheard him telling her all about how he's a professor and shit. Like it's gonna get him lucky tonight." "Some shorites are into that kinda messed up playa business suga." Cindy pointed out. "He looks like a decent guy." Kendra put in her two cents. "Maybe his tactics are a little rusty." "Or non existent." Max corrected taking a smaller sip of her drink. She leaned over the bar and smiled at her son "Make sure you aren't that kind of 'decent guy'" she kissed his head, and faltered for a second when she moved to stand in an upright position. Cindy noticed it. "You okay boo?" "Yea." Max responded, shaking her head. "Just felt a little off for a second there." "Is it a seizure?" Kendra asked concerned. "I don't know." Max answered honestly. "Maybe. I'm gonna take some meds just in case." she retrieved her pill bottle out of her jacket. "Be right back." she announced. Once in the ladies room she swallowed three of her Tryptophane pills. This however, did not feel like a seizure. There was no buzzing in her ears, or twitching of her hands that signaled the beginning of one of those attacks. It almost felt like- the light bulb suddenly went on in her head. She ran out of the bathroom. Picking up her glass she examined it. She took a whiff and picked up something she hadn't noticed before. It had the aroma of chloroform. "What is it?" Kendra asked, seeing the look on Max's face. "Someone put something in this glass." Max said, shaking her head to clear out the cobwebs. "You mean like a date rape drug?" Cindy asked, standing up in a rage, ready to kick the little perp's ass who did this. Max shook her head, and leaned it over the counter. A hand touched her shoulder. "What's wrong baby?" Logan's voice asked in worry. "Some little sleeze slipped something in her glass." Cindy stated, in her no nonsense voice. Logan took a hold of the glass "Do you know what it is?" he sniffed the drink. "Smells kinda like-" "It's chloroform." Max interrupted. Her palms were beginning to sweat. "What effect does it have?"/on you/ Logan asked concerned. He didn't vocalize that last part, because not everyone knew about his wife's past history. "As a tranquilizer nothing." Max began feeling the buzzing in her ears start. She kept her voice low so Kendra wouldn't hear. "But when Lydeker wanted to punish us he made sure the ones with seizures could have them stimulated at his will-" she broke off as tremors began to whip through her body. She lost her hold on the bar and would have crash landed on the floor if Logan hadn't caught her at the last minute. "Baby where are your pills?" Logan demanded to the shaking woman in his arms. "In my jacket." she managed to get out in between convulsions. Cindy reached into her friend's pocket and pulled out the small prescription bottle. Tapping four pills into her hand she pushed them into Max's mouth. "Swallow suga." she didn't even try to hide her concern. Max dry mouth all the meds, it still hardly affected her current condition. She jerked more violently in Logan's arms. "It's bad." she hissed out in pain. "When 'he' wanted to punish us he made sure to do it all out." she gasped as more pain launched up her body. "Stay with me." Logan demanded. "Bring her over here." Bling called out pointing to the overstuffed couch that was near the entrance. "This is needed for a medical emergency." Bling informed the couple who were busy lip locking on the furniture. "Go suck each other's faces off somewhere else." The young couple shot him a scowl, but when Logan approached them with Max convulsing in his arms they heeded his wishes. Logan laid her down across the length of the couch, grasping her hand tightly with his. "How is she?" Cindy asked approaching them. "Hanging in there." Logan answered with more reassurance then he felt. He got her to swallow more medicine. Stroking her sweat soaked hair he leaned down and kissed her. Her head jerked again. "Stay with me." she used the same plea as the first time Logan was witness to her seizures. "I'm here sweetheart." he reassured. "I'm not going anywhere." "Jesse?" she stated weakly. "He's fine." Logan replied. "He's with Kendra." "You bastards." she began cryptically. "You killed her." Logan now understood what she was saying. She didn't mean their son, but was referring to his namesake. A sister from Manticore that had died in child birth. She was having flash backs to her childhood, brought on by her seizures. And Logan could do nothing, but hold her, and try to ground her to the here and now. "She's burning so fast Zack. She'll be gone before the last of us goes through the line." "What is she talkin' 'bout 'burnin?" Herbal asked, having since knelt down next to Max. "A friend of her's was in a fire." Cindy lied, trying to explain Max's delirious mutterings. Her and her brother were there when it happened. The firemen couldn't save her." Herbal adapted a sympathetic look on his face. as Max's eyes opened again, finally back in this world. "Can you hear me sweetheart?" Logan asked looking down on her. She nodded. "That was a wild ride." She looked at the other people who had crowded around her. "You guys enjoy the show?" "Not exactly." Cindy announced, relief in her voice. "We're just glad you're okay." "That was a worrisome fifteen minutes my sister." Herbal stated, looking at her. Max sat up from her lying position on the couch. "I'm fine now." she reassured her Jamaican friend. she wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand. "You sure?" Logan asked from beside her, one hand resting on her sweat soaked back. She nodded. "Well about as fine as I usually am after one of these jags." She looked past the concerned faces of her friends and to the other people at the bar, some of whom were looking at her. Guess a woman having a convulsing episode didn't happen here that much, that is not unless the convulsions were the product of orgasm. "Show's over guys." she announced to the spectators. "If you keep looking it's going to cost you, mostly a few broken bones." she didn't mean to be so rude, but she was still reeling from the past episode, not to mention being pissed as hell at whoever decided that her's was the drink to slip something in. She stood up and stretched the kinks out of her back, feeling damp and disgustingly dirty from all the sweat. She turned towards Kendra "Where'd Melinda and Mr. Personality get to?" "They left." Kendra answered. "A few minutes before you got sick." Max nodded, trying to suppress a yawn. She usually got very tired after one of these episodes. "Tired?" Logan asked, reading her thoughts. "Kinda of." she admitted this time the yawn actually coming out. "This is one of those rare times that I get sleepy." Logan stood up, seeing how she looked like she wouldn't remain vertical for much longer. "Then let's go home." She didn't argue, but merely slumped forward, half asleep. He once again pulled her into his arms gently supporting her now limp figure. "Here." Bling said handing Logan his car keys. "Take my Benz. I'll make sure her second baby makes it home okay." Logan grasped the cool metal key ring in his palm. "Thanks man." He shifted his wife carefully so he could get a better hold on the keys. "Would someone bring Jess out?" "I'm on it." Cindy stated picking up the baby carrier with Jesse inside it. She and Logan walked out to Bling's Mercedes. Logan unlocked the back door and gently laid Max across the back seat. He stroked the curls away from her face softly before shutting the door. He next unlocked the passenger seat and buckled the carrier in the bucket seat. "I know that this isn't the right place to place a car seat, what with the air bags and all." Logan commented to Cindy buckling the seat belt securely. "But-" he finished his task and turned to look at her "I think fate will cut us a little slack." "Word." Cindy stated, then the look in her eyes changed. "In there. When Max was dreamin' 'bout fire and burning-" "The girl she was talking about was her sister Jesse." Logan interrupted, not really knowing if Max wanted Cindy to know this, but figuring that she really wouldn't have minded. "When she was at Manticore about five girls, herself included were artificially inseminated with sperm from other hybrid groups." he remembered the day that she had told him this, when they waited on the lab results to determine whether or not their son would live. "What happened?" Cindy inquired, already getting angry at what her friend must have undergone. "Most of the girls miscarried." Logan stated bitterly, he still held so much hatred for what those children had to undergo. "Max's sister Jesse however carried four months into term. She had seizures as well, and one of them caused early labor. Her and her baby didn't survive. And good old Manticore got rid of what they called a 'mistake' by burning their bodies. All of them had to watch the cremation, and Max told me that after she simply stole some aspirin from one of the officers and aborted her baby, so she to wouldn't have 'defaulty offspring'." Cindy looked stunned. "All this before my boo was even ten years old." she stuck her head in and looked at the form of the sleeping woman in the back seat. "If I get my hands on any of those Manticore personnel suga, I'm gonna make these murders look like simple rough housing for what they did to you." she whispered in promise to her friend. She pulled herself out of the car and looked again at Logan "That's why she named him Jesse." it was more of a statement then a question. Logan nodded "Something to remember her by." he closed the door on the passenger side. "Take care of our girl." Cindy said once Logan climbed into the drivers side. "She's got a lot of years of lost love to make up for." "I will." he responded simply, gunning the engine and heading down the road. ***** Ceaderville Motorlodge 9:54 p.m. "Did you like that?" 'Trevor' asked toying with Melinda's straight jet black hair. "It was nice." she smiled. "Probably some of the best I've had in a while I would say." He smiled as well and climbed off the bed. "By the way, that woman you were shooting pool with, you know her?" "No." Melinda answered back "A friend of mine just introduced me to her tonight." "Oh." was all he said. He walked over to the dresser and opened a black book. "Trevor?" Melinda called out sitting up into the darkness. "Hmm?" he asked not looking up from his writing. "Your dog. What is she for?" she paused, searching for a more clarifying statement "I mean is she a pet? or a guard dog?" 'Trevor' finished writing and peered at Melinda in the blackness. "Why don't you see for yourself." he gave a sharp whistle and Kaja bounded once again out of the darkness and leapt at Melinda. Melinda screamed, feeling the teeth sink into her arm. The dog went for her chest but Melinda caught her by the snout at the last second. She then abruptly let go, realiazing that if this lunatic thought she was dead she might have a chance at getting away. She pretended to go limp, and heard the sound of two sharp whistles and felt the dog's weight lift as she climbed off the bed. She could hear him approaching her. He picked up her body and it took all her nerve not to put her black belt in karate to good use. After walking with her for a good twenty minutes he let her go and she fell into the soft mud. She lay there until she felt that he was gone for an adequate amount of time. Sitting up, Melinda tore off a piece of her shirt and wrapped it around her injured arm. She thanked herself for putting on her clothes before the attack happened. Being naked and bloody would just make her look like a prostitute who wandered a little too far from her 'post' Looking around she determined that she had been dumped near the waterfront. The hospital was not far from there, so bleeding and stunned Melinda began the grueling journey there. ***** Foggle Towers 7:35 a.m. Max came awake slowly as the first rays of sunlight peaked through the venetian blinds. Glancing at the digital clock on the night stand she was stunned to realize she had slept for almost nine hours straight. She hardly slept at all normally, and when she did it was usually for five hours at the most. Through the cobwebs in her ears she picked up the faint sounds of Logan's voice. As she came more awake she saw him sitting in his side of the bed with the cordless phone off the dresser to his ear. He was already dressed for the day in khakis and a black zip up wool sweater. Jesse was sitting across his out stretched legs, happily playing with the plastic keys Logan had given him. Max rolled over slightly and handed the keys back to her son's chubby hands when he lost his grasp on them. Logan halted in his conversation, and turned at her movement. He placed his hand on the mouthpiece and leaned over and kissed her. "Good morning baby." "Morning to you too." she responded "Who's that?" she was referring to the person on the other line. "Matt." Logan replied removing his hand and continuing his conversation. "Sorry, just had to talk to my wife for a second." "And is she willing to talk?" he listened intently for a few minutes. "Okay. Yea, We can be there-" he broke off to look at his watch. "about 12:30." "It'll be fine, Max has the day off, all right bye." he ended the call and shifted so he was facing her. "What did the infamous Det. Sung have to say?" Max asked her husband. "Melinda Nok was attacked last night." he pulled his son closer to him who was getting dangerously close to the end of the bed. Max sat up completely. "Is she alive?" He nodded. "She managed to escape and make it to Metro late last night." "Same wound patterns?" she inquired. "With one minor change." he responded. "Instead of her chest, the injury was to her arm. But the nature of the lacerations is consistent to the last two victims, told Matt we'd go in with him when he talks to her today when she's realiazed from the hospital." He eyed her critically. "That is if you're up to it." "I'm okay." she reassured "The sleep did me good." "Glad to hear it." he answered back. "You were pretty wreaked last night. You-" he looked down at the baby in his lap "were talking about Jesse." Her eyes clouded over slightly. "Yea, I dreamt about after-when we had to watch her-" she shuddered. "It's a memory I would just as soon forget." He stroked her shoulder softly, and she leaned into his touch. "Anybody home?" Bling's voice wafted through the air. "In the bedroom." Logan called back. The door opened a few seconds later. "Family bonding before breakfast?" Bling teased gently at the sight before him. His expression turned serious as he looked at Max "How ya feelin' girl?" "Fine." she responded quickly. "I'm use to these things, so it didn't throw me for a loop or anything." He smiled "Good." he tossed her a set of keys. "I let Logan here take my car home last night, seeing as how driving your cycle was out of the question. Anyway I brought her back and would like to make a trade off." Max caught the keys in one hand. "I was wondering how we got home." she met his gaze "Thanks." "No problem." he responded. "Why don't you stay for breakfast?" Logan suggested "Since you're already here. It'll save you the trip for when I ask you if you can watch the baby." "So this is bribery?" Bling stated with a raised eyebrow. He sighed. "I will take you up on that food offer, and consider your other request." Logan stood up with Jesse cradled in one arm. "Hear that Jess? Uncle Bling is CONSIDERING to watch you, you should feel honored." "I'm leaning more towards the 'yes' answer on this proposal." Bling replied looking at the baby. "I mean how can I say no to that?" "Well you guys hammer out the arrangements." Max stated climbing out of the bed. "I'm gonna take a shower. I smell like something died on me." "As opposed to what you normally smell like?" Logan teased, and ducked when she threw a pillow at him. "Love to live dangerously huh?" Bling commented. Fifteen minutes later Max emerged from the bedroom. She had shed her sweat soaked clothes from last night and now had on black leather pants and a dark blue wool sweater. She came over to where Logan was pouring coffee into moss green stoneware mugs. "Smell meet your approval?" she arched her neck towards his nose. He sniffed appreciatively. "Oh yea." He planted a kiss on the exposed skin. "Good. But don't ever say that to me again. 'Cause even though we're married, I can still kick your ass." she took one of the coffee mugs. Logan picked up the other two. "Then I retract my last remark. I've seen what your ass kicking sessions can do." She shook her head in mock exasperation and the pair moved out of the kitchen and into the dinning room. "So" Bling asked once they were seated. "Where are you two going that requires a baby sitting service?" He stole a glance at Jesse who was smiling away in his high chair. "Following up on something." Logan replied sipping his coffee. "That friend of Kendra's was attacked last night, and it might tie in with the two murders that happened two days ago." "How so?" Bling asked taking a bite of the eggs on his plate. "She had similar wound patterns." Max answered back. "Lacerations and tearing to the flesh." Bling cringed at her description. "That's gotta smart." "I'm sure it does." Logan agreed. "and hopefully she can tell us how it happened." ***** Metro Hospital 12:34 p.m. Melinda sat on the gurney, fingering the bandage that was wrapped around the entire upper portion of her arm. She looked up when she heard footsteps approaching. "Ms. Nok?" Det. Sung began holding out his badge for her to see and entering the room, Max and Logan not far behind him. "I'm Detective Sung, I spoke to you earlier." Melinda nodded. "Come in." Matt stepped the rest of the way in the small hospital room. "This is-" he began an introduction for Max and Logan but she cut him off. "We met last night." she looked at the pair. "At Crash." "How are you feeling?" Max asked moving to stand by the gurney. "I'm alive." Melinda replied bluntly "I guess that counts for something." "Did you get a clear look at the man who did this?" Matt questioned. Melinda laughed humorlessly. "I got a clear look at him all night Detective. He didn't surprise me. I went home with the man." "It was that guy from the bar wasn't it?" Max asked looking at her. Melinda shook her head. "After we had a couple of drinks he invited me back to his place." "Do you remember where?" Matt asked. "In some trailer park." she responded, pushing her hair behind her ears with one hand. "Place was furnished suprisingly well considering the neighborhood. I didn't see the name though, it was too dark to tell." "This man." Logan broke in "did he have a dog?" Melinda closed her eyes for a moment. "Yea, it was a German Shepherd. After-" she paused to wring her hands. "After we made love he got up and made some sort of whistling noise and the next thing I know this dog is on top of me. I could feel it ripping the skin off my body. I pretended that I was dead, and he bought it 'cause the bastard dumped me by the waterfront." "Did he spray you with anything?" Max asked gently sitting on the gurney beside her. "Some sort of 'perfume' as he called it." Melinda replied looking at her. "It had a weird smell to it though." "It was for you." Max said suddenly. "Our drinks were right next to each other last night and that guy Trevor slipped chloroform into one of them and I took yours by mistake." her voice was angry. "I'm gonna rip that SOB's balls out when I get a hold of him." "Are you okay now?" Melinda asked concerned. "No lasting side affects." Max reassured, stealing a glance at Logan. "He mentioned you." Melinda remembered suddenly. "Before his dog attacked me he asked if I knew you." "Did he say anything else?" Logan asked stepping forward. It did not make him feel very good that a suspected killer mentioned Max. Melinda shook her head negatively. "I said that I had just met your wife that night and he didn't say anything else about it." "Did he have any identifying marks?" Matt inquired. "I think he had some sort of tattoo on one of his arms." Melinda answered back. She searched her memory for a second. "It looked like some sort of oriental dragon-" "Like this?" Matt handed her the enlarged photo of the tattoo he had made up a few days ago. "Yea." Melinda agreed, "that's the one." She looked back up to Matt. "Are we done here? I'd like to go home." Matt nodded. "But just to be safe, I'm going to have an officer escort you home. Once this guy gets wind that you're still alive, he might try to finish the job." He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the precinct. "Hey Peterson, this is Matt. I need you to play body guard to someone." "It's the woman who was attacked last night. She has no way of getting home and I'm thinking the perp might try to complete what he started if he see she's still kicking." "We're over at Metro, room 232 on the second floor." he hung up an turned towards Melinda. "Someone should be here to come get you in about fifteen minutes." "Swell." she retorted. "I'm swearing off one night stands after this." "Can I talk to you two outside?" Matt asked of Max and Logan. "Don't worry 'bout it girl." Max reassured Melinda. "'Cause when we find this guy, he's got a date with an ass grinder." "Now I know why Kendra speaks so highly of you." Melinda offered her a smile. Max returned the gesture and climbed off the gurney and walked out into the hallway, moving slightly away from Melinda's room. "Well we have a name to go with the marks." Matt said. "I don't think it's his real one." Max disagreed. "What makes you say that?" Logan asked. She turned to him "Think about it, if he was planning to disembowel her later why would he give her his real name? It would just incriminate him if she got away." "What did your tattoo search bring up?" Logan asked Matt going in another direction. "I have the address to one of the places I think our man might have gotten his done at. It's only about three blocks from here, on Fowler." A noise behind them made all three turn. A tall, well built cop was approaching them. "Thanks for doing this Peterson." Matt said sincerely "She's right in there." He pointed to the room a few feet away from where they were standing. "No problem Det. Sung." Peterson replied going into the room. A few seconds later he and Melinda emerged through the doorway. "Take it easy." Max called out to the other woman. "You too." Melinda responded back. "Tell Kendra what happened so she doesn't worry when I'm not a work today." "I got it." Max answered, watching her leave with the officer out of the hospital. She turned back to her two companions. "Let's get going, wanna get to the place before the local crowd gets to thick." ***** Ta-Chi Brothers Tattoo parlor Fowler Ave. Seattle 12:56 p.m. "Oh yes we have that design. Very expensive." Jason, one of the co-owners of the store looked at the photo of the dragon tattoo. "So the person who got this lovely design branded on them would have to be rolling in green?" Max asked. "Oh yes a LOT of green miss." Jason began. "We use burned bamboo and crushed granite mixed with mineral water for ink. You see, the Chinese believe this dragon is a sign of great power, and as such the materials used to mark someone with it must be strong as well." "How much are we talking about?" Logan asked, looking over at the photo. "Around the neighborhood of two hundred dollars." Jason responded. "Bamboo and granite are almost non-existent since the Pulse. The Black Market is not cheap, we decide the price based on the retail amount of the supplies." "Do you have any records of the people you give these things to?" Matt asked. Jason waved them over behind his counter, pointing to an IMac sitting there. "My brother feels that this is good for insurance reasons, in case you know the money turns out to be fake, or the customer has some sort of allergy to the ink." he typed at a fast pace and soon brought up a main screen with the same black dragon as an icon on the side of the page. "This is a list of all the people who received this design from our store. As you can see it's not much, most people can't afford it." Logan moved to look at the screen, Max and Sung on either side of him. About halfway down a name caught Max's eye. "Bring up his file." "Steve Mason?" Logan asked, typing it up. "What makes you think it's him?" "Call it a feeling." Max simply stated. The information soon appeared on the screen. "Steve Mason M.D. of Veterinary Medicine." Max read out loud "That would explain how he got enough money for his two hundred dollar friend." "Says here-" Logan went on "He's got a practice at Regal Veterinary Clinic on Strydson. That's right across from the hospital. If it is him, and he saw your guy leaving with Melinda-" "I don't think he would try anything with an armed officer standing right there." Matt stated. "But still I think we should pay Dr. Steve a visit." ***** Regal Veterinary Clinic Strydson Road 1:05 p.m. "I'm sorry, Dr. Mason is out for the day." Gerry told them when Matt asked the whereabouts of 'Steve' "I'm afraid we can't wait for him to greet us, we need to get into his office." Matt replied pocketing his badge. Gerry cocked an eyebrow "Do you have a warrant?" "We think he may have attacked a woman last night. That's warrant enough." Matt retorted matter-of-factly heading down the hall to Mason's office. Gerry followed the trio there. "You can't just waltz in here without any pretense." Max ignored her and turned the knob, however it was locked. She turned towards Gerry. "Where's the key?" "I have an extra set Dr. Mason gave me in case of emergencies." "Well then go get it." Max said impatiently. Gerry blew her off. "Listen honey if you think I'm going to give the key to my boss's office to some strangers, police or no, you're out of your mind." Max lost her patience with the woman and simply kicked the door down. "Guess we don't need it after all." she said dryly. She moved into the room and over to Mason's mahogany desk. She searched through the piles of papers and files in his drawers. Underneath a record on a pet turtle's bout of asthma she found a file folder marked: PRIVATE. "If ya didn't want it looked at, you should've left in here." Max remarked to herself and began to read, making herself comfortable in Mason's black leather office chair. "If you people don't leave." Gerry began angrily "I'll call the police." "And say what?" Matt asked. "That you hindered a criminal investigation. I'm sure my superior's would love that." Max skimmed the report with a keen eye. There were diagrams of a dogs nasal receptors and the maps of a compound, along with the chemicals it was composed of. "What did you find?" Logan came over to see what she was reading. "Some sorry of report." Max flipped over the first page. "Genetic structure of compound enhances smell receptors of the canine." she read the first line. "Allows for maximum sensitivity to heat-" she broke off as her cell phone rang. She flipped it open "Yea?" "This is Dr. Sinclaire." came the voice on the other line. "The analysis just came back on the cultures I took." Max sat up straighter "What is it?" "The compound is nothing like I've ever seen before." Sinclaire admitted. "It's mostly made up a mild perfume, but it's been mixed with heat pheromones, like the kind that predatory animals smell before an attack. They pick up these pheromones after a great exertion from a chase. The heart rate of their victims is increased, sweat is produced-" "That was the reason for the sex." Max said. "That was my assumption as well." Sinclaire agreed. "These women weren't about to run a marathon for him, so he needed another way to get the same result." Max abruptly ended the call. "That chemical on the two women, it contained heat pheromones. I think this was all some sort of experiment." "For what?" Logan asked looking down at her. Max looked over more of the file in her lap. She whipped her head up, disgusted at what she read. "He's trying to engineer some sort of biologically enhanced attack dog. "See-" she pointed out to the bottom few sentences, reading as she went "prototype of solution has positive results." she looked up again from the file "And that's just by spraying it on these women. If he were to directly inject the chemical into a dog's bloodstream, it's sense of smell would be in over load, it could pick up even the tiniest scents, even internal ones, there's no telling what a pack of them could do." "I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here." Matt said "All these women-" he paused for a moment to rejogg his memory. "Adrianna, she was Caucasian, and Suzanne Miller was African-American and Melinda was Asian. He's picking women from all of the main ethnic backgrounds to ensure that each race would be affected in the same way by the chemical. The only other category he didn't get to was-" "Hispanic." Max broke in before he said it. Although technically she was a mixture of human and animal genes, she did bare the looks of a person with a Spanish background. "That's why he asked about me to Melinda, he wanted me to be his next experiment." ***** "You." Matt looked at Gerry "If Dr. Mason comes back, you didn't hear anything or see anything." he approached her stealthily "'It is vitally important, I am almost 100 percent sure that he committed these recent rash of murders, he is a dangerous man, and we need your help to bring him in." Gerry just nodded, still a little stunned at what she had heard. Once they were back out on the street Logan turned to Matt "So how do we catch this guy?" Max turned towards her husband, looking at him for a long moment, knowing that he wasn't going to like what she was about to say. "We give him what he wants." "No." He returned quickly. "Absolutely not." "I could wear a wire." Max informed. "You'd know where I was at all times." she could still see dissapprovment in his eyes. "We're never gonna catch him the way we're going. If we dangle the worm in front of the guppy he'll jump." "Or kill the worm." Logan didn't like where this was headed. "It's our best way to take him down." Matt sided with Max's proposition. "We could tale them in a undercover surveillance van, and get there before the shit hits the fan, so to speak." Logan could see that he wasn't going to win this argument. He sighed. "I've got some equipment at home." ***** "Did anybody pay me a visit today?" Dr. Mason asked, looking around his office with a scanning eye. "No." Gerry lied, heading Sung's warning. "Just the janitors emptying the waste baskets, I guess they forgot to lock up afterwards. No one knew that you'd be in today, it being your day off and all." "Well I wouldn't be here if I hadn't forgotten a file." The phone on his desk rang. He went to answer it. "Dr. Mason's office." he smiled "Yea I remember you, hard to forget a body like that." he listened for a few more minutes. "No we didn't hit it off well." Tonight?" he smiled again. "Sure babe, I'll meet you at that place Crash at six." "Can't wait either." he ended the call. "Another date?" Gerry asked, trying to keep the mood light. "I love the ladies." he remarked, locking his office, and heading out. ***** Outside Crash 5:54 p.m. "I'm more supped up then a gangster's ride." Max remarked teasingly to all the surveillance equipment she had strapped to her. "Can never be to careful." Matt advised handing her an ear piece and mic. "This feeds back to us so you can keep us informed, just tuck it behind your hair and he'll never notice." he pulled some of her long curls over the device. "And this." he clipped a tiny metal circle to the button of her leather jacket. "Will show us what you see and hear. It may look small, but it's as good as a standard video recorder." "Want to do a test?" Max asked standing up to stretch the kinks out of her back. "There isn't time." Matt informed. "You still have a few minutes before he's suppose to arrive, test it when you get inside." "'Kay." Max agreed. She walked over to where Logan sitting on a pile of cable. "It'll be fine." she reassured, kneeling next to him. "I know what he's up to so I'll haul his ass before he starts anything, and I sure as hell am not going to bang him, I've already got a man." This got Logan to smile. "I still have a right to worry, you ARE my wife after all." he cupped her face and kissed her. "Always showing the same movie on this channel." Cindy's voice came through the ear piece. She and Bling were sitting at Logan's office, wired into the same line. Kendra was there as well, sitting on the couch with Jess. Max pulled back with a smile. "Getting pumped up before the battle." "Are you getting it clear back there?" "You're coming through fine." Bling reassured "Lip smacking and all." She ignored his comment. "Then let's get this show started." she opened the van door and climbed out. "Max?" Logan caught her before she headed in. "Yea?" He looked at her, dressed in leather and a peach cotton long sleeved button up, looking dangerous and sexy all at the same time "Be careful." She smiled at the sense of deja vu his words brought "Always am." the metal door closed. Logan shook his head and took the seat next to Matt. "That's why I said it." he placed the other headset over his ears. Matt drove the van around until he came as close to Mason's Benz as he could get. He switched on the monitor. "We are live coast to coast ladies and gentlemen." "Were you a news anchor in a past life?" Max teased through the mic. She stood when she saw Dr. Mason approaching. "Our guest of honor has arrived." she silenced when he stood in front of her. "So nice to see you again." she began with the small talk. His eyes traveled over her body. "You too." She fought the urge to stick the beer tap up his crotch and resumed her seat. "If I could only reach him I'd put the smack down on his ass." Cindy said angrily of the scene that just went down. Max tried to engage the good doctor in small talk but it was mostly boring shit, like how he went to veterinary school on the honors program, and how he graduated fifth in his class. He really WAS full of himself. "I thought you were a professor?" Max sipped the margerita she ordered. "I'm both." Steve corrected. "I'm a well rounded man." "Pul-leeze." Cindy snorted. "Must be hard doing all that commuting from here to Berkley." Max stated, catching Cindy's remark. "I'm a good driver." he smiled sleazily at her. Max hated herself for what she said next. "Can I find out how good?" she turned quickly mouthing 'NAS-ty' to herself. Before she turned around Steve emptied something in her drink, his actions were not lost on Logan. "Sure baby." he was obviously pleased. "Just let me use the ladies room hon, and we can head out." she walked to the back with the speed of a fast moving freight train. Once behind the doors she shuddered. "I feel so dirty." "It wasn't fun from our end to watch either." Logan commented. "He's wanting to go play now, so I just cut through the chase." "We heard." he said "We'll be waiting outside for ya." "Then let's not keep the slime waiting." she headed back out. "He put something in your drink baby." Logan warned. "So don't take any last sips." Max muttered "That little shit" under her breath but still smiled sweetly to her 'date' "I'm set." "Why don't you finish your margerita?" Steve asked. "No sense in wasting five dollars." "Nah." Max shook her head. "It didn't taste all that good." She grabbed his arm, and put what she hoped was the scankiest smile on her face. "Let's just move on to bigger things." she giggled like a school girl. Steve smiled as well. "Sure thing doll. Don't want to keep that packaged wrapped too long, it might spoil." he grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door. Max allowed herself to be led like a small child crossing the street. They soon came out to the deep silver Benz. "Wow." she stated impishly. "What a cool car." she kept up her facade of sounding like an air headed ditz so he wouldn't suspect anything. "Isn't she sweet?" he sounded like a proud parent. "But she's gonna get a whole lot sweeter with my new hood ornament." he tried to fondle her through her clothes, but she quickly slapped his hand away. "Save the action for later Mr. or there won't be any left." she had so wanted to simply crush all the metacarpals in his wandering hand to dust with one squeeze, but decided that would be out of character for her tonight. She opened the door and sat down in the leather interior. "Comfy." again that little bubbly giggle. Steve shut the door and climbed in the driver's seat. He pulled out of the parallel parking space. From behind him Matt pulled out as well. He let the car coming at the cross section get ahead of him so Steve wouldn't know he was being followed. "We're on the move guys." Logan said into the mic. to the two listening in at his penthouse. "Got you on the tracker." Bling stated glancing at the screen that was giving a feedout of the van and the Benz location. Kendra came over to the desk with Jesse still in her arms. "This reminds me of the time I dated that sector officer. He use to let me watch the hover cam readouts." she sighed in remembered bliss. "It was all sex, lies, and video tape." "Suga if that lying, two faced maniac playa puts his hands on my girl one more time, the only title he'll remember when I'm done with him will be 'Blood Sweat and Tears." Cindy said threateningly sipping a cup of coffee. Max had to suppress a smile at Cindy's threat. She turned towards Steve. "How much longer? I think my all day mascara is beginning to wear off." "Not long now babe." he reached over and slapped her thigh. "Save the sqiurmin' for when I'm on top." The pencil that Logan had been fiddling with absent mindidly snapped in his hands when he heard that remark. "Mother fuckin' son of a bitch." his words were a low growl. "My thoughts exactly." Cindy agreed, hearing Logan's muttered curse. The Benz drove on for a few more minutes before coming to a stop outside a trailer park. "We're here." Steve turned towards Max. "Time for the after hours party." "Mmmhmm."/ I sound like such a whore/ Max climbed out of the passenger side. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of the van pulling to a stop on the north side of the aluminum wall that enclosed the park. They walked along, Steve in front and Max trailing behind. "For the record baby." Max whispered in the mic. to Logan "being the son of a bitch would be to good for this scum." They walked on for a few more seconds, before stopping at a trailer with blue faded sides. "Home sweet home." he opened the door for her. She walked passed the rickety screen door. "You're such a doll." she made sure to pass by the metal numbers nailed to the side of the trailer so that the camera would pick it up. Stepping over an old carburetor she entered the trailer. The first thing she noticed was the king size poster bed smack dab in the middle of the room. And above that were large suspended mirrors. "My god." Bling said amazed. "It's like some cheap porn set." "Straight up." Max agreed. Steve turned to face her. "What did you say?" "Nice stuff." She settled into the bed's cashmere comforter, and made a big deal out of crossing her legs slowly. "So soft." Steve sat next to her "I have a present for you before we begin." he lifted the familiar spray bottle to her and doused her with a gentle mist. Max stood up hastily and went over to the dresser. "Don't like it?" he asked. "Not my smell." Max replied looking up at the mirror. She mouth the words 'GO.' at her reflection. "Time to crash the doctor's party." Logan said, ripping off the headset. Matt checked the clip on his gun before sliding the van door open. He turned towards Logan. "You'd be better off he-" he broke off when he saw the look in the other man's eyes. "Here." he threw a kevlar at him. "Wear this." Both men climbed out of the van and moved silently through the night. "You're acting kinda weird." Steve stated walking over to her, he placed his lips near her hair. His hand wandered lower to her back. "I'm not a normal kind of girl." Max replied, readying herself to spring on him if he got any more touchy feelie. Steve's other hand which hand been in her hair suddenly snagged on the ear piece. "What the?" He yanked it out of her ear. "What the hell is this?" he threw it across the room. "Shit." Bling cursed. "Guys, Mason found Max's hardware." "Dammit." Matt said under his breath. Both he and Logan quickened their pace. "Candid camera." Max quipped in answer to Steve's question. "Girl's gotta make a living." Steve glared at her hatefully, knocking her into the mirror. "So you didn't really want to be with me?" "Nothing personnel." Max stated, recovering from the blow and knocking him in the chest with a swift kick. "I just don't go for guys who have a past history of murder." She stared down at him from the floor. "'Sides I'm already married." "Then why did you arrange a date with me?" Steve asked from the ground. "Bait." Max said simply. "One question remains. How did you find out?" he jumped to his feet in one maneuver. Max smiled slightly, cocking her head to one side "Impressive." "Thank you. I am aren't I?" She rolled her eyes. "I hate guys who are so hung up on themselves." she yanked him to her by his shirt. "But if you want to know how I figured you out." here she threw him against the headboard of his bed, where he landed uncermonosly in a heap. "Sit down and I'll tell you." before he had a chance to recover she took his hands and placed them in the handcuffs that so conviently hung on either side of the brass bed posts. "I realiazed that there had to be some reason that a slime sucker like you could get so many women. And then it hit me." she retrieved the black book from the dresser. "It was all in the name of science." She sat down next to him on the bed. "We like playing God huh?" "You don't get what it means." Steve stated. "To create perfect hybrid attack weapon, bioengineered to make fighting faster and stronger. You can't grasp the meaning of that concept." "I have a pretty good assumption." Max corrected. "But did you think you could just drop a few brauds and no one would notice the blood trail?" "Worked well so far." he replied. "Do you have a smart ass thing to say about everything?" she growled. "But it didn't work this time slick." she patted his thigh in the same manner as her. "I'm not gonna take a romp with your scanky ass anytime soon." "But you won't need too. You see the compound reacts to heat, sweat. I've been successful in producing it in my test subjects with no loss on my own personal enjoyment." he broke off to look at her with a smug grin. "But you on the other hand triggered your own homeostasis mechanism with all that ninja work, so the constant in this experiment doll, will stay the same." he gave two sharp whistles and the large German Shepherd bounded out of the dark. Max was knocked to the floor as the dog leapt at her. She grabbed the dog's muzzle. "Can't you just chew on a raw hide?" Kaja snapped back from her grip and moved to bite her chest. Max raised her hand just before she leapt and felt the dog's teeth in her hand. She hissed. /Damn cat genes/ "Hear that?" she snarled to the canine. "Got a little feline in me, and cats don't like dogs." she threw the animal against the opposite wall. The door opened and Matt entered, gun trained. "Police! Don't move." "He couldn't if he wanted to." Max said, sitting up and grasping her injured hand. Logan shoved past Matt and immediately knelt next to his wife. "Are you okay?" he helped her when she moved to stand up. "Yea." she replied, wincing when she removed her other hand from the injured one. "Hope that dog had shots." Logan moved to examine the wound. "Just looks superficial." "Getting that doctor's degree by mail?" she teased lightly. "I'm not the only one with a smart ass thing to say about everything." Steve commented as Sung handcuffed him for real. Logan moved to jump him, but Max stopped him with a hand on his shoulder "Don't waist you energy-" she broke off suddenly, groping for the bed post. "Max?" Logan grabbed her shoulder. "What's wrong?" "Don't know." she said weakly. "Just feel really light- headed all of a sudden." she fell against him. "MAX!" Logan caught her. "Baby, what's the matter. Can you hear me?" he still got no response. "Guys send medics here NOW! Something's wrong with Max." Logan barked into the headset. "Logan they're on the way." Cindy confirmed. "We placed a call with Metro after we lost her connection. They should be there soon." As if on cue the door opened revealing two EMS workers. "What do we have?" one of them asked wheeling a gurney. Logan laid her on it carefully. "She collapsed about two minutes ago." "Any injuries?" The second EMS worker asked. "Just a minor flesh wound from a dog." Logan relayed back. The medic looked up from her work. "Sir are you a doctor?" Logan shook his head. "I'm her husband." Her partner placed a stethoscope to Max's chest. "Heartbeat sounds good, still need to find out why she passed out." He glanced at Kaja sitting in a corner where Max threw her. "Call animal control, and tell them to check the dog for rabies." "Kaja's clean." Steve argued. "She's as healthy as a horse." "Just developed a taste for blood huh?" Logan returned hatefully. "Sir?" the medic's voice made him turn. "If you want to ride with your wife to the hospital we're leaving now." "Go." Matt said walking Mason out to the patrol car. "I have things here." Logan didn't object and followed the gurney out to the ambulance. "We'z coming too." Cindy proclaimed through the mic. "We'll be there as fast as Bling can move his Benz." Logan didn't respond to that as he climbed in the back of the ambulance. The sirens came on and the medical vehicle sped down the road. ***** Metro Mercy "Mr. Cale?" a doctor came out of the woodwork. Logan stood up from where he sat, and the four other people with him locked eyes on the man in the green scrubs. "Your wife is doing fine. Aside from the minor lacerations on her hand, she has no other injuries. Animal Control says the dog tested negatively for rabies." Logan sighed relieved, and behind him Kendra kissed Jess's little head. "Mommy's all right sweetie, she's okay." she held the baby closer to her. "Then why did she collapse?" Logan demanded. "She just pushed herself harder then she should've" he responded cryptically. "But I'll let her fill you in. She's in the third room down from the right, 172." Logan headed down the hall, Bling and Cindy not far behind. "You guys go ahead." Kendra stated, standing up and lifting Jesse in her arms. "Our man here dropped something that needs to be cleaned up. I'll meet you there." she headed off towards the ladies room. Opening the door to room 172, Logan spotted Max lying atop the covers of an ER gurney. She glanced up when she heard him enter. "Hey baby." He was at her side immediately. He kissed her. "How are you feeling?" She held up her bandaged hand. "It just smarts a little." "I think he's talking 'bout the reason you hit dream land in a hurry back there." Cindy corrected stepping up to the gurney with Bling. "Oh that." Max actually smiled. "I just put to much pressure on myself." Cindy blew her off. "Baby girl, Original Cindy's seen you haul stealth warriors without breakin' a sweat, how come it was 'too much pressure' tonight?" "Hey I can't help the way my body acts when I'm knocked up." Logan stared at her in disbelief. "You mean that you? But you aren't in heat or anything." "Baby that's just when it could happen the most." Max interrupted his ramblings. "Doesn't mean it can't happen anytime in between." she smiled sinfully "Remember the poker game two days ago?" Logan laughed dryly. "Looks like I DID hit the jackpot." he embraced her and kissed her deeply. "I take it that means you like this?" Max stated hugging him back. He squeezed her harder. "Damn straight." he pulled back to look at Bling. "Hear that one?" "Oh yea." Bling responded with a smile. "Congratulations man." Cindy moved to embrace Max. "For a chica who claimed that being single was the greatest, you sure love having babies." Max laughed lightly. "I've changed some things 'bout myself." "No complaints here suga." Cindy kissed her cheek. "Seems like the party started without me." Kendra stepped in with a now, freshly diapered Jesse in her arms. "It's a celebration." Cindy stated, pulling back and turning to Kendra. "We nailed that piece of shit to the wall and-" her eyes traveled to Jesse. "My boy gets to play big brother." There was an audible gasp from Kendra. "That's so great." she hugged Max with one arm, carefully shifting Jesse so that he was now settled in his mother's lap. "Hear that sweetie? You aren't the baby anymore." "You get the joys of having siblings." Logan touched his son's head. "Like mommy's." Max laughed lightly "He'd need more then just one brother or sister to catch up to my family Logan." her mood changed. "What's gonna happen to that dog?" "Most likely she'll be destroyed." Bling answered matter-of-factly. "Sector police can't take chances with a dangerous animal, they have enough trouble with the people." Max shook her head in sad acknowledgment. "If only someone had the time they could retrain her, start her over fresh. She can't help what she was created to be, she didn't ask for it, and now she has to die because society can't deal with her." she was talking about Kaja, but also about herself. Her and the dog had a lot in common. They both were prototypes to create something biologically perfect, and both had to suffer the consequences. Her train of thought was broken when Logan touched her hand. "Some things can't be helped." his cellphone rang and he answered it. "Yea?" "No I'm sorry she's not mi-" he listened for a few more minutes. "I'll consider it." he hung up. Max was confused. "Consider what? Who was that?" Logan turned to her. "Animal control. They found no violent behavior in Kaja, they actually found her to be quite docile." "She might just be trained that way until an attack." Kendra pointed out. "Like those dogs that only follow German commands." Logan actually smiled. "The head of the Animal Control is a former SEAL, he use to train those dogs. He said he ran through every attack command they had and-nothing. They can't find a reason to eliminate the dog, so they're putting her up for adoption." he looked at Max. "I figure who better to keep her with." Max was speechless, a first for her. "She'd be good company for you when I'm at work." He smiled "Plus I'd get another girl to watch my back." "So we just adopted a dog?" Max asked with a raised eyebrow. "God, we're getting so domestic, one kid, one on the way and now a DOG? Should we start erecting the white picket fence?" "Nah boo." Cindy stated. "You ain't getting domestic. You just agreed to take in a former attack dog after it sunk one in your hand, that's anything BUT." Max laughed. "You're right, doesn't sound like me. Maybe that fence better be chained linked, be easier to scale, no splinters." "This sounds more like my wife." Logan agreed. "I never married you for your domestic skills. It was love at the first sound of you crashing through my skylight." he kissed her. She responded in kind, deepening it and pulling him closer. Two kids, a husband and a dog. Didn't mean she was getting domestic. Just meant that she was getting better. ***** End I just couldn't anialate the dog..I'm an animal lover, just FYI for all you animal rights activists who might send me hate mail 'cause of my "doggie meets wall" scene. Hey if a large German Shepherd was nawing at your insides would you just sit there and smile? Already decided several more plots to the next few chapters, so keep watch. All feedback appreciated, even flames..as long as they don't burn me too badly. 


	4. It's A Woman Thang

From: "Veronica Bowles"  Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2001 12:57:37 -0400 Subject: New Post Source: direct TITLE: Choices-04 "It's a Woman Thang." AUTHOR: Mystic25 EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com DISTRIBUTION: Archive, just keep my stuff the same GENRES: Story/Romance/Angst RELATIONSHIPS: Max/Logan married CONTENT: references to child experimentation, and abortion (but not of Max's current pregnancy) KEYWORDS: Alternate Universe RATING: PG14 SPOILERS: few references to "Hit a Sista back" SUMMARY: Max's baby shower has a few unexpected surprises DISCLAIMER: All DA characters are Cameron's. I claim right to any others. AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, I KNOW I said I would write one about Tinga escaping Manticore, but all of you who have seen "..And Jesus Brought a Casserole" and didn't cry raise your hands  I couldn't write anything like that after the ep. was over. But, I DIDN'T go back on my word. Tinga is rescued in here, but it's not the main plot of the story. Also for those of you wanting Zack, he's menitoned in here as well. ***** Foggle Towers 11:23 a.m. Max deftly pulled the cream colored three quarter sleeved shirt over her head. The piece of clothing hugged the curves of her upper body flaring only at the protrusion of her lower abdomen. She placed one hand on her round stomach, feeling a kick from the child inside. It had already been five months since she found out that she was pregnant again. Since that time she helped Logan and Det. Sung with that case for that wacked out scientist. But more importantly it had been almost that same amount of time that she and Zack had rescued Tinga from Manticore. Logan hadn't wanted her to go, fearing for her and the baby, but, she could not pass the chance to save her sister from that hell hole. Zack and her had found Tinga strapped to a hospital bed, clinging to life. They took her out in the dead of night, guards on them the whole time. They made it to the perimeter, before Zack was shot, and she had taken a hit to her shoulder. They fought back and made it out. Logan had been waiting in the surrounding woods and seeing them injured drove them all to Seattle and the nearest hospital. Zack's wound was not critical, the bullet had ricocheted off his neck, hitting nothing major. Max's wound was a little more serious, but doctors successfully removed the bullet fragments from her shoulder and had run a ultrasound, finding no traumatic affects to the fetus from the injury. The look on Zack's face was priceless when Max had told the ER doctors that she was then three months pregnant, and was worried about her injuries affects on her baby. After Max's minor surgery, she took up a silent vigil next to Tinga's comatose form. She held her hand, talked to her, telling her that she was free again. Logan had tracked down Charlie and Case in Canada and told them what had happened. Charlie had flown to Seattle immediately and joined Max in her watch. Even after Max had been discharged she refused to leave Tinga's side. It was not uncommon to find her and Charlie asleep in a chair by the bed of the wife and sister they were praying would make it. Logan would be able to sometimes convince Max to go home and get some sleep, but the next morning she was back in that room. The nurses on Tinga's floor grew accustom to seeing her there and developed sympathy for her and Charlie. They would often bring in a cot, so Max would not have to sleep in a chair in her condition. She and Logan spent many nights asleep on that rickety old fold out. Logan did not want to leave her, often calling Bling or Original Cindy to watch Jess. Zack had once walked in the room a few days after they all were brought there. Max was asleep on the hospital cot, pressed up against Logan's back, their hands interwound on her stomach. Charlie slept in the chair beside Tinga's bed, holding her hand with Case sleeping in his lap. Zack looked at his two little sisters. Each had given into phony sentimentality, and love and it had brought them pain, sorrow just like he had said. But even enlight of this they looked in their element that night. After two more days the waiting paid off, and Tinga had awoken. Charlie had wept that day, holding her close. Tinga had responded in kind, embracing her son and husband hard. When she and Max embraced Max felt it was like coming home. She introduced Logan to Tinga who had brought Jess to the hospital that day. Tinga had held the baby for the longest time, telling Max that she was glad she found out how wonderful love could be. And when she touched the small slope that was already forming in her baby sister's stomach she had actually cried, hugging Max fiercely, thanking whoever was calling the shots that she had been allowed to witness all these miracles. Charlie moved back to the United States, and he and Tinga moved into an apartment complex five miles away from Foggle Towers. Zack had of course shown his objection, but Tinga told him more then once to 'fuck off' and that if Lydeker wanted her he'd have to drag her back, 'cause she wasn't about to run out on her family again. Logan's hands on her back startled Max out of her thoughts. "Sorry." he apologized. She smiled. "That's okay. I was just thinking." "About?" "This" Max touched her stomach. "Us. The way life seems to be dealing us some good hands these last few months." Logan kissed her bar code, making her shiver slightly. "I'm glad it did." The new baby, reuniting Max with her sister, her and Tinga making it out of the ordeal alive. They were all milestones that Logan thanked God everyday for. "Hey I'm gonna kick this door down if someone doesn't answer soon." Tinga's voice wafted through the air. Max moved out of her husband's embrace "Better get that, 'cause she'll do it." she walked out into the living room and opened the mahogany door. Tinga stood there, dressed in black jeans and a capuchino colored pullover. She smiled at Max. "Hey baby sister." she hugged her, shifting the bag in her hand. Max hugged her back. "Glad you could make it." Tinga kissed her forehead gently. "Wouldn't have missed this for the world." she touched Max's stomach, smiling at the kick she felt under her hand. "Someone's ready for this party as well." she set the bag on the dinning room table. Kaja, their German Shepherd approached Tinga. She smiled and petted the dog. "Hey girl. How are ya?" she ran her hand along the Kaja's elegant fur coat. Kaja licked Tinga's hand in affection, before heading off towards the bedroom. Logan stopped to pet her when she nearly collided into him while chasing her chew toy. He looked up again at his wife and sister-in-law. "Hey Tinga, How's Charlie?" "He's all right Logan." Tinga answered. "He and his father took Case out to a ball game today. Knicks and Lakers at that arena downtown." "Sounds like a good game." Logan commented. "It should be." Tinga replied. She was as much of a basket- ball fan as her husband. "He invited me to go. Seats were court side and everything, but I reminded him about this." she smiled at Max. "Told him that even seats like that wouldn't make me give up coming to my little sister's baby shower, especially since I missed the first one." "Wasn't anything too special." Max argued. "Just me and a few girlfriends." "Well this one will be." Tinga proclaimed "It won't be all lacy and doily. I had enough of that at the one Charlie's mother Sara gave me for Case." she shuddered slightly at the memory. "She was sweet for doing it, but all those little pink flowers and streamers made me nauseous after a while. But-" she reached into the bag that she had brought pulling out two roses, one yellow with the tips of some petals colored red, almost like they had been dipped ever so slightly into paint, and the other pure white. "I think these won't be too much. Yellow and red for the friendship and love from a sister, and white for the existence of new life." she handed them to Max. Max took the flowers from her, tears wetting the corners of her eyes. When they had been children they had never had the luxury of soft, beautiful, feminine things. Barrack life had them sleeping in steel bunks and sharing bathroom facilities with the male soldiers. They had all used the same showers, there was no such thing as privacy. Sometimes at night she would lay awake with her sisters and talk about what life would be like if they escaped. Almost all of them longed for things like flowers, soft beds instead of old filthy mattress, and they all yearned for love from a man. Not the kind from Krit, or Ben, or even Zack, but the love between a man and a woman. And now to be holding something that she had wished for as a child, to be living the dream she had so long ago, it was overwhelming. "Thank you." Max hugged Tinga tightly. She sniffed "If Lydeker could see us now, the rat bastard would die ashamed." Tinga laughed lightly, pulling back, wiping away her own tears. Max turned towards her husband "Baby could you put these in some water?" He took them from her, wiping away excess tear tracks with the back of his hands, and went in search of a vase. "Knock knock." Original Cindy came through the front door that had been left open. She turned towards Max "You plan to invite the whole building to this thang suga?" Max shook her head "Just forgot to close it." she shut the door again. Cindy hugged her "How's my boy doin'?" "Fine." Max informed. "He's getting so big." "So are you." Cindy said pulling back. She touched Max's stomach "I'm noticing more and more space between me and you as the months are wearing on." Max laughed "Yea I know. I'm starting to look like the Good Year blimp." "No you're not." Logan corrected, having since found a vase for the roses. He wrapped both arms around her. "You look radiant." Max snorted "Easy for you to say baby, you don't have ten extra pounds all placed in one central area." "Hey." Logan began in a gentle, demanding tone "Don't argue with me when I give you a compliment." he kissed her neck. After another moment Max pulled back from her husband's embrace. "Almost forgot that you two don't know each other." she addressed Cindy and Tinga. "Yea." Cindy began in agreement, turning to the other woman "But I heard a lot about you. Spent many nights watching my boo's son while she waited for you to wake up." her eyes held nothing but sincerity "Glad your okay suga." "Thanks." Tinga responded "It's nice to know that my baby sister has friends like you to fall back on." "Her names Cindy by the way." Logan introduced. "I was gettin' there boy." Cindy informed. "Just giving her a lil 411. Speaking of friends 'falling back on things'" she looked at Max. "Kendra and Walter had this whole weekend thing planned so she told me to give you her apologizes and this-" she pulled out a hand woven dream catcher from her backpack. "To hang above the baby's crib." Max took it from her, admiring the cedar ring that held the intricately woven web of string and beads. "Maybe I should ask her to do one for me. Might help banish those thoughts of her and Walter doin' shit to each other." she she shuddered. "Still unsettling after all this time." "It's beautiful." Tinga picked up one of the feathers that hung down the bottom. "She has talent." "So.." Cindy went in another direction. "This girl's gonna make herself useful and get things ready." she retreated to the kitchen. ***** Twenty minutes later Cindy and Tinga had cooked enough food for a small army. Max, not being a great whiz in the kitchen, sat on a nearby stool and watched. "Smell's great in here ladies." Logan commented, coming out of the nursery with Jess, who was up from his nap. He placed him in his playpen and took the seat next to Max "Afraid you'll burn something?" Max looked at him "You know what my cooking skills are like." "Non existent." Cindy answered back. "No offense hon, but you seemed to have been short changed on the culinary side of your family history." "I resent that." Max shot back Tinga laughed lightly "It's true Maxi. Remember when we were assigned KP duty for three days?" Max actually smiled slightly at that memory. "I still didn't understand why Lydeker had KP. Did he want us to learn how to bake poison for our enenimies?" "It was for punishment remember?" she replied. "You and Zane had snuck out to the tower after bunk check." "We wanted to see the north star." Max pointed out. "Syl told us how we could wish upon it." she remembered what happened after it though, their drill sergeant had sent guards to drag them back down. Tinga, who had been acting as a lookout, had been 'punished' as well. Three days chained to stee. posts, being forced to drug their siblings' food for lab research. Cindy noticed her mood change "You okay Max?" Max came out of her thoughts. "Yea, just spaced for a moment." she looked over at the plates covering the counter. Her stomach growled "This baby's always hungry. With Jess it wasn't nearly as bad." "That's why we made this much." Tinga pointed outs. "Took in account your appetite and my niece's." "You think it's a girl?" Max looked down at her stomach. The baby was in the wrong position for the ultrasound technician to tell the sex. Tinga smiled knowingly "I have a strong feeling." she set the food on the dinning room table. Max turned towards Logan "That mean's we'll have the perfect nuclear family." "That's actually 2.3 children baby." Logan corrected. "I never liked that concept." Tinga commented retreating back to the kitchen to get glasses. "Perfection is so over rated in this world. Charlie and I are perfectly happy with just Case. I wouldn't just have another baby just to meet someone else's standards of family." she arranged the glasses she brought out on the marble table. Logan smiled at her remark "Oh the joys of family bonding over cooking and faulty ideology." Max climbed off the stool and examined the table. "Five places? I only count three of us here who are staying for this, what gives?" Tinga looked at Max with a smile "It's part of my present to you. I made a few calls, all on pay phones of course, and found out who was hanging around this area and told them to drop by." Max was getting more confused. "Who are you talking about?" A knock was heard on the door. "I'll get that." Tinga announced, and retreated off to answer it. She could hear slight mumbling on the other side. "I could wire this door and get it to open." "Girl, don't be stupid, you knocked, just be patient." "But I want to enter with a bang, so to speak." Tinga shook her head and opened the door to her sisters. "Jondy, you're only here thirty seconds and you're already wanting to lay waste to something." The woman with the long brown hair and blue eyes looked at her teasingly. "But I want to wire up something so *bad* Tinga." she hugged her. "Then you can start with my car." Syl pointed out. She looked at Tinga. "Had a hell of a time finding this place. My sweet lil Coverre finally died in the parking garage." she hugged Tinga after Jondy did. Both women entered the penthouse. Jondy whistled "Nice digs." "Thanks." Logan replied. "Max will be out in a second." "That's Logan." Tinga introduced. Jondy turned to face him "So your the one Zack keeps bitchin' about." she smiled "You seem harmless enough." "Your brother and I don't exactly get along." Logan replied. "That's Zack for ya." Syl began. "He never thinks anyone is good for his sisters. Even put tails on me and my boy Craig in Vegas, he's paranoid." she said this to reassure Logan that Max wasn't the only sibling he did this to. Syl sized up Logan as well "So I guess this mean's your my new brother-in-law?" "I can't believe this." Max proclaimed, having since come back from the bathroom. Jondy turned, seeing her standing there. "Maxi!" she came over and locked her in a fierce embrace, that Max returned with the same eagerness. "It's been to long girl." she pulled back and looked at her, laying a hand on her round stomach. "WAY to long." "Couldn't believe it when Tinga called me in Nevada." Syl hugged her little sister hard. "When she said I had to book it over to Seattle for Maxi's baby shower I almost fainted." she smiled in memory. "Scared Krit to death." "Krit was there?" Max asked. "Came by to help me load a new carburetor into my Corverre, the one Jondy made funk out in your parking garage." Syl shot a reproachful look at her other sister. "I think Krit's exact words when I told him were "Max got knocked up? Bet Zack's gonna be pissed." she smiled at Max "But he say's congrats, and if Zack gives you any shit he'll come up here and haul his ass himself." "How long are you here?" Max asked, almost afraid of the answer. They had just dropped everything to come here for this event, and she knew that they would leave in short time. Zack may think them reckless, but Syl and Jondy were aware that two many X5's in one city was just waving the red flag in front of Lydeker's face. "Have to get my honey started, so I'm guessing until tomorrow." Syl answered. Max's expression fell slightly. Even though she knew that she would say something like that, it still made her sad. They hadn't seen each other in years and now only had less then twenty-four hours to spend together. Jondy caught Max's mood change and draped her arm across her shoulder "That's plenty of time for us to kick it sweetie. And we'll try to be back for the birth of our niece..nephew?" her statement trailed off into a question. "Don't know yet." Max responded with a smile. "Tinga's saying it's a girl. And since I have a son, I wouldn't mind if it was true, but either way I'll be happy." Jondy looked dumfounded. "You didn't tell me you already HAD one of these on the outside." Max laughed "Girl the playpen is right behind you, I thought you would notice." Jondy did a double take and looked at the playpen set up. Jesse was playing intently with his plastic toys. She headed over to it and peered over the side at the baby. "Oh my god, he's so beautiful." "Your sister's nice suga." Cindy whispered to Max "but a little slow." "I heard that." Jondy called out. She looked at Cindy with a smile. "Forgot that all my girl's family has that whole super senses thing going on." Cindy replied Jondy reached into the playpen and picked up the baby. "What's his name?" "Jesse." Max responded. Jondy nodded slightly in understanding, at the underlying message that Max wanted her to know, but couldn't say. She looked back down at the baby. "Hey Jess, I'm your aunt. or at least ONE of them." she walked over to Syl. "This is another." Syl reached out and touched Jess's head. "Hey little one." Jesse looked at her with the large mocha eyes. "You look so much like your mama. She named you well." she paused briefly. "I wish your namesake and your little cousin could be here to see how beautiful you are." she stopped to take a swipe at her eyes. "Sorry." she apologized looking around the room. "It's aiight." Cindy reassured. "From what Max told me that was no walk in the park for you." Max retrieved a few tissues and handed them to Syl. Tinga was heard blowing her nose from where she was seated at the dinning room table. Syl hugged Max, both crying quietly, and Jondy wiped excess tear tracks off her face with the hem of her jacket. She laughed dryly at their predicament. She looked down at her nephew "Your mommy and aunts are real basket cases huh?" Max laughed, wiping the last traces of moisture from her face. "That Coverre of yours Syl" Max changed the subject. "How'd she shut down?" "I'm guessin' the fan belt finally snapped." Syl responded "I found enough quality scrap to upload my sweetheart's engine triplefold, but I can't find a damn belt in all of Nevada that won't break after one hundred miles." She sighed "I gotta weed through the Black Market to try and find another cheap rubber band." "The ones here are nothing but black holes." Cindy warned. "I went to this one set up to buy a chain guard for my messenger wheels. Twenty Mr. Washingtons for something that was more rusted through then the Space Needle, and the thing broke thirty feet down the road." "Great." Syl began dejectedly. "Now I gotta have Jondy push my girl all the way back to Vegas." Jondy stared at her "Ha ha. I could just juice her up Syl. Get a little nitrate, some red and blue." "Jondy." Tinga broke in "Leave the wires and flammables out of this." "I'm workin' on it Tinga I swear." Jondy reconciled. Tinga shot her sister a 'uh-huh' look. "Max could help you." she said to Syl. "She's still got some left over parts from suppin' up her cycle." "Is it that little black beauty beside the Aztec?" Syl asked. Max nodded "That's my OTHER baby." she laughed slightly looking at Logan "I guess we DO have a perfect nuclear family after all." Logan just shook his head in mock exasperation. After family and friends, his wife's next love was her Ninja. "She is sweet." Syl agreed. "Yea." Max stated. "But I can't take her out until after the baby's born. Until then it's my Impala. Still, I've grown attached to that little red number." she looked at Syl "I've still got plenty of scrap left though. Why don't we move this party outside for a while?" ***** Cindy sat on the hood of Max's Impala with Jesse's baby carrier beside her. "Only my girl would be fixing a fan belt when she was five months pregnant." Cindy stated to Max who was working under the hood of her sister's car. Max smiled and wiped some oil off her hands onto a rag she had brought. "Try it now." Syl cranked the engine. It sputtered and coughed for a few seconds, but died soon afterwards. "Dammit." Syl cursed. "That didn't get it." Max reached in and pulled out the belt she had just set in. She examined it for a few seconds, noticing a small fissure in the rubber. "This one sprang a leak." she chucked it to the ground and walked over to a large box in the corner of the garage where she kept all her spare parts. Logan leaned against his Aztec, watching. He didn't even notice Bling come up behind him. "What's all this?" Logan turned towards him "Oh hey Bling. Welcome to Auto Mechanics 101. Those women with Max are her sisters Jondy and Syl. Syl's car broke down and Max is helping her fix it." he half laughed, half sighed. "Most women who have baby showers get together inside, talk, exchange gifts, pick out names, my wife repairs automobiles." "Good excircise for her." Bling remarked with a small smile. "So" he looked at Logan "You ready to go?" "Yea." he said standing up straight. "Just let me say bye to my mechanic." he walked over to where Max was again half under the hood of the Corrverre. He placed his hands on her shoulders "I have something else that needs to be worked on sweetheart." Max put down the wrench she was holding and turned to face him. "Oh really?" she smirked, wrapping both arms around his neck. "Is it something worth my time?" "It better be." Logan teased claiming her mouth in a deep kiss. "I'm heading out. Pistons tickets are hard to come by, and I wanna get there before scalpers sell my seat out to someone else." "Have a good time baby." Max stated. "I've got my own kinda game to watch. Pistons and a V-8 engine." "Let me know how that turns out." he kissed her softly on the nose. "Don't push yourself too hard." "I won't" she promised. "Don't worry Logan." Tinga reassured eavesdropping. "We'll make sure she's okay." Logan handed Max back the wrench she had put down earlier, stealing one more kiss. "You guys haven't even had the second kid and your already working towards the third." Cindy remarked. Logan pulled back with a smile. "Gotta go." he gave a quick kiss to his son's forehead. "Watch mommy and learn Jess. You need to know how to do this so daddy's credit cards don't take a beating on tow trucks later on." he walked over to his Aztec again and climbed in the drivers seat. He started the engine and pulled out of his reserved spot. He honked to the group of women as he drove away. Max raised one hand in the air in a waving fashion. She continued to tighten in the nuts that attached the rollers the belt sat on, to the engine. "Tinga could you come and tighten this last one? With this stomach in the way it's hard to reach." Tinga nodded and climbed off her vantage point on the roof of the car. She took the wrench from Max and proceeded to tighten the last nut in place. "It's like when we were little." Max stated looking at her two other sisters. "When we had to go on those godforsaken training missions. Having to avoid all those land mines that were set out. Jondy always managed to de-activate them. She was always good at technical mechanics." "Jondy don't you *dare* hot wire this car!" Syl barked "I don't want my baby's guts all out in the open." "Just wanted to see if Maxi got her hummin' again Syl, relax." Jondy defended. "Some things haven't changed." Max said shaking her head. Tinga smiled in acknowledgment, putting down the wrench. Max checked the position of the new belt, seeing that it was aligned correctly she stuck her head out of the hood. "Gun it Jondy." "Here." Syl tossed her the keys. "Do it the traditional way." Jondy caught them and cranked the ignition. The car roared to life. "She's purring like a kitten." Max announced, dropping the hood back into place. "Oh sweetie." Syl cooed, stroking the sleek purple body of the car "I'm glad you're okay." Jondy turned off the engine and climbed out. "Good as new." she announced. She looked at Max "You should take a break." Max wiped a smudge of oil off her face. "Nah, I'm good. 'Sides I'm done now." she wiped some sweat off the back of her neck that had formed there. Syl came up behind Max and began rubbing her shoulders "Thanks for the free labor hon. You helped prevent so many injuries to the people I would've had to put down because they would have sold me faulty parts." Max felt her muscles began to loosen under her sister's kneading hands. "Glad my simple act of auto repair also help defer acts of random violence." she let out a sound half way between a purr and a moan. "The Corverre's not the only thing that's purring like a kitten now." Jondy teased at the sounds Max was making in response to the massage "Good thing there isn't a man around here." she began again "'cause he'd be getting all turned on and shit." "Straight up." Original Cindy agreed, listening in. "All the human male gender can't get enough of watching two shorties engaging in perfectly normal cuddling time and treatin' them like they was on some National Geographic mating show, it's sick." "Excuse me." the sound of a deep voice made all five women turn. A young man, around his mid twenties, with blonde hair stood there. He was dressed in faded jeans and an oversized red sweatshirt. "Can I be of assistance to you ladies?" Max shook her head negatively. "Thanks buddy, but we got it covered." "Car problems?" he asked. She shook her head again. "Not anymore. Just unloaded some rubber into this girl's heart, she's fine now." He obviously didn't believe her because the next words out of his mouth were "Mind if I take a look?" "I SAID we got it." Max responded annoyed. "What's there to look at?" "Hey don't get all hormonal on me lady. I know it's not under your control or anything but that's no reason to be rude." he was using a tone on her that was normally reserved for a small child. Now Max was getting pissed, and was about to tell him exactly what kinda control she could have, but Syl beat her to the punch. "My sister's pregnant, she's not stupid. What makes you think that I even WANT some total stranger looking at my baby?" "What are you all on your time or something?" he turned to Max "except you of course. I was just wanting to make sure things were right." "Oh no you did not just do that." Cindy stated, hopping off the Impala and approaching the man. "This conversation's makin' Original Cindy mad. First of all, a chica doesn't have to be on 'her time' as you like to call it to be offended by some three legged looser guy who's being a male chovinistic pig. And second of all my boo here's a grown woman, not little girl lost, she's been repairing and welding stuff probably before you had your first tricycle." she crossed her arms over her chest. "All I did was offer-" he began again, but this time Jondy cut him off. "Yea well we didn't ask. You didn't do us a great service, other then the fact that you're annoying, you've accomplished nothing." she silently dared him to say anything more. He did. "Did any of you ever change a battery cable in a rainstorm on a dark night?" he sounded pretty impressed with himself. But Max was not. "Did YOU ever reassemble and then reattach two rudders of a puddle jumper during the middle of a hurricane?" she looked at him coldly. "I didn't think so. And unless you plan to rebuild the entire engine frame of the U.S.S Arizona right here in this parking garage, I would advise that you stop trying to be Joe the Repairman and start being a scrawny ass guy who better start walking while he's still able to stand upright." "You shouldn't exert yourself in your condition." he responded, not knowing when to quit. Max was now royally pissed off. She grabbed him by the collar of his T-shirt. "Do you have a death wish or something?" her voice was a low growl. She broke off when she experienced an uncomfortable sense of vertigo. Her hands came away from his shirt and now rested on her head. Syl noticed. "I think it's time you sat down girl." she suggested. Max didn't argue and took a seat on the hood of the Corverre. Cindy sat down beside her. "You okay boo?" "Yea." Max replied, rubbing her temples slightly. "Just got a little dizzy." "You've been workin' too hard suga." she patted her shoulder "Put your head right here and take a little relaxation time." Max did as she said, and Cindy placed an arm across her shoulders. "Told you." the man stated. This time it was Tinga who 'took him to school' She mimicked Max's earlier position and snagged him by his shirt collar. "I don't think my baby sister appreciated the sarcasm in that remark, and I didn't like it either." her hand moved lower and gripped his neck. Why don't you just walk away before one of us makes sure that you experience the kind of exertion that makes 'your condition' require time in the ICU." she squeezed his neck a little for emphasis. The man made a slight gasping noise. "What's that?" Tinga stated mockingly. "You have to speak up." she abruptly released his neck. The guy groped at the red marks forming where Tinga's hands had recently vacated. "Now the exits are all a good ways away from here." Tinga went on "I suggest you go find one before you have to tell your friends how you got your ass kicked by a bunch of girls." The guy didn't say anything more, and slowly retreated away from them. "What prehistoric era did that slime crawl out of?" Jondy sneered. "For real." Cindy agreed, playing with Max's long brown curls. "This is why this girl doesn't associate with the opposite gender when it comes to the love side of things." "Not all men are scum." Max argued lightly. "Mine isn't." "Okay one exception in about so many odd million guys." Cindy corrected. "He's in the minority." Max shook her head in agreement "I don't feel dizzy anymore." she slid off the hood of the Corverre "But, I do feel hungry. Let's take this thang back inside before the food gets cold." ***** After eating all five women made themselves comfortable on the furniture in the living room. Max was seated next to Jondy on the overstuffed couch with Original Cindy on the opposite side of her. Tinga was in the arm chair that sat directly parallel to the sofa. Syl opted for the floor and sat cross legged in front of Max and Cindy. "So." Syl began trying to start up a new topic of conversation "How did you and Logan meet Maxi?" Max half sighed, half smiled "I broke in here to fence something." Syl raised an eyebrow "Really?" Max nodded "It was a Goddess of Bast statue Logan kept on the mantle." she pointed to where the white figurine still rested. "I snuck in here one night to get it, but he caught me." "Did he flip out?" Jondy interrupted. "Sort of." Max responded cryptically. "The next day he came to see me at my job, and asked me to do stuff for him, and as I got to know him more he returned the favor. He helped me find Hanna, and Zack, though I don't know whether I should thank him or slug him for that last one." she laughed quietly. "Big brother is watching you." Jondy stated. "I hear ya girl, I mean I love him and all, but sometimes I just want to throttle the shit out of him." "He's that bad?" Cindy questioned. "Mmmhmm." Tinga agreed. "He means well, it's just that he's so-" she broke off, trying to search for a good description. "Forceful." Syl finished. "Arrogant." Jondy added. "Pig headed." "Zack." Max stated. "There's just no other way to put it. Every time he was here in Seattle he tried to get me to leave, go on the lamb. Even after I set down roots and had a family." "Good thing you didn't listen to him baby sister." Tinga stated "I spent almost six full months away from my husband and child. Coming back may have cost me a lot, but I wouldn't change that decision for anything in the world." she smiled over at Max "especially now that I know what I have waiting for me." "I say we have a toast then." Syl announced, holding up her glass of scotch. "To Zack, the most self-centered, son of a bitch brother and CO we could have ever asked for." she took a drink of her scotch. Max smiled raising her glass of mineral water as well "Wherever you are big brother, I love you dearly, but if you try and pry me away from my life again, I'll kick your ass myself." "Stick it to the man." Jondy agreed drinking from her glass. Her expression changed, becoming more serious. "Before we each present baby sister Max here with the offerings we brought for her child, let's take the time to remember those who can't be here." she paused briefly raising her glass again "To Zane, next time remember to pay your landlord so you don't have to work double shifts at the warehouse." "To Krit." Syl went on "Thanks for the work on my baby, and don't kill yourself rock climbing. To Jace, glad you turned around, take care of our other little Max." "To Eva." Tinga's eyes were sad when she said this. "We miss you everyday baby sister, and to Ben, I wish you could have been strong enough to ward off the darkness." "My true love Diamond." Cindy raised her glass "I miss you girl, but I'll never forget the love and good times." "To Jesse-" Max paused to take a breath to gather her thoughts "You were so brave during the whole 'process' Never once saw you flinch." unbidden tears sprang to her eyes. "Thank you for holding my hand after my turn was over, and telling me those stories with Brin to take my mind off the pain." a few tears escaped the pools suspended in the recesses of her eyes. "I tried to reach you before they took you away but-" she choked back a sob. "I wasn't fast enough. I'm sorry my sister. I miss you." Jondy wrapped an arm around Max's shoulders, and drew her sister in for a hug. "It's all right. There was nothing you could've have done." she pulled back. "Nothing any of us could have done. Our babies-" she broke off to look at Max's enlarged stomach "deserved a better life then what we had to offer them back then." "But they never had the chance to choose." Max argued through her tears. "They weren't even born yet." "Honey." Tinga moved to kneel next to Max "They would have been taken away from you and the others by c-section after you carried to term. Just like our own mothers. Never seen of again. Just another set of manipulated genes to use in the creation of more soldiers. That wasn't a life." Max nodded slightly "I'm sorry." she sniffed. "I'm just one raging hormone." she took a swipe at her eyes. "No you're not sweetie." Syl moved to sit on the coffee table. She kissed her on the forehead and hugged her. Max hugged her back. "Ah." she pulled back slightly, and rubbed her stomach. "You okay?" Syl asked concerned. "Yea." Max reassured. "I think the baby's practicing her back flips." Jondy put her hand on Max's stomach and felt a hard kick against her palm. "Whoa." she smiled. "She's got a strong set of legs." she leaned down closer "When your older sweetheart I'll teach you how to kick box." Max laughed lightly, Jondy's proclamation bringing her up from her depressed mood. "Now that the speeches are over with." Syl announced "It's time to move on to the main event." she laid a manila envelope on Max's stomach. "Glad you went all out." Max teased lightly opening the cream colored envelope. A white piece of paper fell out with a voice mail number scribbled on it. "That's Zack's contact number." Syl pointed out. "Or his new one. He keeps changing it for 'precaution'" "Does he know you gave this to me?" Max asked, remembering the last time she had asked why she hadn't been let in on this whole set up. He had told her that she was to wreckless. Syl shook her head negatively. "When I asked him about 'Max being aware of the new number' he spouted off some junk about you being to unstable or something." she laughed dryly "Like that kind of proclamation's ever stopped me from doing what I felt like before." "Thank you." Max stated simply. Syl kissed her cheek "Anytime girl, now you can start coming to more X5 reunions." "Mine next." Jondy stated like an impatient child. Max laughed at her sister. "Okay girl, just chill." she picked up the wrapped object that Jondy had laid across the couch with a grunt. "You giving your niece rocks or something?" Max teared away the tissue paper. "It's lovely, it's concrete." she looked at the large granite slab she had unearthed from the paper. Jondy flipped it over for her. "Look what it says Maxi" she pointed to the scratches on the other side's surface, forming letters. She read some out loud. "This pact was to important to be written on paper.." "I can't believe you got this." Max announced, suddenly realizing what it was. "It was under your bunk, how'd you get it out?" "They demolished the old barracks where we were." Jondy informed "Victor tracked me down in San Francisco and gave it to me. I saved it ever since." Max continued to read the writing she and Jondy had put there so long ago on that night. "therefore it must be inscribed on stone. Let it be known to all the world that two sisters, Jondy and Maxi pledged on this night that we will escape this place and step out into life. If at all possible this writing will be presented as homage to whoever discovers it first." "That's what this is." Jondy proclaimed, with tears glistening in her eyes. "It was suppose to be for the birth of our first born, but since I missed it, I think it'll still work well with the second." Max hugged her "Thank you." her voice was full of emotion. Jondy hugged her back "I'm just glad one of us was able to fulfill that dream." "Okay." Original Cindy began setting the blue gift bag on the couch. "This doesn't have any deep, symbolic meaning, but I think it'll still be appreciated." Max blew her off "Of course it will boo." she pulled out a woven cashmere afghan colored in a deep jade. "This is beautiful." Max announced feeling it. "It's very soft." "I found it for twenty-five at some little shop on the water front." Cindy announced. "Figured it'd be nice to wrap up your babies in, both little and grown." Max caught the meaning of her words. "My children and my sex life thank you." she hugged her, and added "I love it." Syl looked at Tinga teasingly "We must have unconsciously decided to do this by age." Tinga glared at her. "Yep Syl, age before wisdom." her voice was teasing. She handed Max a card first. "Case made this himself." On the outside there was a large smiley face in yellow crayon. On the inside in the middle it read "Aunt Max, That's me smiling because I'm happy I'm getting a new cousin." -Case" Max laughed slightly "He has real artistic talent Tinga." "I know." Tinga stated proudly. "He's so into symbolism." Max continued to read the rest of the card. In the upper left hand corner of the inside flap it read: Max, I can't thank you enough for what you did for us. You risked two lives to save her. Congratulations on the miracle and I hope the baby will have the same strength and love as you do. -Love, Charlie." Max opened the cardboard box in her lap. Inside was a silver picture frame with the backing facing out. Carefully she flipped it over, and gasped at what she found. "How- where did you get this?" The black and white photo of Jesse stared back at her. She was actually smiling, dressed in army fatigues and a shaved head. "Zane found an old negative lying in the snow that night we broke out. She kept it, that's what got her interested in photography." Tinga informed. "Gave it to me a while back when I told her I had caught up with you. Told me to give it to you when the time was right." she touched Max's hand. "This is the time." Max didn't say anything for a long moment, her thoughts wandering. Tinga didn't feel comfortable with the silence "Is something wrong?" Max ignored her sister's question and stood up "I'll be right back." "You feelin' aiight suga?" Cindy asked, getting concerned as well. Max nodded "I'm just going to the bathroom guys." she tried to keep her tone light. She retreated down the hall. Shutting the door to the master bath Max sat on the closed toilet. The image of the photo was still burned in her mind. She well remembered the day it was taken. /"Regulations only call for a file photo every two years." young Jesse argued to the civilian photographer who had come on base that day. The man looked at the girl. She had no hair on her small head. She was dressed in military fatigues that only particularly hid the slope under her clothes. Next to her was another girl. He couldn't even tell the child was female except for the gentle bulge that mimicked the other girl's. My god, what the hell kind of place was this? "This isn't for the file honey." he spoke to her without the usual issue of the words 'solider' and 'attention' that Jesse became surprised. "This is just for my own records." Jesse gave a clipped nod "Then go ahead sir." She stood in the traditional stance of attention. The man lowered his camera. "Don't be so rigid." Jesse was confused "I don't understand the order sir." The man looked at her softly "If you wish to stand like that, that's fine, but you can smile if you want to dear." Jesse did as he said, and the man pressed the shutter button. He turned to the other child "Your turn sweetheart. A noise from behind him. The girl was on the floor, shaking with convulsions. Before he had the chance to help her men in white lab coats descended on them. They placed the child on a stretcher, and began to wheel her away. "Jesse!" the other child called out, rushing to catch up with the doctors. An MP roughly yanked her arm "This isn't a concern for you solider. Get back to your training or you'll be thrown in the hole." Young Max knew nothing of defiance, not at that time. The hole was a dark and haunting place. Ben had almost gone insane when he spent time in there. She looked up at the MP "Yes sir." she turned sharply on her heal, looking briefly over her shoulder at the gurney being wheeled away. The photographer was roughly shown the door. "Before you go around taking pictures." Lydeker's voice was clipped "You better make sure what your camera is seeing." he snatched it from him, ripping out the film and tearing it to pieces. A small section of film fluttered downward and landed unnoticed in the accumulated snow that covered the ground./ "Max?" Tinga softly rapped on the bathroom door. "You okay in there?" Getting no answer she opened the door all the way. Kneeling next to her she looked her in the eyes "What is it? Is my present that bad? Should I have opted for a stuffed lamb?" Max laughed dryly. "No, it's fine it's just-" she looked down at her hands and back up to Tinga. "That photo. It was taken by some civilian photographer." she looked down at her hands again "Jesse's seizures started right after." Tinga touched her sister's hand in understanding. "I didn't even try to stop them." Max voice became angry. "They just wheeled her away." she wrung her hands roughly through her hair. "I watched them the whole fucking time on my way back to combat training. Didn't hear from them again until-" she bit her lip "when Lydeker assembled us all out into the yard." Tinga rubbed Max's arms with her hands. "You aren't to blame Max. Things weren't clear back then." her voice held a gentle fierceness. "We all only knew how to follow orders." "How about that night?" Max demanded. "No one made me swallow all those pills." more tears leaked out of her eyes. "When I woke up I was lying in all this blood." her eyes squeezed shut. "I grabbed an old sheet out of the closet and cleaned up the mess. It hurt. My legs were still sticky and I was sore. But all I could think of was, getting it cleaned up before I got caught. When the doctors asked me about it I told them I had miscarried right after combat training. They cleaned me up and sent me on my way." her words were bitter. "I didn't even know what abortion meant, but I had done it." "Don't beat yourself up baby sister." Tinga ordered, looking her right in the eye. "Manticore was well aware of the meanings of child abuse, torture, and incest, but they did it anyway. You didn't know then what you know now. That having children can be a choice, not an order." she wiped away her sister's tears with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry my gift stirred up old memories." "I like it." Max informed sniffing. "When Jess gets older I'm going to sit down with him and tell him about her." she smiled slightly "And now I can show him what she looked like." Tinga returned the smile and hugged her. "I'm glad." "You guys planning to come out of there before the next Pulse?" Syl's voice teased from the living room. Max pulled back with a smile "Better get out there, the natives are getting restless." Tinga laughed lightly and offered her a hand up. She and Max exited the bathroom and came back out to where the others were. "You okay Maxi?" Jondy asked as soon as they were back in the living room. Max nodded, sincerely this time. "Just had a little reminiscing to do." she sat down on the couch again. Cindy took the vacant spot on the couch beside Max. "While you were in the other room Syl found this on the floor." she handed her another envelope. "It's addressed to you." Max took it from her. "To my beautiful wife." she read out loud. She smiled and opened the envelope. "Does that mean it's from Logan?" Cindy asked teasingly. Max looked up from the paper. "No, it's from my other husband. Don't you know I'm all into bigamy girl?" she said this with a completly straight face. "Boo." Cindy began in a warning voice "Don't even go there. That's just wrong." Max grinned gently, and ducked her head down to read the letter. Max, Everyday I wake up and wonder how the hell a guy like me wound up with someone as wonderful as you. It was more then fate that brought us together. It was something undescribable. From the moment I saw you I thought you were beautiful, a heart stopper. That hasn't changed, only now I see the inner beauty as well. The strength of a warrior, but the heart and soul of an angel. You may think of me as a gifted writer, but when I am with you, there are no words that can describe the feelings I have. I once wrote that you were "somebody's angel." And that person is me. I know it sounds selfish, but I cannot help it. You take my breath away. This world can come to a catacosmic end, and all hellfire and damnation brought forth, but if you and our children were still here, the rest of it wouldn't matter. My life, my soul lies in you, in Jess and in this new baby. I would say I'm the luckiest man alive, but I don't believe in luck. But I am one of the happiest. I never fathomed myself as a father of one child, let alone two, but you changed all that. I love you baby, with all my heart, and I love our children. I have a present for you. But I can't give it to you until I come home. So, you'll just have to be patient. And if Cindy is reading this over your shoulder it's not THAT type of 'present' but, I think you'll like it just the same. So until then sweetheart. Love Forever, Logan Max finished reading it and set the paper down in her lap. She wiped some tears away from her eyes "I swear everyone is tryin' to get me to cry today." "The man writes you love letters." Jondy began in a teasing tone "NOW I see why Zack has just cause to dislike him. It all makes perfect sense." she pounded on the coffee table for mock emphasis. "Jondy, you're so stupid." Max kidded her sister lightly. "But Zack and Logan don't see eye to eye on a lot of things. Every time Zack wanted me to leave Seattle, I told him I couldn't-" "Because of Logan?" Syl asked. "Yea." Max agreed. "Zack feels that it's Logan's fault that I stayed, and he's right, but he feels that I am jeopardizing my safety." Syl blew her off "Girl, when are we EVER safe? Zack could haul us over to Tibet to live as hermits and Lydeker could still probably find us." Max cocked an eyebrow "Hermits? You couldn't give up all your worldly possessions to the poor and live a life of solitude any more then I could up and leave Seattle tonight to go with Zack." "Okay, bad analogy." Syl corrected. "All I'm saying is that we all have lives to live, and regardless of the black helicopters on our tails 24/7, I'm a little sick of up rooting every time Zack picks his way into my apartment and tells me we have to go." "Personally." Tinga broke in, with a change of subject. "I think Zack's a little jealous of Logan." Max turned to her "What?" her voice was surprised. "I think Zack likes you baby sister." Tinga went on "And I'm not talking about just in the 'big brother' kind of way. The way he talks about you, I think he's mad that your husband beat him to the punch." "Don't tell me anymore." Max complained "That's disgusting." "Nasty." Jondy added "Incest in the truest sense of the word." "If that's what's going on in his head." Max went on "then he's in for a lot of disappointment. I will never love him more then anything but a big brother." her words were matter of fact. "My heart only lies with one other." ***** Across Town Garden's Arena "That." Logan stated with enthusiasm "was an incredible shot." Bling nodded in agreement "Enough to tie the game 15 up, and we still got one quarter left." both men maneuvered their way through the crowd to the concession stand. After paying for their food, they made their way back to their seats. "Logan? Logan Cale is that you?" a high female voice asked. Logan turned in the direction of the voice "Melissa?" he looked at the 5'4 redhead who now stood beside him. She hugged him "It's so good to see you." "You too." he said pulling back. "How long has it been?" "Three years." Melissa stated, slapping him on the shoulder "You never called me back after that night." she looked at him with sincerity. "I'm sorry about you and Valerie." "That was eons ago." Logan reassured "I've moved on." he turned to Bling. "Oh yea, you two don't know each other. Bling, this is Melissa Wheaton, an old friend." Bling raised an eyebrow "Just an old friend?" Melissa laughed "Actually Bling, this one and I did some deep connecting." she smiled at Logan. "That is before he got snagged up by another, who must've been a fool if she didn't stick with him." her hand remained on Logan's shoulder "We have so much to catching up to do." Melissa talked through most of the last quarter so that Logan had to ask Bling what the final score was. After the game ended she walked with him outside. "We have to see each other more often." she touched his hand. "Melissa." Logan removed his hand from her grip. "I'm happy to have run into you, and catch up on old times, but-" he held out his hand to let her see the wedding band on it. "Like I said I've moved on. I met a wonderful woman, her name is Max, and she means the world to me. She sorta kicked me out of the house for the day so her sisters could give her a baby shower for our second child." "Oh." Melissa's voice was slightly down trodden. "I'm sorry." she looked at him "I mean not because you re-married, but because I wish I was smart enough to snag you when you were still available." she smiled at him "Congratulations on the new baby." Logan hugged her again "Thank you." he pulled back and looked at her "The right one is out there for you Melissa. You just have to know where to look. Mine was staring me right in the face the whole time, took me a while to see it, but once I did I never let go, and there's someone like that for you." "Yea." Melissa agreed. "But I gotta set some new standards. Rule #1: 'Don't try to pick up your married ex-boyfriends." she paused "Do you think it'd be okay with your wife if I came over some time? I'd kinda like to meet her." Logan smiled "I don't think she'll mind, so long as your not on the take or anything like that." Melissa shook her head "Not as far as I know." she looked up into his eyes "It was nice seeing you again Logan." she gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek, and headed out to her car. Logan watched her go for a second, before turning to face Bling who was looking at him "What?" Bling's look turned amused "She was SO trying to get into your pants boy. You aren't seriously thinking about inviting her over? 'Cause then Max might fix it so that you couldn't get any at all because of lack of working 'machinery'." "I was just trying to be polite to her." Logan pointed out, cringing at his friends remark. "*My* number one rule: ex girl friends and a wife who could take out a fleet of Navy Seals by herself isn't a safe combination." he smiled slightly "But that's one of the reason's I love her, and when I get home I'll show her some more." he looked at the smug grin on Bling's face "Not like that. There are other ways to show love besides sex." "Whatever you say man." Bling teased making his way to his Benz. ***** Foggle Towers When Logan arrived home the living room was empty. The food Cindy and Tinga had cooked was almost gone, and empty plates were still on the dinning room table. Logan left the mess to clean up later and went in search of his wife. He made a brief detour towards his son's room. Someone had put him down for his nap. He kissed Jess's head and quietly shut the door again. Walking into the bedroom he stopped to pause in the doorway. Max was asleep, stretched out on top of the covers on her side. Her arms were pulled under her head like a pillow. Something silver toned lay beside her. In the corner he could see Kaja laying in her dog bed, almost as if she were watching over Max as she slept. He stepped into the room quietly and sat down beside her. On closer inspection he saw that the object was a framed photo of a shaven headed girl in army fatigues. He carefully set it aside, he'd ask her about it later, and placed a single kiss on the back of her neck, right over the bar code. She stirred, and rolled over to face him. "Hey baby." her voice was soft from sleep "When did you get home?" "A few minutes ago." he responded, this time kissing her square on the mouth. "Everybody gone?" She nodded "Yea. Cindy told the guys she'd meet them at Crash tonight. Tinga and Charlie are taking Case out to a movie, and Jondy and Syl are crashing at her place, but they said they'd drop by tomorrow before heading out." she glanced over to where Logan had set the picture "That's Tinga's present to me. It's Jesse." Logan looked at the photo. "When was it taken?" Max bit her bottom lip "Um..It was THAT day. What I mean is it was the last time I saw her." He stroked her arm gently "If this is too painful for you-" "It's okay." she broke in reassuringly. "I mean it's not 'okay' in the true sense of the word, but it's something I don't mind talking about." she looked at him "Am I making any sense at all?" He laughed lightly "I'm weeding my way through it." he put a little humor in his tone to try and lighten the mood. She gave him a half smile, but the look in her eyes remained the same "Some civilian photographer came onto the base that day. Don't know how the hell he did it, security was tight, Lydeker never allowed the outside world to come into Manticore. Jesse and I had been en route to our combat training when he stopped us in the hall. The way he talked to us-" she smiled in memory "Up till then it was all 'yes sir' 'no sir'. But he addressed us as people, not soldiers. He convinced Jesse to let him take her photograph. My guess is so that he could use it as evidence to uncover what was going on there. He wanted to do mine next, but Jess-" she broke and closed her eyes for a brief moment. "she started seizing, and the doctors dragged her into the back." a lone tear escaped her eye. "And that was it. I never saw her again, at least not alive." Logan didn't say anything, just began to softly pet her hair. "She called out for me." Max announced in a sad voice. "And I started to go to her, but a guard stopped me and threatened me with solitary confinement if I kept going, and I listened." her voice became angry. "Just 'yes sir'd and got the hell out of there." "Shh." Logan pulled her up from her lying position and drew her into his embrace. "What happened to her wasn't your fault baby." his tone was all serious. "You were just a kid." She couldn't help but smile at the irony of her husband's words "I wasn't 'just a kid' when I aborted my baby that night." her tone was bitter "Or the next day when I shot three rounds of bullets into a barrage of X-12's that Lydeker pitted against us in a Battle Royal." unchecked tears ran down her face "Hell I don't think I was ever just a kid." "Regardless of that." Logan began, taking her face in his hands "You did not bring about your sister's death. And you only did what you felt you had to do at the time." the last part of his statement was referring to the self-induced abortion. She shook her head in acknowledgment "But I still did it." she laughed bitterly "But then again all those smucks out there screaming for pro-life never had to see what happened to a child born in Manticore who was 'defective'" He didn't say anything, but simply pulled her back into his embrace. They remained that way for a while before Max broke the silence "So, about this gift you have for me-" He laughed gently "Getting a little antsy?" "You know what kind of patience I have baby." she pointed out. "None." "Of course." he began teasingly "What was I thinking?" he looked at her, his eyes full of mirth. "Cindy thinks your giving out free horizontal polka lessons." she stated "But I don't I'm up to banging anything tonight." He smiled "Bling thought the same thing, but it's not." he looked at her "Not that I would MIND, I just had something else planned." he shifted out of her embrace and started to climb off the bed. "Where are you going?" Max asked in confusion. "I have to grab a couple of things I need." he leaned over and kissed her. "Get undressed, and get comfortable in the bed so you'll be ready when I come back." "For what?" she was getting more confused "I thought we weren't rocking anything tonight." He chuckled lightly "Just trust me on this my love." he climbed off the bed and disappeared down the hall. While he was gone she slipped out of her clothes and wrapped Logan's red terry towel robe over herself. She sat in the center of the bed, drawing her legs under her body and leaned back into the pillows. Logan came through the doorway a few seconds later with a box of matches and a bottle of massage oil. He couldn't help the cheshire grin that spread across his face at the sight of her "Are we comfortable?" She nodded "I pilfered your robe babe. Mine was getting a little too small." "Hey no problem sweetheart." he reassured. "Looks better on you anyway." he went around the and lit the various candles that were placed around the bedroom. Task completed, he set the box of matches on the night stand and sat down on the bed. "I just checked on Jess, gave him a new diaper and got him to go back to sleep, so he should be out for another few hours." he looked at her with a smile "So hopefully there won't be any interruptions." "That's good." she returned the smile "And unless you have some fetish for drinking massage oil I have a pretty good idea about what this present is." He smiled again "Then are you ready to get started?" She nodded "Mind you I've never had one before so I wouldn't know how to go about this." "That's why I want to do this." he stated "And as for knowing what to do, just enjoy it." he helped maneuver her so that she was lying on her side on one section of the bed. He removed the robe from her body, draping the sheets over her front, and placing a pillow under her stomach for comfort. "I'm liking this so far." she informed. Kaja leapt up on the bed, wanting to lie next to Max, but the pillow was in the way. Max shoved the cushion to the floor "Here girl." she patted the now vacant area. Kaja pressed herself against Max's abdomen and laid down. "I'm getting jealous of the dog." Logan said teasingly. "She's just doing a little hu-I mean *doggie* pillow action baby." she reassured, scratching Kaja on the head. Logan looked over at his dog "That's fine for now girl, but later on *I* get to cuddle with my wife okay?" he poured some of the citrus scented massage oil into his hands and rubbed them together to warm them. Max inhaled the scent "That smells good." "The sales lady tried to sell me one that smelled like lilacs." Logan commented lifting the hair off the nape of her neck "But it was too strong and floral-ry, so I opted for this one." He placed both hands just under her bar code and began kneading her muscles in long strokes. He lingered in one area for a few seconds before moving lower, his touch gentle, but firm enough to work out the tension he could feel lying there. Max let out that half sigh half moan she had done earlier when Syl had rubbed her shoulders after she finished loading in the fan belt /I love you girl, but Logan is WAY better at this then you/ Logan smiled, removing his hands from her back "Sorry Kaja." he began in apology to the dog "But she has to turn over for this one." he helped her shift positions so that she was now on her back. He scooted more towards the end of the bed, and began to massage her legs, starting at her feet and working his way up to the toned muscles of her calves. Max had to give up breaking and entering and sliding down thirty story buildings about two month ago, but that didn't stop her from jogging two miles almost everyday. Her obstetrician commented on how well she's maintained her weight. Most other patients, the doctor had said, just used pregnancy as an excuse not to excircise. Once he was done with her legs he removed the robe that had been lying across her front. Pouring some more oil into his hands he started at where her collar bone began, kneading gently. When he go to her abdomen he didn't knead, but simply rubbed the sweet smelling oil all over her exposed skin in elegant, loving strokes. When he finished he kissed the bulge of Max's belly tenderly, making the baby moved slightly. "I think she just did a somersault." Max commented at the sensations she felt. "Jondy caught her kick box practicing earlier." Logan laughed gently, and addressed his unborn child "You're gonna grow up to be just like mommy." Max whacked him over the head lightly "Is that a bad thing?" she messed with the spikes in his hair with her hand. "Never said it was baby." he reassured, capturing her wandering hand with his. He pulled her up slightly and laid behind her, drawing her back to him "Did you like your present?" "Oh yea." she snuggled closer, breathing in the scent of his cologne. "How'd the game turn out?" "Pistons won 21 to 19." he stated proudly. "Sounds like it was a close one." "It was." he said in agreement. He hesitated with what he was about to say next, but knew that she would probably find out one way or another. "Max?" "Mmmhmm?" she responded, not looking up. "I ran into an old friend at the arena." "Stats." Max simply stated. "Her name was Melissa." Now she looked up. "She wasn't just an old friend." it wasn't a question. She had caught him "She and I use to date for about a year. Then I met Val. After we split, she had just broken up with her boyfriend, and we both kinda went for that rebound thing. It only lasted for about two days." he paused "She approached me at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Wanted to rekindle the old flame, but I told her I was married." "Then she offered to come over and 'meet the wife'." she finished for him. He looked at her "How'd you know that?" "It's a woman thang." she answered back "Kinda like the way this chick managed to pick you out of four thousand other people in that arena." "I'll have to remember that." he stated "But you're right, she DID offer. I didn't want to be rude so I told her it would be fine as long as she wasn't on the take or anything, but I didn't say anything definite. Bling thinks she just wanted to get some, and he's probably right." "The only thing she'll get if she tries that." Max began in her no nonsense voice "is a couple of bruises when I'm done with her. Bitch is sniffing around the wrong man." "Do I detect a hint of possessiveness in your tone?" Logan questioned. "Damn right." she told him matter-of-factly. "That's my girl." he said with a smile "I'd a been worried if you put on the docile little house wife act back there and said 'oh no dear she's just a friend, and 'it's okay, invite your ex over." She snorted "Not unless hell has recently frozen over. This girl doesn't do the whole docile thing." she wrapped her arms around his waist. "To which I am eternally greatful." he said kissing her, and pulling his robe back over her shoulders. He leaned back against the cushions, enjoying the moment they found themselves in. Neither of them noticed the two figures perched just to the left of the window. "Zack's twisted." Jondy whispered, looking at the pair on the bed "The man is perfect for Maxi." "He is." Syl agreed. She smiled "I'll make sure to rub it in his face at the next X5 reunion." she looked at her watch "Oh shit, we told Tinga we'd load the dishwasher before she got back from the movies, that's in ten minutes." She and Jondy stood on the narrow ledge. Jondy pulled out the black rope from her kit and secured it to the handle of the window. She dropped the extra feet to the ground. She turned to Syl "The elevator is now in service." Both women expertly climbed down the building silently, making it to the ground in under three minutes. Syl yanked on the rope and it fell at her feet. She quickly coiled it up and threw it in the back of her Corverre. She and Jondy climbed into the car, and Syl cranked the engine. "How'd you do it?" the voice made them turn. /Fuck/ Syl thought /he saw us come down the building. Now he's gonna wonder how the hell two 'average women' got the know-how about scaling large buildings./ "Do what?" Jondy asked, feigning confusion, readying herself to spring on him and make a run for it. The man pointed to the Corverre "Find this sweet little beauty. I looked everywhere for that model, and came up with nothing." They visibly relaxed. He hadn't see what they thought he did. Syl put the car into drive, and turned to the man. "It's a woman thang." she stated simply before driving off down the road. ***** End This one didn't have much action, I'm afraid. I just wanted Max to deal with some things. The issue of abortion is a touchy area, and I tried to keep it somewhere in the middle. Hope no one got offended by it. The next chapter will be about the birth of the new baby. So watch for it, and thanX for all the encouragement. 


	5. Beautiful Life

From: "Veronica Bowles"  Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 18:28:21 -0400 Subject: New post Source: direct TITLE: Choices-05 "Beautiful Life." AUTHOR: Mystic25 EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com DISTRIBUTION: Archive, just keep my info as is. GENRES: Story/Romance/Angst RELATIONSHIPS: Max/Logan married CONTENT: violence KEYWORDS: Alternate Universe RATING: PG14 SPOILERS: none SUMMARY: The birth of Max and Logan's second child is hindered when a militia takes the hospital hostage. DISCLAIMER: The Dark Angel characters belong to the guy who raised the Titanic. All others are mine. AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know...I inject a lot of drama into these. But Max and Logan just having a normal labor and delivery experience? Can't see that happening. ***** Seattle 2:43 p.m. "Charlie?" Max spoke into her cell phone to her brother-in-law. "Hey Max." Charlie answered. "How are you?" "Pretty good." Max answered back "Just wanted to let you guys know that your niece will be making her appearance soon." she said this through slightly gritted teeth. She was sitting in the passenger seat of her Impala as Logan drove her to Metro Medical. She started having contractions when she climbed out of bed in the morning. Logan had awoken immediately when she told him, almost breaking a few things in the process. "That's wonderful!" Charlie was elated. Max could hear him telling Tinga in the background. Her sister's voice soon came over the receiver "Which hospital?" "Metro." Max answered, cursing under her breath when a contraction hit. "We'll be there as soon as possible baby sister." Tinga stated. "Just got to find a sitter for Case." Max ended the call turning to her husband "She's coming." Logan squeezed her hand "Going to be a high social affair, already called Bling, he's on the way, and you got Tinga and Cindy coming." he swerved into the ambulance bay of Metro. "Just got new tires on this girl baby." Max stated "Don't burn'em out." She climbed out of her seat, Logan immediately at her side "You ready for this?" she turned to him. He kissed her softly "Most defiantly." ***** Maternity Ward Room 3-B 3:22 p.m. "Hey guys." Dr. Anna Janston, Max's obstetrician stated when entering the hospital room. She came over to the bed "See they got you all set up in here." "Oh yea." Max agreed, pointing to the IV inserted in her arm "I'm wired for action." Her doctor laughed "Glad to hear it." she turned towards Logan "and how's the father doing?" "Pretty good Dr. Janston." Logan stated. "Just ready to help her, and waiting for those 'You ruined my life' ravings." Max shot him a look "Didn't take labor for me to figure that one out." at his hurt look she added "I'm kidding baby, relax." "I'm wounded that you would even think things like that sweetheart." he teased, kissing her. "Suck it up." she said pulling back with a smile. "But I apologize now for any dissin' I do on you between now and when this kid is born." He smiled back "Thank you." "So Max-" Dr. Janston's voice interrupted "I understand you want to have a V-back." Max looked at her and nodded "Yea. As much as I loved being cut open, I think I'll go natural this time." "You do understand that if you start having a seizure we'll have to deliver by c-section?" "I know." Max agreed "But I can manage pain pretty well. The last time I didn't know what to expect so it caught me off guard." Her doctor nodded "As long as you understand the risks involved." Her patient shook her head in agreement. "Okay then." Janston pulled on some latex gloves she brought with her. "I'm just going to check how far along you are." she lifted up the blue hospital gown slightly, feeling with her hand. After a second she lowered it back down. "You're about six centimeters already." her voice was slightly astonished "I can't believe how fast it's going. Can't even tell that you're having contractions." "Like I said, I manage pain pretty well." Max said. Memories of setting her own broken leg with no anesthetic on a training mission flashed in her mind. Dr. Janston stood up "I'm going to change into my scrubs. It looks like it's going to be fast for you." she stood and left the couple alone. ***** Two hours later "Come on Max, you can do this, push this baby out!" Dr. Janston encouraged to her patient. Max took a moment to get her bearings. She was squeezing Logan's hand so hard she was afraid she was going to break it. Logan did feel pain from the super death grip she had on him, but he would take broken metacarpals over letting go. After the last push she took a minute to rest. "You're doing great baby." Logan informed, kissing her sweaty hair. "Okay honey." the doctor called out from the end of the bed "One more time and this baby will be out. Deep breath and-whoa!" her voice was surprised because Max had already completed what she asked her to do. The baby came out so fast that Dr. Janston almost dropped her. "Trying to get a jump start on things?" Janston teased. She raised the crying infant in the air "It's a girl!" she laid the baby on Max's chest, and suctioned out her nose and mouth out with a bulb syringe. Max reached out and touched her daughter's tiny head "Hey there." her voice was choked full of emotion. Logan kissed the infant's head "Hey sweetie. I'm your daddy. This beautiful lady here." he smiled at his wife "is mommy. Bet she looks a lot different from the outside." Max laughed, as he leaned down to kiss her. "I love you." she said. "Love you too sweetheart." he replied. "I hate to interrupt this moment." Dr. Janston broke in "But I need to clean up your daughter." she gently picked up the baby. "I'll bring her right back." "You better." Max threatened lightly. A nurse took a look under Max's gown "You did great Mrs. Cale, no tearing or anything." she smiled at her "I'll just clean you up a little." Tinga walked in the door "Are we up for some visitors?" she walked the rest of the way in the room with Charlie close behind. She walked over to the bed and kissed Max. "Hey baby sister." Max smiled "Glad you could make it." Tinga rubbed Max's stomach where she once had a bulge "Wouldn't miss it for anything." "You were right." Max pointed out "It was a girl." Tinga smiled again "I knew it." she looked over at Charlie "Didn't I tell you?" "You got her started Max." Charlie teased "No she's gonna gloat for days." he kissed Max on the forehead. "Comes with the territory." Logan kidded to his brother-in-law. Max shoot her husband a look "Ha ha." "How much did she weigh?" Tinga asked, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. "8 lbs. 1 oz." Dr. Janston called out. "She weighed more then Jess." Max stated with a smile. "That's because you carried her to term honey." Logan pointed out. Their son had been born almost a full month early, but went home only two weeks later thanks to his mother's hyped up DNA. Dr. Janston came over and handed Max her baby, now wrapped in a blanket and with a little head warmer on her. "She's beautiful." Tinga said, stroking the baby's soft cheeks. Her little eyes opened, revealing the deep blue irises of her father. "She got your eyes babe." Max said with a smile. She loved her husband's eyes, and had been disappointed, happy of course in Jesse, but upset that he didn't get Logan's eye color. "They could change." Logan pointed out "A lot of newborns have blue eyes." Max shook her head "They won't" she looked down at her daughter. "You pretty sure of that huh?" She looked at him "Just have a feeling." "What's her name?" Tinga asked. Max was about to respond when she caught sight of Bling and Cindy approaching the hallway "Look who came straggling in." "Hey boo." Cindy said hugging her "Traffic was a bitch, plus Normal gave me three extra runs." she looked at the baby. "Congratulations." she touched the little girls cheeks. "She's a looker." Bling said stealing a kiss. "Like her mama." "Hitting on my wife?" Logan teased his friend. Bling blew him off "Just complimenting man. I don't do that kinda stuff." "Our little suga got a name?" Cindy asked Max nodded "Say hello to Alexis Marie Cale." she looked over at Logan "Marie was Logan's sister's name, and I've always like the name Alexis. They both just kinda fit together." "It's beautiful." Tinga said with a smile "Different enough so that she can be a individual, but something that doesn't isolate her." she kissed her nieces head "I'm your aunt Tinga Lexi, welcome to the world." "I'm your surrogate auntie baby boo." Cindy stated "May not be blood related, but I'll love you just the same." "No fair, they started the aunt naming party without us." Max turned to see Jondy and Syl standing there looking rather put upon. "How'd you get here so fast?" Max asked. Jondy smiled "Me and Syl were just a jump away in Montana. Booked it over hear a few days ago when we remembered our sis was nine months, and could deliver any time." she walked into the room heading straight for the bed "And by the looks of things we were right." Syl kissed Max "She's beautiful." she looked at the baby "It's a girl isn't it?" Max laughed "Yea." "Tinga was actually RIGHT?" Jondy teased "What a world." Tinga glared at her. "Very funny." "What were you guys doing in Montana?" Max asked in confusion. Syl smiled at her sister "Had to pick up someone." "You broke up with Craig?" Max asked. Syl blew her off "Not anything like that girl." Max was about to ask again, but silenced when she saw the figure at the door. "Oh my god." "Don't take the name of the Lord in vain Maxi." Krit teased walking over to her bed. Max hugged him with one arm. "It's so good to see you." "And you too." Krit stated pulling back. He looked at the baby. "Wow. I never pictured you with one of these." "We have a son as well." Logan pointed out. Krit looked at him "You must be the guy who knocked up my sister." he sensed Logan's uneasiness "Don't worry, not all Maxi's brothers dislike you." Logan actually smiled "I'm glad. My name's Logan Cale by the way." "Krit." the other man answered. "So this makes my sister Max Cale?" he smiled slightly "Has something of a ring." "Your approval means the world to us." Max teased Krit. Lexi began to cry in her arms. "I think she's ready for her first feeding." the nurse said with a smile. She walked around to the head of the bed. "Do you need any help?" Max shook her head negatively "I breast fed my other baby." she removed the top flap of her gown, and positioned the baby so she could eat. The nurse smiled "Then I'll leave you alone." she touched Max's shoulder "Congratulations to you both." "Thank you." Logan stated, as the nurse left. He looked down at his wife and new daughter. "What a scene" he sat on the end of the bed. "Watching both girls I love." he kissed Max's head lightly. "Yet another reason I say Zack has due cause to hate you." Jondy teased, slapping Logan's shoulder "I mean you LOVE our sister, how bad is that?" The nurse came back in with a covered tray. "I'm just going to set this in here when you're ready for it Mrs. Cale." she put it on the little table by the bed. "Also there's someone else here to see you." she turned where Zack stood beside her. "Speak of the devil." Syl muttered under her breath. "Ambush!" Krit called out, hurling himself at Zack's form. "Get up off me Krit!" Zack ordered, pushing the man away. "What's the matter commander?" Krit teased "Afraid you'll loose?" "What are you doing here?" he barked, ignoring his comment. "Came to see Maxi." Krit stated "Thought the last visit was too long ago." Zack looked at Max in the bed, and then back up at Krit "You could've been followed." he whispered. "Take it easy Zack." Tinga said, eavesdropping "Baby sister Max just gave birth, we all just wanted congratulate her in person." Zack looked around the room at his siblings. "What if-" "What if you just shut up and come meet your new niece." Max interrupted. Zack stealthily made his way over to the bed, and looked down at the baby. "Her name is Alexis Marie." Max pointed out to him. She looked at the baby "Lexi, this is my oldest brother, your uncle Zack." she looked up at Zack "the hot headed one." Logan couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at that remark. ***** The crowd in the room slowly dissipated. Tinga went down to the cafeteria, dragging Zack with her so Logan and Max could spend some time alone. Case's baby-sitter had to leave on a family emergency so Charlie volunteered to go back home so his wife could spend more time with her sister. Krit struck up conversation with an obstetrician he met in the elevator, and convinced her to give him a tour of the walk-in clinics. Jondy and Syl took a walk down to the children's ward. Bling had to get back to work, as well as Cindy, but they both promised to come back in the morning. Max hardly ate anything off her tray. It didn't even look edible. So she convinced Logan to pick up some chinese at a take out place about five miles from the hospital. In all the earlier commotion Max wasn't even aware that she had a roommate. The girl looked to be about her age or slightly younger. She had been sleeping for a while, but with the fifty some odd people in the room, it soon became too hard. The nurse had brought Lexi into the room for the night. Since this wasn't a private birthing suite it was against regulations, but Max had worked her charm on the doctors. "She's beautiful." Max turned to see her roommate sitting up. Her shoulder length blonde hair was pulled into a loose ponytail. Max smiled "Thanks. What did you have?" "Boy." the girl stated "Named him Michael, after my dad." "Is he coming to see his grandchild?" Max asked The girl looked at her "He died from cancer when I was seven." "I'm sorry." Max said sincerely. "What about your husband?" "I'm not married." she pointed out. "Me and my boyfriend got carried away one night." she laughed dryly "After he found out he knocked me up, he split. I didn't know what to do, so I moved back in with my mom. We got into this big argument one day, over how I couldn't raise a baby alone. I left that night and moved into a one room near the Strip. Been living there ever since." "Don't have any other relatives?" Max asked her. She shook her head "Just my mom. I was an only child." she laughed again "Always wanted a big family like yours." "Isn't as great as it seems." Max argued. "At least you had someone your age to talk to." she responded, looking at Max "and a man that loves you. I'd give anything to have that. It hurts to know that my baby will have to grow up without a father." "You'll still be a good mom, despite the lack of a male influence on the kid." Max's words were sincere. The girl looked at her "You really think so?" "Yea." Max began "I do." The girl smiled "Thanks, that means a lot. My names Sara Phillips by the way." "Max Cale." Max responded with a smile of her own. The door opened, and Logan came back in, holding a paper bag. He set it on the tray in front of Max's bed. "Thanks baby." Max stated, opening the bag "What they serve here leaves much to the imagination." Logan kissed her "Your welcome." he stole a glance at his sleeping daughter "Worked your stuff on the nursing staff huh?" "Mmmhmm." Max said taking a bite out of a piece of szchewan chicken. "She was to far away for my liking." Logan walked the short distance to Lexi's plastic sleeping area. He marveled at how perfect she was. Maybe it was a father's prejudice, but he didn't care. He touched one tiny hand gently with his finger. "Is this your first?" Logan looked up for a second to see his wife addressing the woman in the next bed. "Yea." Sara answered "How about you?" Max shook her head negatively "We have a one year old son." She turned to Logan "Baby this is Sara Phillips, she had a boy. Sara this is my husband Logan." Logan walked over to Sara's bed "Congratulations." he held out his hand to her. Sara shook it with a smile "Thank you." she looked over at Max "Your wife is being a great up-beater. I don't have much in the way of family, so I'm not use to having a lot of support." "I'll let her know that." Logan replied, and turned to see Max with her cell phone to her ear. "Who are you calling sweetheart?" Max covered the receiver with her hand "Kendra. Almost forgot to tell Jess 'bout his new little sister." She removed her hand "Hey Walter, is Kendra there?" she listened for a minute, making a disgusted face "Really? That long?" "Yea, uh-huh. I'm sure it was. Just put her on 'kay?" while she waited she covered the mouthpiece again and addressed Logan "Apparently the love birds have broken the record. They're up to fourteen hours." she laughed slightly as Logan made a face. "Kendra? Hey, It's Max. Just wanted to give you the 411. Girl, 8 lbs, 1 ounce. Alexis Marie" there was a whoop of exhilaration on the other end. "Okay I'll tell him" she looked at Logan "Kendra says you da man." she laughed and shook her head. "Girl, put Jess on please." there was a fumbling sound for a few minutes as Kendra worked to put the phone up to Jesse's ear. "Hi!" came the high pitched voice of the one year old. Max smiled. Jess had just started talking about a month ago, and already started to master one word phrases. "Hey babe. It's mommy. Me and daddy are bringing home your new baby sister soon. Until then you have to stay with Aunt Kendra and Uncle Walter." she shuddered when she said that last part. She spat in the man's coffee for god sakes! She smiled "Yea I know. I can pick you up better now. Okay honey, I'm going to eat my dinner, you talk to daddy, and I'll see you when I go home. I love you." she handed the phone over to Logan. "Hi!" again came the squealed greeting. "Hey kiddo." Logan said into the phone "You being good?" he smiled "I'm glad. Me and mommy don't have to worry about you." "Yea. Her name is Lexi." he gave his son the baby's shortened name so he could say it easier. "You can see her in a day or two. When she comes home to live with us. Okay I'm going to talk to mommy some. We'll see you soon son." "Love you too Jess." he ended the call. He turned to Max "He yelled "love you daddeee." right into my ear." Logan smiled "He's getting better at phrases." "Must be my families genes at work." she teased. Logan took a pillow off the bed and whacked her lightly with it. Max turned towards Sara "Did you see that? That's spousal abuse." Logan laughed gently "My wife, the defenseless victim." his tone was colored lightly in sarcasm. "Okay." Max stated snagging Logan's shirt collar and pulling him down to her "How about 'whack me again and I'll kick your ass?" Logan smiled "That sounds more like you." She lightly smacked him upside the head. "Spousal abu-" "Shut up." she interrupted drawing him down to her for a kiss. He returned it whole heartidly. After they broke apart Logan turned towards Sara "Like the show so far?" Sara laughed "Oh yea." The room came alive as Lexi awoke crying. "Speaking of your family genetics." Logan walked over to the baby, and gently picked her up. "She's developing your sleeping patterns babe." he rocked his daughter for a second, before sensing what was wrong. "Someone needs to be changed." "I think the nurses keep some extra diapers in that closet over there." Sara informed pointing to a closed white door. Logan looked at her with gratitude "Thank you." he retreated to get them. ***** "I can't believe he did something like this." Zack stated angrily about his younger brother. "Is it so terrible that he would want to see her after all this time?" Tinga objected, taking a sip of hospital swill. She and Zack sat in a far booth of the cafeteria. Besides them there were about twelve other people there. "There are now five of us in one city." Zack informed "How long do you think it'll be before someone notices?" he words were laced in sarcasm. "I've lived here for almost a year, and nothing's happened." Tinga reminded her brother. Zack shot her a glare "But you almost got yourself killed." he spoke of her willingness to go back to Manticore to protect her son. "You compromised yourself for phony sentimentality-" "My husband and son are not a hindrance to my safety." Tinga replied strongly. "They are just as much a part of my family as you or Max are." she laid both hands on the table, ready for a full heated war of words. "I may have sacrificed my safety, but I don't regret for a second the choice I made about coming back." "What about the next time?" Zack argued "You may not be so lucky. If you or Max got so caught up in living normal lives that you let your guard down, what then? I can't keep fixing the jams you all create." Tinga snorted "You'll always try to fix things Zack, for all of us. And as for Max you know just as well as I do that you can't turn your back on her, any more then I could." "She's too wreakless for her own good." Zack said "Why?" Tinga wanted to know "Is it because she found a place where she belonged, a home, a man who loves her? Isn't that why we escaped? To have the things we were denied?" "She had men who loved her." Zack argued "I'm talking about romantic love." Tinga informed "The kind I have with Charlie and that she has with Logan. You may not like him Zack, but our baby sister loves him, and that's not gonna change." Zack looked at her angrily "Your just as bad as she is." "Gonna throw me in the stockade commander?" Tinga asked sarcastically. Suddenly she caught something moving out of the corner of her eye. Zack sensed her change of mood "What is it?" Tinga tunneled her vision to the back door "There's men coming in the door. They're in all black, and carrying seim-automatics." she looked at Zack "Do you think they found us out?" she was referring to Manticore. Zack stood up "I'm not waiting to find out. We need to get out of here." Tinga stood as well "We have to warn the others, and Max. She's not going to be strong enough to fight them if they are here for us." The doors burst opened and ten men aimed their guns at the crowd simotaniously. "NOBODY MOVE!" one of them aimed towards the cafeteria "Everybody on the floor!" Zack and Tinga slowly backed their way into the hall. One of the men saw them "Where do you think you two are going?" Both siblings took off in a sprint, the guy right on their tail. It was a tactic they learned at Manticore. If they took out this guy in front of the others, they would retaliate with massive firepower and somebody would die. He chased them into the hall, and Zack and Tinga suddenly stopped dead in their tracks. The guy looked at them through the sight on his gun "That's more like it-" he broke off as Tinga side kicked him square in the ribs. He fell to the floor. Zack yanked the weapon out of his hand, and knocked the man out with the butt of the gun. "We need to restrain him." Tinga informed "He'll run straight back to the others when he wakes up." Zack pulled a roll of surgical tape from off a cart. He bound the man's feet and hands together. Tinga took a wad of gauze and shoved it in his mouth as a gag. They picked him up by his hands and feet and shoved him into a storage closet. Locking the door Zack turned to Tinga "You find the others. I'll get Max." Tinga nodded and sprinted down the opposite hall. ***** Max was out of her bed, showing Sara how to hold Michael when she breast fed him when the Zack burst through the door. Max whirled around to face him "What the hell are you doing coming in here like rambo?" "We gotta get you out of here Max." he came over to her. Max looked at him "And give me one good reason?" she looked at Logan who was sitting in a rocking chair with Alexis. "I'll give you more then one." Zack came over to the window and peaked out through the blinds. "There's a group of men downstairs with semi-automatics." "Are they Manticore?" Max asked Zack looked at her "How the hell would I know? Me and Tinga took one out, but there are at least ten more that can take his place." "What's going on?" Sara asked scared "What do they want?" Max turned to her "We don't know Sara." The door opened again as Krit, Tinga, Jondy and Syl all came inside. "They aren't here for us." Tinga stated, out of breath from her running. "Jondy overheard that they're part of some new militia group, called the Aryan Freedom Fighters." "I heard of them." Logan said "They have a strong hatred of local government. Last month some of them blew up a bank to protest the poor use of government funds." "Sound like fun guys." Max stated dryly. Zack looked at her "That's why you have to leave." he grabbed her arm, but she snapped it away. "I can't just leave." she looked at Sara "There are innocent people here. They'd be killed." "Casualties of war." Zack argued. "This isn't a game Zack!" Max shouted at her brother "We aren't on some training mission back at Manticore. These people weren't brought up for the sole purpose of killing." "Maxi's right." Krit agreed "They're all civilians. Even the security guards won't be able to take out such a large militia." "That's why we have to help them." Max stated matter-of-factly. Zack whirled on her "Why? So Lydeker can find us out and haul us all back to Wyoming?" "At least he'd be happy all those hours of training didn't go to waste." Jondy teased. Then her expression turned serious "I'm siding with Max on this one. Even if we didn't try to help out the others, they aren't just going to let us leave." "Those men aren't a match for the four of us." Zack pointed out. "Five." Max corrected. Krit looked at her "You aren't strong enough for this." Max blew him off "I'm as strong as the rest of you. We all went through the same training." "Max." Logan began coming over to her "Listen to him. You just gave birth." he stole a glance at Lexi. Max looked over her shoulder at Sara and Michael, and back up at Logan. "And so did a lot of women on this floor. They just brought new lives into the world, and theirs stand a strong chance of being erased. I'm not going to just sit around and watch it happen." Her voice held such fierce passion that Logan knew that no matter what he said, she wasn't going to change her mind. "I'm not going to say I'm supportive of this decision, but seeing as how you have you own stubborn mind, I don't think it'll really matter." Max touched her husband's face "Thank you." she went over to the closet and yanked out her overnight bag and brought it over to the bed. Logan looked confused "What are you doing?" "I can't move fast in this large piece of cotton." Max answered unearthing a pair of jeans and black button up from the bag. Clothes in hand, she retreated into the small bathroom. After a few minuets she emerged, dressed, with a slight grimace on her face. Logan noticed and came over to where she was "You okay baby?" "Yea." she reassured "Just a little sore." She sat down on the bed and quickly laced up her black boots. "Are you sure you're up for this?" Logan asked straight out. "As ready as I can be." she announced standing up. She looked around the room at her siblings "So how do we play this?" "I heard commotion on the way up here." Syl informed "Something about finding the mainframe system." "They might be trying to use the hospital's surveillance equipment as a communication device." Logan pointed out "Someone would have to get there before they do and disable the main module." "We don't have enough knowledge of computers for that." Zack argued. Logan looked at him "I do, and Jondy has know-how about wires so she could rig a small charge to de-activate it completely." "Yes!" Jondy stated with a small smile "a chance to make fireworks." Max turned to her husband "I'll go with her. You can use our cells to pass information along." At his disapproving look she added "I'll be fine, and I want you to stay here with Sara. She needs someone here with a phone. Those bastards probably cut the hospital line." "Okay." Logan finally agreed with a sigh "Just turn your ringer down low." Max nodded "One of us should be near the nursery, those babies are completely defenseless." "I'll do it." Tinga volunteered. Krit gave a slight nod "Me and Syl will take the defensive. Haul out as many of these slime suckers as we can." "I'm coming with you." Zack stated cocking the semi-automatic he got off the militia member. He looked at all his younger brother and sisters "The rendezvous point will be this room, if you meet with any resistance, incompassitate first." "Let's get this bitch started." Max stated. She flipped the ringer to the 'low' setting on her cell phone. The others began to move to their positions. Jondy stopped in the doorway when she saw Max not moving "You commin' Maxi?" Max held up her hand for a second. She walked over to Logan "Dial the whole number first, then just *69 the others, it'll save time." "Phone bills gonna be sky high." he said dryly. She smiled for his benefit, then her expression turned serious "If anything should happen." she looked down at their daughter asleep in Logan's arms. "Tell Lexi how much I loved her." she couldn't keep the tremor out of her voice. "Max." Logan began, not wanting to hear this. "You don't have to talk about it in past tense. Just be careful." he couldn't believe the downslide this day was taking. She placed both arms around his neck and kissed him. "I love you." "Love you too." he said pulling back "You're the love of my life." "Right back at ya." she kissed her sleeping daughter's head "Mommy'll be right back." she turned, wiping away an errant tear that had fallen down her cheek. Max walked over to Jondy "Time to rock-n-roll." Both women moved out the door, and Max locked it before closing it. Logan set Lexi back down in the 'crib'. Walking next to the bed he retrieved his laptop computer, thanking god that he decided to bring it along. "Does she do this a lot?" Sara asked "Risk her life for the sake of others?" Logan looked at the woman "Yea, all the time." he turned back to his booted laptop. Working at a fast pace he hacked into the mainframe of the hospital. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Max's number. After the first ring she picked up "What is it?" "I got into the blue prints of the hospital." Logan stated "There are small splinter communication modules on every floor, but they all feed into a main one on the tenth floor." "Is it in a room?" Max's voice asked from the other end. "No." Logan responded "The entire floor is taken up with the surveillance equipment. This hospital is more paranoid then me." Max smiled from her end "Never thought I'd live to see the day." she paused "We're at the elevator now, no one else is around that we can see. I'll call you back when we reach the floor." "Be care-" "I will, I promise." Max interrupted, ending the call. Logan hung up as well, but kept the phone on. He started hacking into files, looking for a way to bypass the security system so it could be shut down. ***** Max and Jondy were the only ones in the elevator. When it reached the tenth floor they both ran down the deserted hallway. One of the security guards was lying in a pool of blood on the tile floor. Max stopped and knelt down at his side. Jondy felt for a pulse, looking up quickly "It's too late, he's dead." Max nodded sadly. She picked up the weapon that lay at his feet. The clip was half full, and she tucked it in the waistband of her jeans. She looked solemnly at the dead man "Rest in Peace my brother." They stood up again and approached a doorless entry. The space was filled top to bottom with computers, and TV monitors, just like Logan had said. There was a solitary figure dressed in black sitting at a swivel chair. Max signaled Jondy to go around to the other side of the man. Tapping him on the shoulder the guy turned "Watching too much TV is bad for you." Max punched him right between the eyes. The blow stunned him, but he didn't fall. He shook his head and aimed the gun at her hatefully "You really shouldn't have done that bitch." Jondy delivered a blow to the back of his neck, and this time he fell unconscious to the floor. "My sister's not a bitch you shit." After tying him up with his own belt, Max dialed Logan's number on her cell "We're in." "Any trouble?" Logan wanted to know "Not that we couldn't handle." Max stated, looking at the man on the floor. Logan wanted to ask her what she meant by that, but this wasn't the time. "There should be a system almost the center of the room." "Found it." Max said sitting in front a large computer. "Okay, it should already be on the entry screen. Somewhere on there is a file about changing the main frame. Bring it up." Max clicked the keys for a few seconds, and soon found what she was looking for. "It's asking for a password." "Infinite or set?" Logan asked "Set." Max answered "eight spaces." "Most likely a numerical sequence." Jondy stated "Jondy thinks it's numeric." Max said into the phone "Damn." Logan cursed "It could take forever to figure it out. There are endless combinations of numbers." Max looked around for number sequences by the module. Looking for something ANYTHING that could be a password. On a whim she typed in '46372847.' and was surprised when it got accepted "I'm in." Logan was just as dumbfounded "How did you guess work so fast?" "I typed in the serial number of the security system." Max answered. She laughed dryly "Guess these guys are into the whole 'no one will suspect the obvious answer' thing." "Where are you at now?" Logan asked Max looked at the screen "It brought up a command box, asking me what changes I want to make on the system." she looked at the long list "There's a lot of stuff here. I'm guessing just typing 'abort' won't work." "It will." Logan interrupted, reading the information he accessed "But you have to do it for every single file." "Shit." this time it was Max who cursed "This is gone take a while." she started placing 'abort' next to all fifty odd items on the screen. After about seven minuites of this, she finally reached the end of the screen. "Upload new commands?" Max read. Her finger hit the 'enter' key. All the TV's flickered off and the screen she was sitting by went black. "It worked." Max informed Logan "System is down." "Good." Logan answered back "Now let Jondy mess around a little with the wires. The police will just suspect this militia sabotaged the system." Max looked at her sister "Ready to play around?" Jondy smiled "Oh yea." She knelt down and removed the plastic cover off of the main module. A complex system of red, blue and green wires greeted her. "Now comes the easy part." Jondy stated "Give me some amo from that gun you have." Max pulled it out and handed her two gold bullets from the clip. Jondy took it and broke them in half with one fluid motion. She held her thumb over the open shells to keep the powder contained inside from coming out. With the other hand she pulled out a stick of gum. She chewed briefly to make it soft and then spit it out in her hand. She then poured the powder onto the gum and stuck it into the mass of wires. "You might want to back up for this one Maxi." Jondy warned, whipping out a lighter "I don't have anything to use as a line, so this is going to be a very close show." Max nodded and back up about three feet. Jondy scooted about a foot back. She wadded up a piece of paper, light it with the lighter and threw it where she had placed the gum. The powder ignighted, and blew out the circuits. Pieces of metal and wires flew out as dabree. "Woo hoo!" Jondy cheered "Burn baby burn!" "Everyone okay?" Logan asked through the phone after the explosion. "Yea." Max reassured "Jondy's just having a glory moment." "What the fuck is this?" Max looked up in time to see the barrel of a gun cocked in her face. ***** "Max? What's going on?" Logan asked, hearing the other voice in the background. The man standing over her placed the barrel right up against her forehead. "You better shut that off." Max did as he said, placing it back in her pocket. The guy held out his hand "Give it to me." She looked up at him "Come and get it." He smiled greasily, looking right at her chest "First let me get something else." "Sorry buddy." Max said with a growl "Private property." she reached out and grabbed his neck in a crushing squeeze, while Jondy ripped both hands behind his back. Max then pulled out the concealed sig in her jeans and pointed it at the man. "What should we do with contestant number two?" He looked at her sleazily "I could think of a few things baby." Max looked at Jondy "Apparently someone didn't remember what being a smart ass got him last time. Let's clarify shall we?" she yanked back on his gun, jamming the butt of it into his crotch. He gasped and doubled over. Jondy stood over him "Sweet dreams looser." she kicked him in the head, knocking him out. ***** "Krit get down!" Syl whispered walking a little ahead of him "I see movement." Zack crept over to where Syl was crouched behind a wall. "Where is it?" Syl nodded in the direction of the long hallway "Down a little ways, near the ICU ward door." Zack turned to her "You and Krit pull back, I'll see who it is, but be on alert." "Don't fire unless you have too." Krit advised, having since crept up next to them "There are critical patients right through those doors." Zack didn't reply, he switched the safety off the AK-47. Rising to his feet he aimed the gun ahead of him, keeping his hand poised on the trigger. He tunneled his vision and saw the man take aim on him. Zack hit the floor, barely missing the round of bullets. He positioned the gun on his shoulder and squeezed one off into the man's foot. The guy immediately fell to the ground, crying out and grasping at the injury. He tried to pick up the gun, but Zack quickly stepped on it. "Don't you DARE move you fucker or I'll blow you away!" he words were fierce. The guy stared down the sight of the gun, and up at Zack "You're just a kid." he said this in a laughing manner. Zack cocked the trigger loudly, so the guy would hear it "If you're trying to intimidate me, it's not working." Syl and Krit approached them. "Get his gun." Zack ordered. He kept his eyes locked on the downed man as Syl picked up his weapon and aimed it at him. The man looked up at her "You even know how to fire one of these things sweetheart?" he grabbed his chest in surprise when Syl shot at him, not to kill, but landing the bullet in the dog tags that were around his neck. The tip of the shell just barely penetrated one of the metal tags. "That was practice." Syl informed, staring him down through the sight of the gun. "Next one's for real." "Get up!" Zack spat to the man. The guy blew him off "You may be good shots, but you're still just some punk kids." Zack gave a nod at Krit, who then went over to the man and picked him up with one hand by his neck and slammed him against the closet wall. "Enough talk." Zack growled jabbing the barrel of gun into the man's sternum. "You're going to tell us where the other members of your group are, or we're give you a couple of new holes." he was so close to the man's face he could make out the two day beard stubble on his chin. "I don't know where they are." the guy squeaked out. Zack moved the gun from his chest and shoved the barrel in near the large artery in his neck. "You're not exactly in the best scenario to be lying right now." The guy laughed slightly "I don't know kid, they give me orders via my walkie talkie." he glanced down at the device clipped to his waste "But it kinda got busted when you ambushed me there, so I can't help you." "Bet Jondy could fix it." Krit pointed out. Zack looked at him "What time is it?" Syl glanced briefly at her watch "4:56." "Told her to be back with Max and the rendezvous point at five." Zack said "They're probably on the way back." "Ooo..rendevous." the guy teased sarcastically "Someone liked playing 'solider' when he was a boy." Zack backhanded him in the face "I didn't ask you to talk." he placed the gun at his back "This is how it's gonna work, we're taking you back with us so our girl can fix your communication, then we can find out what the hell you all are planing. You just keep quiet, smile, and wave to anyone you pass. If anything turns sour." he punctuated his last remark by jabbing the gun into his back "You go from being Ms. America to a cadaver for the medical students." The guy looked from Syl to Zack "You're the ones with the fire power." his words were half angry, half sarcastic. "Let's not forget that." Zack retorted. He pushed his captive foreword "Now move." ***** Maternity Ward Max's room Max came through the wooden door with Jondy trailing behind. Logan immediately stood up "What the hell happened? I was worried when I lost the connection." "I'm a big girl Logan." Max pointed out "Just had to take care of something tall, dark and ugly." He came over to her "Big girl or not, I still have the right to worry." he touched her face tenderly, before kissing her. "PDA!" Krit's voiced wafted as he entered the room. Max and Logan broke apart "Not in uniform bro." she turned to face him "Where's Zack and Syl?" "Bringin' up the rear." Krit responded as the doors opened again revealing the other two siblings, their weapons trained on their captive. Max looked at him "What gutter did you drag this slime out of?" she quickly shut the door and locked it again. "He's one of the members of this 'militia'" Syl responded "Found him creeping around near the ICU." "Why didn't you just put him IN the ICU?" Max asked "He might be of use to us." Krit answered, shoving the man into a chair. "He has communication with his other junkies." Krit snatched up the walkie talkie "but it needs a little surgery." he threw it at Jondy "See what you can make of it Jondy." Jondy caught the small back device "No nitrate or timers, but I guess I can give it a shot." she sat on the floor and examined it. "Max." Zack began, his gun trained on the man in the chair "Get something to restrain this shit before he tries to act stupid again." Max tore up her blanket into strips. She knelt next to the guy and bound his legs to the chair's and his arms to each other behind him. "Where's Tinga?" Zack asked "She decided to stay at the nursery." Max responded, adding more layers to his bonds to make the restraints tighter. "Those babies are open targets." "Looks like you have your own nursery here." the man stated looking over at Lexi "Cute kid. Can I hold her?" Max suddenly got up from her crouched position and locked her hand on his neck in a death squeeze. "If you EVER lay a hand on my baby I'll to rip your testicles out and force feed them to you!" she squeezed harder "Is that understood?" she abruptly let go. "What is it with you people and trying to choke me?" he wheezed. "Max." Logan's voice made her turn. He held Lexi in his arms who was now crying "I think she's hungry." Max shot a scowl at the man and walked over to Logan. She took the crying baby from him and sat down on her bed. She started to unbutton her shirt, but caught sight of the militia solider staring at her. In one fluent motion she pulled out the concealed sig and aimed at him "I can shoot your eyeballs out of their sockets for ya to fix that staring problem." He soon faced the opposite direction. She put the gun on safety and finished unbuttoning her shirt, positioning Alexis so she could eat. Her daughter began to nurse immediatly, having not eaten anything in several hours. Logan sat beside her on the opposite side of the bed. "Max?" It was Sara's voice coming from the other bed. She sounded like she was crying. Max looked at the other woman in concern "You okay hon?" Sara shook her head "This is just too hard." she hastily wiped tears from her eyes. "First my shit ass boyfriend splits on me after he gets me pregnant, then I have that blow up with my mom, and now this." she paused and jerkily ran one hand through her hair. She looked over at Michael near her bed. "I wanted my son to have a better life then this." "That's the way of the world babe." the man sneered. Max raised the gun again, taking the safety off loudly so that he would hear it "We're still bein' a smart ass when we have HOW many loaded weapons aimed at our head?" She turned back to Sara, the gun still trained on him. "Don't listen to that chicken shit. The world screwed you over before, but you have a shot at a new beginning now. Your son." she looked at the newborn "is that chance. His life won't be perfect, but with you're help it can be better then how it started." Sara smiled through her tears "You almost make it sound believable." Lexi finished nursing, her baby breath warm on Max's exposed skin. "It can be." she could hear the sounds of Zack 'interrogating' the militia member. "Just trying to make a few bucks." the man stated "A lot of high class doctors work here." "Isn't exactly a noble career." Syl pointed out The man looked at her "But it's effective in keeping the cash flowin'" he looked at her sleazily "Bet you could find ways to keep the cash flowin' too baby doll." Syl ignored his remark "You got a name scuz? Or do we have to keep making up some for ya?" "It's Richard babe." he replied "Last name too Rich." Krit informed Richard blew him off "Like I'd tell you kid, I'm not stupid." Zack placed the gun at his head "Are you disrespecting a superior officer solider?" he used the same tone as he did back at Manticore. Richard looked at him "Oh so you kids suddenly out rank me?" "We have guns. You don't. I'd say that was a true assessment." Max replied. There was a soft banging at the door. "Guys. Open up, it's Tinga." Krit kept his weapon aimed at Richard and unlocked the door for his sister. Tinga came halfway in and saw the captive "What's this?" "P.O.W" Zack informed "I wasn't aware that this was a war." Max pointed out "As I recall *Commander* you didn't want to get involved in this in the first place." Zack looked at her "You involved me Maxi. Now we have to see this through to the end." "Glad to see you didn't fall asleep in combat strategies big brother." Krit commented. Zack shot him an unreadable look, and then moved his gaze back to Richard "You're just in time for the show Tinga, Richard No Name here is going to be a squealer." "Can't do it with a busted radio." he reminded out front. "Got it!" Jondy proclaimed, standing up and waving the radio around "Just had two wires that came out." Zack placed the gun at Richard's neck "You just ran out of excuses." Jondy came over with the radio in her hand "What's the frequency?" "666" Richard spat out Zack backhanded him in the face "We can't accept that response." Richard spat out the blood from his mouth that Zack's maneuver had drawn. "Set the dial to five." Jondy turned the round plastic dial to the indicated number. She placed her hand over the receiver for a second, listening until she heard noise in the background. "Yea?" came the unknown voice on the other end. "Who the fuck is this?" Jondy placed the radio up to Richard's mouth "It's for you." "And remember." Syl jammed the gun barrel into his neck "who's calling the shots on this end." "This is Erikson, What's the twenty on the location for the doctors you swiped?" Richard asked. "Got them hauled on the fifth floor." came the reply. "In the break room. Stan's guarding them." there was laughing on the other end "He's tryin' to prove himself a man." Richard laughed as well "That idiot-" he was cut off by Syl pushing the gun deeper into his neck "Convo time later Erikson." she hissed in a whisper "Get the room number." "What's the number of that place, case I wanna have a consultation?" Richard wheezed. "532." the person responded "Right next to the elevator." He was about to say something else when Jondy switched the radio off "Sorry creep, daytime minutes are all used up." Erickson scowled at her "Do all you kids have smart mouths?" "Family trait." Max growled from across the room. "It's really none of your business anyways." Tinga informed walking right up to him and looking him in the eye. Richard leered at her "I must be in heaven with so many sexy angels." "Someone must hit you hard." Tinga stated "You're hallucinating, but a knock out pill will make it all go away." she punched him across his face, knocking him unconscious. Zack looked at his sister "What's the situation outside?" "This floor seems to be relatively quiet." Tinga stated. "I think these guys just want a quick exchange, people for green." Logan peered out the window he was leaning against. Swarms of police vans, and sector cops were outside. "The calvery's makin' camp on the lawn." he dropped the section of the blinds he was holding up, and turned towards them "If these guys want money, they aren't going to get it. Sector Police have no qualms with shooting them." "Or the people they use as shields." Max said, remembering that hostage situation at the convention. This would be about the hundredth time in her life that she was labeled as 'disposable.' Logan looked at his wife "That's why we have to let those doctors out, unharmed if possible, or this hospital's gonna see more blood then it ever has before." "We could easily take out the other members." Syl informed "They've never dealt with our bloodline before." she paused "But what worries me is when the bullets start flying." she stole a glance at her newborn niece "the metal doesn't know the difference between soldiers and civilians." "It's a risk we have to take little sister." Zack stated "If any of us want to make it out of here alive." Krit nodded in agreement "Then let's do it." Zack walked over to Max, who now held the sleeping baby in her arms. "Reminds me so much of that night, when we escaped." "Kind of." Max agreed, stealing a glance at Logan "But things are different now. We were just kids, revved up or not. We knew nothing of the world." she touched Lexi's head. "When we jumped the fence, it was a major reality check." "You seemed to adjust well." Zack pointed out, a trace of bitterness in his tone. "Just seemed to shake off all that conditioning and hell in the blink of an eye." "It took time." Max retorted "But I found things out that they didn't teach. Like what being human is suppose to feel like. The soul beneath the solider." Zack glanced briefly at Logan "Or at least half of it anyway." his words were colored in slight bitterness again. He looked back to Max, stealing a look at the Alexis "All that sentimentality I warned about in one package deal." he touched the forehead of his tiny niece. His eyes then roamed back up to Max's face "But you always were wreakless." "I'm not one to conform." Max shot back, knowing that would touch a nerve. Zack touched her face, making her flinch slightly "Don't I know it." he actually kissed her in a brotherly fashion on her cheek. "I won't lie to you Maxi, there are some things about your life that I will never be comfortable with. But-" he broke off to look at the baby again "I will love my new niece and my nephew, and try to tolerate their wreakless parents." he looked at Logan "both of them." Max was aware of how much it took for Zack to say this out loud. Truth be told it wasn't a heart felt "I'm sorry for being an ass little sister." and an acceptance for Logan with open arms, but those only existed in perfect worlds, and they didn't live in one of those. And coming from Zack, it was as sincere as he would ever get. The ackward silence was broken a few seconds later by Krit. "Hate to ruin the moment guys, but we need a strategy here." Max looked to Zack "We could easily take out 'Stan'" "And the others?" Jondy asked, still standing by the unconscious form of Erikson. "Just get them as they come." Zack informed "Once we let those doctors out they're bound to start scurrying over in our direction." "Meet and Greet the militia huh?" Syl stated "I'm game for a social evening." "One of us has to get Sara out." Max said, looking over at the woman she was growing more and more attached to as the day wore on. "We might not be able to get back up here before-" "I'd just slow you down." Sara's voice interrupted. "I'm to tired and sore to run around all over the place." Max came over to her bed "It's not so bad girl, I'm grittin' my teeth right now, but I'm making it." Sara shook her head "It's different with you. You look like you're made for things like this." she paused "It's not like I've never been on the bad side of things before." she looked up at Max "Go, get your family out of here." Max knew that she wasn't going to change her mind. She could physically drag her and the baby out the door, but that would more then likely kill them. "When we're in the clear, I'll have someone comeback for you guys." "If that don't turn out." Sara began truthfully. "Call my mom in Olympia." she looked over at Michael "I don't want my son to wind up living on the streets." "Count on it." was all Max said hugging her. After a minute they pulled back "I'm glad I met you." her words were sincere "You're like the sister I never had." Max smiled briefly and got off the bed. "So 'Take Out' is the name of the game." she stated to the others in the room. Zack gave a clipped nod "We should split up." he looked over at Logan. "Syl and Krit go with Logan. Escape and evade, find the nearest exit and get the hell out." "I'm not running Zack." Logan informed. "May not have the strength of you and your siblings, but this is my family as well." Zack made his way over to him and got in his face. "You know NOTHING about combat training. If something were to happen-" "Then I would have fulfilled a promise to die with my with my wife." he looked the other man in the eyes. "I can't just go on living my life if I just ran like a coward while she got pumped full of iron and bled all over the pristine white floor." "And your kids? What'll happen to them if you both die?" Zack pointed out. "I don't know Zack." Logan answered honestly. "I'm hoping it doesn't come to that." memories of when his own parents were killed in the bloody government upheaval after the Pulse flashed across his mind. "Gotta go with Logan on this one." Tinga stated, looking at Zack "There's a better chance if we stay together." "More man power." Max went on, agreeing with Tinga. Zack sighed in frustration at the way his younger siblings were ganging up on him "Okay then." he looked around the room "We go at this united." ***** Outside Metro "..Anything?" Charlie asked the passing officer. He had seen a report of the hostage situation on the news at home and had driven like a madman back over to Metro. The man in blue turned to him "Nothing yet Mr. Ritchell. I'd advise you to calm down." "My wife is in there sir." Charlie informed angrily "And my sister-in-law just had a baby here this afternoon, I have damn good reasons not to be *calm*" "Daddy?" Case's voice piped up by Charile's side. Charlie looked down at his son "What is it Case?" "Why are you yelling at that police man?" "I'm just worried about everyone." Charlie reconciled to the six year old "Mommy, Aunt Max, Uncle Logan, and your new little cousin Alexis. I just want them to be safe." Charlie looked back up to the officer "I'm not going to set a bad example for my kid by chewing you out anymore, but I want to know everything that happens here." his words were fierce. "I can't tell you what I don't know sir." the officer answered and walked away, leaving them alone. "Don't worry daddy." Case reassured "Mommy and her brothers and sisters will fight the bad people. Just like in her stories." Charlie knelt down at his son's level "This isn't one of mommie's stories Case. This is really happening." But then Charlie remembered that Tinga's stories were real as well. When he met her she was 'Penny' who worked at a bakery near his job. But then she left, and he found out things about her...what she was, her real name. But when he saw the courage her sister and brother had to save her from that base, he could live with her past. He still loved her after all. Charlie looked back at Case "I still worry, 'cause even mommy can get hurt." He hugged Case to him. ***** Jam Pony X-Press "..At this time police do not have a clear picture of how many members of this 'Aryan Freedom Fighter's' Militia are in the hospital. One of the members ordered that $200,000 in ransom money be delivered to them in exchange for the ten doctors they have taken hostage. The militia says law enforcement has one more hour to deliver to cash before they kill the hostages, and anyone else. We'll keep you posted around the-" the news woman's voice broke off when one of the employees switched off the TV. "You best put that back 'fore I put the smackdown on your ass." Cindy snarled to the guilty party. "What's you're interest girl?" Kenny, a new worker stated "Just another hostage thing..not much to look at." "Max is in there." Cindy growled "My boo just had herself a baby girl in that hospital." "Sorry." Kenny answered "I didn't even know she was married." Cindy just shook her head at the stupidity of the man. "People." Normal called out "Less squaler, more deliveries." He gestured at Cindy "You. Over here." Cindy sighed, wondering what he wanted as she approached him. "What is it? If it's 'bout employees not watchin' TV durin' business hours I don't wanna here it. That rule is shit when any of my girls are involved in anything that comes across the six 'o clock." "That's why you should go down to Metro and see what the deal is." Normal answered. Cindy looked at him surprised "You're actually givin' me the heads up to ditch work?" "It's obvious you're concerned about her." Normal began "You aren't of any use to me just sitting around here not working." Cindy shook her head in an 'uh-huh' fashion "So this is just lookin' out for yo' buisness?" Normal looked at her "Does it matter? I'm giving you an opportunity." he shooed her away from the desk "take it before I change my mind." Cindy still had that surprised look on her face as she walked back and grabbed her bike from where she chucked it on the floor, and walked it out the building. ***** Metro Zack peered around the corner of the wall he was hiding behind. He detected no movement in front of him. Faint traces of blood and empty shells were scattered on the tile floor. He waved his siblings, giving them the all clear that it was safe to continue. Syl crept right behind Zack, the 47 cocked, in case they met up with someone. Like the maternity ward, this floor was empty. Max leaned down to examine the body of another security guard. Logan moved to stand beside her as she looked at the woman. "She's alive." Max stated softly, touching the gaping wound in her stomach "but barely." "I can see the elevator the slime was talkin' about." Krit announced, spying the aluminum doors about twenty feet away. "Move it out." Zack ordered, he looked over his shoulder "Max-" "I'm on it." she said, ripping off a section of the security guards jacket and placing it over the bullet wound "It's crude." she looked up at Logan, who was holding Lexi. "But it'll have to do." she stood back up and they moved over to where Krit was standing. "Do you see the room?" she asked her brother. Krit nodded "It's right where Erikson said it would be" he looked over at who he guessed was 'Stan' standing at the door with an M16 rifle in one hand. "That's the sloppiest stance of attention I've ever seen." Syl announced looking over at Stan. "Looks like he's gotta pee, but can't leave his post." Krit said in response. "C'mon then." Jondy began "Let's go nail him in the gut a few times to take the 'pressure' off." They moved closer to the door, Zack in the lead, and Max lagging behind. After a few more seconds she stopped walking, and knelt down in a hunched position, cursing under her breath. "What is it baby?" Logan knelt next to her. His statement caught Jondy's attention "Maxi? Hey guys hold up, we go a bit of a situation." Krit turned, and saw Max kneeling on the floor "What's wrong little sister?" he didn't try to hide the concern in his voice. "I'm okay." Max reassured them. "I just had a baby guys, that kinda hurts for a while." she stayed in that position a little longer before standing back up with a grimace. "You gonna make it?" Logan asked touching her back with one hand. She nodded "Came this far, might as well go all the way." She finally reached the spot where her siblings were positioned by the last inner wall in front of the room where the hostages were in. "Bad attention or not." Zack stated looking at the militia member "He's probably got some skills on that M16. We need a diversion so that he'll wind up pointing the barrel in another direction." As if they had practiced it, all eyes locked on Jondy. She smiled "I see it's unanimous then." she reached into her jacket pulling out a small ball of aluminum foil that was connected to a piece of twine. "Got a little arasol spray in here. Won't create a big boom, but it'll be enough to turn his head. She pulled out her lighter, looking over at Max "Better cover my niece's hearing equipment sis. Blast might shatter her eardrums." Max walked over to Logan, placing both hands over Lexi's tiny ears. "We're set." Jondy lit the fuse and threw it about five feet from where Stan was. The device exploded in the hall. It produced the desired results and Stan turned, aiming his M16 where the explosion went off "Who's there?" Syl took the advantage and shot Stan's foot. The gun slipped out of his hand as he fell. He tried to grab it again, but Krit beat him to it and kicked it away. "I don't think that's a good idea." the M16 was resting on his foot. He pushed it in one maneuver, throwing it in Jondy's direction. She caught it expertly and cocked it at Stan. "Whatcha got in the room Stanley?" "How the hell do you know my name?" he barked. "Got it off a guy you know." Max answered "He's takin' a little nap right now." she kicked him a little with one foot. "Gonna join him in a few minutes after we do a little convo. time." "What is it you think I know?" Stan sneered, clutching at the injured foot Max just kicked. "What those guys in there are being pawned for." Logan answered, stepping closer. Stan looked at him and Alexis "You always bring your kid to these things?" "Stay on topic." Jondy demanded jamming the M16 into his stomach. "How much are these white coats worth to you?" "Around the ballpark of two large." Stan answered back with a sneer "health care is so expensive ain't it?" "Especially in prison." Logan shot back. Stan looked at him hatefully "Oh you did not want to do that boy." he removed part of his leather glove revealing a wrist band that contained a small canister of mace. He sprayed it at Logan, who moved a hand in front of his face to block the affects. Max came over to her husband "Are you okay baby?" Logan shook his head "Not in my eyes, just everywhere else-" he broke off when he realized what that meant. "My god Lexi." the baby was wailing in his arms, large tears pooled around her eyelids. "I think some got on her." Zack kicked Stan in the ribs "You shit. That's my niece." He took the butt of the 47 in his hand and swiped it across Stan's face, knocking him out. Max tried her best to clean the mace off her daughter. Tinga approached her "Don't baby sister. It'll just go deeper. You need to flush it out with water." Max looked up at Tinga "That room's a lounge. There should be a sink in there." she ran over to the door and simply kicked the thing down in one maneuver. "Mrs. Cale?" Dr. Janston's voice began surprised. "How did you get here?" Krit entered the room, and the doctors immediatly became intimidated at the sight of the gun. "I don't have time to explain." Max began "I need you to take care of something." Logan walked in then, Lexi crying historically in his arms. Janston came out of her stunned trance and snapped into 'doctor mode' She took Alexis from Logan "what happened?" "She got Mace in her eyes." Logan announced as Janston walked over to the sink. "Were they open? or did she blink the substance in?" Janston asked turning on the water from the faucet to it's highest setting. "We don't know." Max answered back hastily "Didn't have time to check." Dr. Janston collected water in her hand and poured it over the baby's eyes and mouth. She soon turned over to one of her colleagues "Rick, toss me that bulb syringe behind you on the counter." The male podiatrist threw her the small blue syringe "It must be Baranger's. She had it with her on break." Janston caught the syringe "I've never been so glad of her untidiness before." she filled the head of the syringe with water and shot the stream over Lexi's face. "Conversation's later." Zack ordered, stepping in the room. "Just take care of my niece." Janston looked at him briefly, and then at Max "I take it this is a brother of yours." Max nodded slightly, her eyes locked on her baby. After a few minutes of dousing her with water Janston stopped, and shined her low beam maglight in both of Lexi's eyes. "I still see some redness, but that should clear in time. Pupils are dilated." she took the stethoscope from around her neck and placed it on the baby's chest "Respiration sounds good." she looked up at Max "I think she just got a little spray of the stuff on her. All the noises is probably what made her cry more then the mace." Max sighed relieved, picking up her daughter "Will there be any side affects?" Janston shook her head "She was treated almost immediately after initial contact. I'm pretty positive that no permanent damage was suffered." Max reveled in the relief that she felt at that moment. She hugged Lexi to her and felt Logan touch her shoulder, both of them locked in their own moment, admist all the chaos. Tinga stepped into the room, walking over to Max "Is she okay?" she touched her tiny niece. Max nodded slightly,looking at her sister "She was more scared then anything else." she looked briefly at her daughter and then back up to Tinga "Stan still asleep?" "Yea." Tinga responded "Zack nailed him pretty good." Everyone jumped slightly as the door to the break room, that up until that point had been hanging half hazardly on one hinge, finally dropped to the floor under the weight. For the doctors, it was just a surprise, but for the Manticore siblings, it caused them to react purely on instinct. All of them carrying weapons whipped around and aimed them in the direction of the door. "Thus concludes the test of our reflexes boys and girls." Krit commented when they realized that there was no danger. Zack and Syl pointed the barrel of their weapons to the floor, and Max put the safety back on the sig. before shoving it back into the waistband of her jeans. She turned to face Janston, who was looking at her in surprise. "Don't ask." Max began. "You don't want to know the reason we all have experience in handling fire arms. The important thing is that we DO." she looked around the room at the other hostages. "And we're going to make sure you and the other doctors get an escort service out those doors." "But why?" The physician who was identified earlier as being named 'Rick' asked "Why are you doing this instead of just saving your own skins?" Max did not have an immediate response to that, neither did any of her brothers and sisters. "Bigger picture." It was Logan who finally revealed an explanation. "If we just saved ourselves, how many countless would die?" he looked around the room at the ten doctors who were there. "But if we get you all out we not only save ten-" he paused briefly "we save everyone." Max couldn't help the feeling of deja vu that over came her at his words. No matter the situation her husband would always try to save their broken world, to protect the innocent, or in this case the ones made hostages. "What he said pretty much covers it." she agreed. Rick looked doubtful "Not many people are trying to save the down trodden these days. It's just every man for himself." "Some of us aren't men." Syl pointed out sarcastically, looking around the room at Tinga, Jondy, and Max with her little niece. "Plus you know I feel like kickin' some ass." "Oh yea." Jondy agreed "My day wouldn't be complete without an ass kicking session." "This 'session' as you like to call it needs a plan of action." Zack informed, walking further into the room. "Battle Royal." Krit said, and caught sight of everyone looking at him "What? I was kidding." Zack looked away from his younger brother, and swept his gaze across the room, turning his body in a complete clock wise circle. "This won't work if we go in it blindly." he spoke in the tone that all his siblings recognized. It was assertive, and one that usually resulted in them telling him to 'back the hell off', but this time, they listened. "We don't know how many men this militia has left in the building. Two of us need to be in the front of the hostages as we head out and two in back. Preferably those of us with weapons." As if it was a children's game, they began to chose their positions. "I'll lead." Krit volunteered. Jondy cocked the M16 "I'll be your shooting buddy bro." Max looked at Zack "You and I will handle the rear." Zack nodded in agreement "You're gonna need more amo power then that sig." he looked down at the 47 in his hand. "Since I'm odd one out." Tinga stated "I'll look out for Lexi." "We need all the man power we can get sis." Syl informed. "I'll watch my daughter." Logan stated looking at Tinga "But you can hang close since my arms will be occupied." Tinga nodded in agreement, and turned to Max "Hope you don't mind me watching your husband's back baby sister." "I'll let it slide this time." Max answered with a half smile. She checked the clip on the gun. Only about four shells remained. But hopefully between that and her fighting abilities it would be enough. "Move into position." Zack ordered. For several seconds it was a mass movement of bodies, before some semblance of order was re-established. Krit cocked the small semi automatic he got off Erikson "Time to kick the partay into high gear guys." he stepped out into the deserted hall, tunneling his vision to make sure there weren't any surprises. Seeing that it was clear he motioned silently for the others to follow. ***** Metro Ground Floor They had made it all the way to the lobby with relative ease. Only having to nail a few guys in the process. Max had traded her sig. for a tommy she pilfered off a militia soldier after knocking him out. She stood poised behind the inner wall of the cafeteria with Zack, watching the movement of the four remaining Aryan members in the lobby. Through the glass doors of the hospitals entrance the sector vans and police cruisers were visible. She turned to Zack "Not one of them has even come in here yet. What the hell's the hold up?" "They want an excuse." Logan whispered from behind her. "Law enforcement would rather shoot them all dead then waist jail cells for them." "Well they better make room." Max shot back to him "After what we went through to bring them in." She moved closer behind another wall to obtain a better vantage point. Zack stayed behind with the hostages. He aimed the sight of the gun at a militia solider, his hand poised on the trigger. The man fell that Zack aimed for, crying out as the bullet tore through his side. The other members looked stunned, but before they could retaliate three shots rang out from Jondy and Krit's weapons. The remaining soliders dropped to the ground in a heap. Max crept out slowly to asses the carnage. Two of the men were dead, and the other barely clinging to life. She turned to give the all clear, not noticing the doors suddenly bursting open and the sector police charging in. Seeing her with a weapon, they took aim on her. She turned in time to face five armed cops pointing their guns at her. Shots rang out, and she fell, hitting the floor in a boneless heap, and did not get back up. "NOO!!" Logan's cry echoed off the walls of the lobby. He ran to where she lay as fast as his feet could carry him, though to him it seemed like slow motion. She lay on her side and did not move. Blood pooled on the tile floor a hideous crimson. "Max." he shook her "C'mon baby, don't do this to me." she remained still. Their earlier conversation flashed in his mind /"If anything should happen, tell Lexi how much I loved her."/ Oh God, no. "You have to tell her." he spoke this part out loud, unaware that the others came over to them. "She needs to hear it from you." he touched her motionless figure, the tears that had been pooling in his eyes finally leaking out. "Please baby. We need you. *I* need you." Alexis woke up and started to cry, sensing something was wrong. Zack knelt next to Logan. "Get up Maxi, you're stronger then this. Get up and fight." the clipped manner of his voice cracked ever so slightly. "C'mon baby sister." Tinga encouraged, touching her hand "I just got you back. I don't want to be separated again." a single tear fell from her eye. "We made it." Logan gave Lexi to Jondy and cradled his wife's upper body. "Max please." one hand stroked her curls "You and me and Lexi are suppose to go home tomorrow." A few tears splashed on her closed eyelids. "She needs her mom, and I need my wife-" his breath caught "You can't die on me baby. Remember we said we'd die together?" he touched her face "I'm still here, so you can't go." He pulled her closer to him, crying into her neck, a desolate hollow sound of only those suffering immense pain can make. "I love you Maxi." Jondy knelt next to her "Now and forever." Logan felt that someone had ripped his heart out of his chest and left a gaping hole. One that would never stop aching. At first he thought he had imagined it, but no, he felt it again. Pulling her back he looked at her "Max?" It wasn't his imagination, she was moving. "C'mon babe, come back to me, please." Her eyes opened again and she looked up into his face "Logan?" she touched him. He hugged her fiercely again, tears of relief replacing the ones of sorrow. She hugged him back strongly, obvilous to the world around them. But the sibling side of her world was not. "Don't you scare us like that again little sis." Krit ordered with a gentle fierceness hugging her. She returned the gesture, sitting up from the cradle of Logan's arms. "I won't." Logan helped her stand up. When he looked at her he saw a small patch of blood on her arm from a simple graze wound. Scattered all around her were four bullets that had missed her completely. "That's amazing." one of the sector cops stated approaching her, and looking at her wound "You bled so much because my shot nicked an artery. The others didn't even hit you." "Lucky me." Max spat. She wasn't about to be nice to the man who shot her. "I'm sorry ma'am." the officer appolgized "I saw you with a weapon, and just thought-" he broke off. "Your friends told us what happened after, but the damage was done." he looked at her in sincere apology. Max didn't say a word as the man walked away. One of the doctors that had been a hostage began to patch the minor flesh wound on Max's arm. After he was done she walked over to Jondy, who silently gave her back Alexis. "I think my heart fell out back there." Jondy commented looking at her sister. "I didn't want my niece growing up without her mom." Max simply hugged the other woman with one arm. "We're tough girl, remember?" she looked over to where Charlie entered the lobby and made a b-line for Tinga, Case right behind him. "Don't give up without a fight." ***** Crash One Week Later "Peeasse Unky!" Jesse cried out, his arms out stretched in a 'pick me' up fashion. "He won't quit until you give in." Max commented to Zack about the persistence of her son. Zack sighed and finally picked the baby up "You have the worst stubborn streak." he informed his nephew who started messing with his blonde hair. "He's not as bad as you *unky*" Krit teased from his seat. Zack shot him a glare "If I didn't have him I'd show you the meaning of 'bad'." "All talk." Krit teased, watching Zack become more upset. He handed off Jess to Syl "Take your nephew." he stood back up and looked at Krit "I'm gonna tear you a new A hole solider." Krit snorted "I'd like to see you try." "All right then." Zack stated, his cockiness getting the better of him "let's play escape and evade." he sprinted after the younger man, who started running away from him. Syl shook her head, sitting down at the table with Jess in her lap. "My money's on Krit." Jondy stated quietly "He's got cheetah DNA or something." she sipped her beer, smiling "use to call him 'cat man' behind his back in drill class." Syl laughed "Have to remember to rag on him about that at the next reunion." Across the room Max and Cindy were discussing events and life over foozball. "All I can say is that I'm glad that I didn't come in there." Cindy stated stopping the ball with the last row of players. "Would've have lost it seein' my boo doin' an oscar performance of the dead." "It was something I'm glad you didn't have to see." Max answered, making a goal. She looked over at Logan "There was enough of an audience already." she scored the winning point. "C'mon, drinks are on me." "Better be." Cindy pointed out "After you beat me there." Max and Cindy walked over to the bar. "Glass of beer for my girl." she stated pounding on the counter "and mineral water for me." The bartender placed both drinks on the counter. Max took hers, smiling at her daughter in her carseat on top of the counter. "This is becoming a traditional spot for my kids to sit." She kissed Lexi's head and felt the familiar death grip of Jess on her leg. "Up!" he demanded. Max bent down to pick him up "You wanna sit up here baby?" she placed him on the counter next to the carseat. He immediately looked over at the baby "Hi 'exi." he squealed. He peered over the sides at her, shaking her slightly when she didn't wake up. "'exi!" "It's her naptime Jesse." Case piped up, crawling into an empty stool. "She's still little. She needs to sleep." Max ruffled her nephews hair, and looked over at her son "He's right hon. When you were that small you slept a lot too." she spied Logan coming towards them and set Jess on the floor "Go jump on daddy." Jesse ran over and used his death grip on Logan's leg this time. "Good grip Jess." Logan commented picking him up. He kissed the top of his head "Your getting stronger." "'ommy said too." Jesse announced in a high voice. "She did?" Logan looked over at his wife "Max? Are you teaching him how to jump people?" She blew him off "Where did you get that idea?" He came over to her with Jess in his arms, and looked at Max "Somehow that doesn't reassure me." he kissed her, setting Jesse back on the counter. "PD-" Krit's voice began, but ceased when Zack hurled him to the floor. "Your getting sloppy solider." Zack's voice was not angry, but actually had a hint of brotherly mischief. Krit expertly jumped to his feet. "That would make it the CO's fault for bad training." he ducked, from an impending attack. Zack waved his hand tiredly, "I'll get you later, on that ten hour haul back to your place." "Out of shape commander?" Tinga teased approaching them with Charlie. "No." Krit began "He LET me win." this time Zack knocked him upside the head. "I've gotta head out." Zack announced "I've held up here for too long." he looked to Krit "Keep out of trouble." "Sir yes sir." Krit responded crisply, giving a mock salute. Zack hugged him briefly, muttering "idiot" under his breath. After saying goodbye to Syl and Jondy Zack stood in front of Tinga "You and Max and that 'wreakless abandon' thing." he paused "Sometimes I think it could work." He hugged her. "I'll take that as a compliment." Tinga stated pulling back. "But I'm not the only one that needs to hear it." she looked over at Max and Logan. Zack made his way over to them. "Time to disappear." Max turned to face him. "Think you'll ever reappear again?" Zack shrugged "Not unless a need arises." "Like my phony sentimentality getting me in trouble again?" Max asked straight out. "More or less." Zack answered, pulling her to him. Max hugged him back strongly. "Thanks for swingin' by to bust some chops." He pulled back and kissed her forehead "Wreakless or not, you're still my little sister." he looked over at Logan, and something passed between them. The tension was still there, but there was a small air of respect along with it. "See ya around." he stated to the other man, before turning to leave. "Yea." Logan said, slightly surprised as he watched Zack's retreating figure. "That's one guy that's hard to peg." Max shrugged "That's just his nature." she pulled him to her. "He doesn't believe much in what he calls the 'sentimental lie'." Logan looked at his kids, and then back up to her "I call it a life baby, not something fake." She smiled "A beautiful life?" they shared a kiss. He pulled back and cupped her face "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." A small smile crept across her face again "Guess that's out then." she looked at him "Do you care?" He processed her statement, wondering what would it be like if Max wasn't a genetically engineered solider, or if Lexi's birth hadn't been filled with pain as well as joy. If it didn't have to take risking his life and his familie's to get Zack to have some semblance of tolerance to him. He thought about all this, and gave her an honest answer. "No Max, I don't." he hugged her to him tightly, and she responded wrapping her arms around his neck. "'Cause then the love of my life wouldn't be here. She doesn't exist in that kind of world." Max hugged him tighter to her. "Then I'm glad." she kissed him. /A beautiful life would be nice/ she looked at her husband /But I like my own better./ ***** End I kept coming to a sappy conclusion, but changed it for sake of keeping it real. Zack and Logan are never going to be buddy buddy. Did I scare anyone with that little angst part? I was trying to have some sort of emotional climax..couldn't just let them go home free. The young mother Sara will be brought up in another chapter. Anwayz..after three weeks I'm done. Let me know if you like. 


	6. Once Upon a Time

  
TITLE: Choices-06 "Once Upon a Time"  
AUTHOR: Mystic25  
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com  
  
DISTRIBUTION: Archive, just keep my info as is.  
GENRES: Story/Romance/Angst  
RELATIONSHIPS: Max/Logan married  
CONTENT: graphic description of Manticore life near the end  
KEYWORDS: Alternate Universe.   
RATING: PG14  
SPOILERS: "Hit a Sista Back"..also references to "Art Attack" and  
"Blah Blah Woof Woof"  
  
SUMMARY: Max and Logan attend another wedding, and a fairy tale gives  
Max the chance to explain some things to her small son.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Okay, Max, Logan, and any other DA characters aren't mine.  
(like you didn't know that.) Jesse and Alexis are mine, and any others  
I decide to make up.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This may be a little sappy, but after writing that last  
shoot'em up, knock'em down chapter I want to calm it down a little.   
It won't be soaking in sentiment mind you, but it'll have a healthy  
amount. Plus I added a lil bit of suspense near the end. Also this   
alternates between Max's and Logan's points of view.  
  
*****  
  
Outside Jam Pony X-Press  
7:23 p.m.  
  
I pull my Aztec around to the large section of dirt that I'm   
guessing is a parking lot. Shutting off the motor I climb out   
of my car, stepping right into the cloud of dust the tires   
kicked up.   
  
Great. I brush the powdery substance off the black pants with  
my hands. At least it came off, otherwise I'd have to buy this  
damn thing. I have no use for a tux, besides attending weddings  
and proms. My last prom was in college, and as for weddings, not  
counting my own, I wore this kind of penguin suit a total of once.  
  
I have the same reason for wearing it tonight as I did then. Point  
of edict. My cousin Richard is getting married, and the blue blooded  
family will be decked out in their finest for the festivities. I'm  
not in the wedding party like last time, but as a part of the Cale's  
I heed the unwritten law to dress like James Bond.  
  
Don't get me wrong, me and Richard are close. He was like a brother  
to me, since I didn't have one. We're about as close as Max is to  
her brothers. But, the rest of the family, that's kind of a gray area.  
I'm to idealistic for their blood. I don't just spend money lashvishly  
and wastefully on myself, I actually try to help the down trodden.  
"Blah Blah Woof Woof." as my beautiful baby put it. So now I get the  
privilege of attending this enchanted evening with my wife.   
  
I smile to myself at that last thought. My Max will be escorting me   
to this event. Left the kids in the trustworthy hands of Tinga and   
Charlie. Hopefully they won't be over run watching those two as well   
as their own. But then again, this is the sister-in-law who keeps a   
semi-automatic hidden in her apartment wall, handling three kids   
shouldn't be on her 'Impossible List'.  
  
I walk into the always over lit building of the delivery service.   
There are a few people still hanging around, probably hoping to   
get a little extra on their pay roll. That's what Max was doing   
here. Cindy was pullin' a late shift, so she offered to help out.  
  
"You are looking quite well." the voice of Herbal reaches my ears.  
I turn to look at the man leaning against the wall. "Thanks." I   
hear myself reply. "My tailor wanted to lend me this green one, but  
I think black is safer. I won't look like an airport lounge singer."  
  
"And what can I help you with today?"  
  
I turn again to face Max's boss, who addressed me "I'm here to pick  
up my wife." I take a step towards the man, looking at him.  
  
"She finished the last run ten minutes ago." Normal informs me.  
"Been in the bathroom ever since."  
  
I can't help the feeling of deja vu that comes over me at his words.   
The last time I attended a wedding with Max I came to get her at work  
like today. She had worked late then too, but man, when I saw her   
walking out of the back in that lifted dress, all other thoughts fled.  
She looked absolutely amazing. I had never seen her like that before.  
After we nailed those smugglers I offered to pay for that dress. She  
eventually sold it, saying it was too fancy and expensive to keep.  
  
I kidded her tonight that if she had kept it, we could've done a   
reenactment of Bennett's wedding. She then offered to hand off   
the Monet in the living room to some looters so that we would be   
able to do it all out.   
  
It would have been nice to see her wear that red dress again, but not  
at the price of the water lily painting. I still had no idea what she  
was going to wear. She bought a dress a few days ago, but told me I had  
to wait 'till tonight to see it. We haven't been 'out' since Lexi was   
born, and she wanted to have the complete element of surprise.   
  
This was so much like before that I expected to see her waltz out of  
the ladies room then, making the anal Normal stutter on his words.   
But, it didn't happen. I waited there for about another minute, before   
I heard the clicking of heels, and I turned to face her.  
  
I was taken aback. Her dress of choice for that evening was not red  
like the last time, but black. The top hugged her chest in a plunging   
v-neckline, not enough to make her look like she's sellin' but enough   
to state the obvious. Thin spaghetti straps sat on either shoulder,   
and the skirt was a slightly darker black (didn't even know there WAS   
more then one shade of black.) It flared out slightly at the waist,   
ending just above the tops of the satin sandals that she was wearing.   
She had left her hair completely down, but the curls were less wavy   
then they normally are. Besides her wedding ring, the only other   
jewelry she had was a simple black choker around her neck.  
  
I took all this in, running my eyes all over her body. My god, she  
looks REALLY good.   
  
"Like what you see?" she asks.  
  
I never take my eyes off her as I close the distance between us.   
'You clean up nice' isn't going to be my remark to her tonight.   
"Baby, you look absolutely amazing."  
  
She smiles "I thought you said I wear too much black."  
  
"Past ravings of a foolish man." I reply, pulling her to me for a kiss.  
  
*****  
  
I wrap my arms around his neck to deepen our kiss. I'm glad he liked the  
dress. All the others I saw were either too bright, or too, well, 'girly.'   
I don't do the whole priss thing. The sales lady kept raving on and on how   
pink was my color, but I will personally sell myself back to Manticore before   
I go out in public wearin' the shade of bubble gum.  
  
I slide my tongue in his mouth. He is surprised at first, but then,  
responds in kind. We duel back and forth for a while, before pulling  
back.   
  
I love the way he looks. The tux has been custom made for him.  
Last time he wore one he was still in the chair, still though, he  
was handsome. "Cleaned up well." were my exact words. But now, the  
phrase "dressed to kill" comes to mind.  
  
"You're not a bad sight yourself." I tell him with a smile.  
  
"I'm offended." he states, and I can tell he's about to pitch  
something "I let the woman I love know that, basically, she looks  
hot, and all I get is "I'm not a bad sight."  
  
Bingo. There's the guilt trip. But, my man just told me I'm  
hot, might as well return the gesture. "You look really sexy."  
I go on, adapting a lazy grin on my face. "There should be a   
law against it."   
  
He smiles at my fake attempt to stroke his male ego. "That good  
huh?" one eyebrow arches.  
  
I slap him playfully on the shoulder "Cockiness is not a virtue."  
  
He catches my hand before I can pull it away. "Ready for the festivities?"   
he changes the subject.  
  
"Yep." I respond "Let's get this bitch started." our hands remained  
linked as we walk out the doorway, stepping into the night air.  
  
Logan opens my door for me and I slide in the seat, but not before  
stealing a kiss.  
  
He does not object, but looked a little surprised when I pulled  
away "Why the kiss?"   
  
I grin "Gotta tip the valet somehow."  
  
He returns the smile, shutting the door and climbing into the  
driver's seat.  
  
We idly chat about random topics, how big the kids seem to be  
getting, even though Lexi is still only four weeks old.   
  
"Do you think that Richard should've done this privately?"  
Logan changes the topic from the subject of us.  
  
I smile inwardly at his remark. Not so long ago I sat in this  
car on the way to an event like this, telling Logan how marriages  
should be held in secret, in case something turned. I guess it was  
partly because of my own past experiences with relationships.  
"If he wants to pledge his life to this chick in front of god  
and a whole lot of money whording relatives, who am I to rain on  
his parade?"  
  
"What happened to that woman I knew that told me that weddings  
were just an expensive waste of time?" he asked  
  
"She married you." I inform with an air of teasing in my voice.  
"Personally." I add after a few seconds "I still say it's a waste  
of green to make a big fuss over one day. Weddings are only one  
time thing, marriages are suppose to be forever."  
  
"Like ours." he states, looking me right in the eye.  
  
"One year and ten months, not forever status yet, but we're  
gettin' there." I give him a small smile.  
  
He focuses his eyes back on the road "Two people embarking  
on the greatest journey of their lives."  
  
I catch his muttered remark, heightened senses never fail  
a girl. This may turn out to be an interesting evening. All  
I can say is that there better not be a repeat of girls like  
Daphne, 'cause now I have just cause to kick major ass.  
  
*****  
  
We pull up to the very fancy old English style cathedral. There  
are already a lot of people there. The valet opens our doors.  
I can't help but smile at Max, as she informs the man offering to  
help her out of the car that she has enough sense of balance that  
she won't fall out or anything. The guy sheepishly retracts his  
hand. I join my wife a few seconds later, and hand my keys to the  
man.  
  
After he goes to park the Aztec I turn to her "Why didn't you  
tip that guy the same way you did me?"  
  
She glowers at me for a second "I could 'pay' him when we leave  
if you like." she returns the fire.  
  
Ouch. My remark just blew up at me. "That's okay." I reassure,  
as we ascend up the stairs to the church. A small gathering of  
people are in the lobby. I can see my Aunt Jillian and Uncle  
Steve greeting the guests.   
  
"Those are Richard's parents." I point out to my wife.   
  
"They aren't like the others are they?" Max asks me, speaking  
of my Aunt Margo and Uncle Jonas.  
  
"No." I reassure. "They're not out to condone people for the  
way they live their lives. They're just good people." I take  
her hand "C'mon, let's say hi." I lead her through the crowd.  
  
Aunt Jilli spots me out immediately, she always loved me when  
I was a kid. "Logan my dear boy how are you?" she envelopes me  
in a big hug.  
  
"I'm doing all right Aunt Jilli." I say pulling back with a  
smile. I look at my Uncle. "How's it going Uncle Steve?"  
  
He clamps a large hand on my shoulder "Fine son, but I'm more  
interested in you introducing this beautiful escort you've  
got with you."  
  
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Max blush ever so slightly,  
before the mask falls into place.  
  
"Oh forgive me." I take her hand again. "This is my wife, Max."  
I look at her "Baby, this is-"  
  
"I heard you when you were conversing." she breaks in with that  
killer smile of hers.  
  
"Perceptive girl." Uncle Steve states. He laughs "There's no  
harm in that." he holds out his hand. "I'm happy to meet you  
Max."  
  
"You too." she responds, the woman can charm people when she  
wants.  
  
"No shake for me my dear." Aunt Jilli informs holding out her  
arms. "I want the whole deal."  
  
Max hugs my aunt briefly, before pulling back.  
  
"Just lovely." Aunt Jilli announces about Max. She then looks  
at me with slight disapprovement "Why didn't you tell me about  
this one mister?"  
  
"I have to have my secrets Aunt Jilli." I respond.  
  
I hear the familiar strains of "Canon In D Major." wafting  
through the air. "Looks like the ceremony's about to start."  
I give my aunt a quick kiss "I'll find you at the reception."  
  
"Do." Aunt Jilli informs. "You have to share that wonderful  
creature with the rest of us."  
  
I lead Max to a pew, just as the first procession of the  
wedding party begins to come down the aisle. The large church   
is almost filled to capacity. It's decorated in a white and pale   
green motif with flowers and ribbons. The stained glass windows   
allow the softest amount of sunlight to filter in. Richard looks   
impeccable standing up there in a black tux and white gloves.  
  
"Do you wish we did it like this?" Max whispers to me, watching  
the little flower girl scatter rose petals down the aisle.  
  
"What and miss Sketchy doing a bike trick on the dock's rail?"  
My mind flashes back to the way he held up for while, on one   
wheel, before nearly landing in the water. Cindy pulled him back,   
and told him to either get less dumb or more coordinated.  
  
She smiled at the memory as well. The strains of Pachabell's  
masterpiece end, and the organist pounds out the familiar tune  
of the "Here Comes the Bride."  
  
The woman walks down the aisle, escorted in the arms of her  
father. My relatives and her relatives ooh and ahh over how  
radiant she looks. Her father kisses her before giving her   
hand to my cousin.  
  
We sit again, and the minister begins his part in the ceremony.  
Richard and his bride Jasmine wrote their own vows. Near the  
end of the ceremony I caught site of Max wiping errant tears  
from her face. For all her tough armor, the woman has a   
sentimental heart. "Something in your eye?" I tease her gently.  
  
She laughs lightly through her tears. I wipe some away with my  
thumbs and kiss her forehead, running a hand along the top of   
her thighs. I allow my hand to remain there as we watch the  
happy couple kiss. The traditional "Wedding March." plays and  
the newlyweds walk arm in arm down the aisle.  
  
I wrap both arms around Max's mid section from behind as the rest   
of the wedding party retreats to the back "I didn't have any words   
to forget this time." I kiss the barcode on the back on her neck.  
She shivers, it's a sensitive spot for her.  
  
"I don't have to mouth anything to you to save your ass either."  
she reminds, teasingly.  
  
"What happened to the mock strokes on my male ego?" I ask.  
  
"Charade is over." she quips good naturidly.  
  
After those participating in the wedding have left, it gives  
the all clear for the guests to begin heading towards the   
reception. I obtain my keys back from the valet and drive the  
ten or so miles to where the reception is being held in the   
lobby of one of the few remaining luxury hotels in Seattle.  
  
I pull the car under the covered entrance. Another valet approaches  
us. I open my own door and hand him the key. He takes it from me,  
going around to open Max's door, but before he can, it snaps open,  
hitting him slightly in the process.  
  
"I got it Jeebes." she informs the kid, stepping out onto the  
curb. "Been opening my own doors for years."  
  
I chuckle to myself, and make my way over to her. "You could  
TRY and be gracious."  
  
"Where's the sport in that?" she jokes, looking at me.  
  
I shake my head in slight exasperation "Maybe I should warn  
the doorman that he runs a high risk of being de-briefed on  
the sexist ways of his career by a certain revved up female  
solider." I whisper this into her ear as we enter the lobby.  
  
She smacks me upside the head for that remark. Since we've  
been married I've discovered she tends to do that when she's  
a little fed up with me.  
  
Like the church, the hotel lobby is dressed up to the hilt.  
There are about thirty circular tables covered with extravagant  
linen table cloths and lilies and roses as centerpieces.  
  
There is a long square table, decorated a little fancier then  
the others. I assume that this is the table for the bride and  
groom, but they aren't there at the present moment. I soon spy  
them both talking with some guests.  
  
"Why don't we go over and offer our congratulations." Max announces.  
  
I look at her "You read my mind."  
  
She smiles lightly "This sessions for free, next one's gonna  
cost ya."  
  
We make our way over to the newlyweds. I tap Richard on the shoulder.   
He turns "My god, he's still alive." my cousin yanks me into a big bear   
hug. "Beginning to think you disappeared off the face of the earth."  
  
"Reappeared to come to this wedding." I tease.  
  
"Didn't know I married a magician." Max quips beside me.  
  
I turn to her "A man's gotta have his secrets baby." I tell  
her simply.  
  
"Did I hear that right?" Richard asks "You took the vows again?"  
He looks at Max. "And here I thought I beat him to the punch this  
time."  
  
"Sorry to disappoint." Max apologizes.  
  
"Hey no problem." Richard says with a smile.  
  
*****  
  
Logan's cousin hugs me "I'm glad for any addition to my family."  
He pulls back "Now all I need is your name, so I don't have to  
call you 'Logan's wife' all night."  
  
"It's Max." I inform the man. He seems easy going, kind, a lot  
like Logan.  
  
"Pleasure." Richard replies. He turns towards his bride. "Now  
let me introduce you to Jasmine, MY wife. Jaz, this is my   
cousin Logan, and Max, the wife I just found out he has."  
  
The other woman laughs slightly at his end remark. "Nice to  
meet you both. Rich has so many relatives, I'm afraid I'll  
never be able to meet them all."  
  
"You'll get the knack of it." I reassure her. "Got a big family  
as well, but Logan still manages to wade through all the names  
of my brothers and sisters."  
  
"How many do you have?" Jasmine asks, trying to strike up  
conversation.  
  
Not counting the ones who are dead, or still at Manticore..let's  
see..."Eleven." I reply. That's a good estimate. Haven't seen  
most of them in god knows when.  
  
"Damn girl." Richard looks at me with amazement. "Holidays must   
be a mad house when ya'll get together."  
  
I shrug "We usually survive." I feel Logan wrap an arm around  
my back, he must've sensed my mood change..guess I'm startin'   
to rub off on him.  
  
"It was nice to meet you Max, and I hate to be rude, but  
gotta go make nice with the father-in-law." Richard states  
to me.  
  
Jasmine shoots him a look "Be nice to daddy Rich, he paid for  
most of this."  
  
Richard kissed her. "I'll try and remember." he retreated to the  
tall man standing in the corner.  
  
"Well." Logan began once Richard left. "I'm gonna see if that  
champaign is pre-pulse or swill, can I offer you ladies any?"  
  
Jazmine shakes her head. "No thanks Logan, I'll wait until  
the toast."  
  
Logan looks at me "Interested sweetheart?"  
  
"Mmmhmm." I respond, and he heads back to get it.  
  
"Logan seems like a nice guy." Jasmine states out of the  
blue. "Must be quite a charmer."  
  
"He is." I agree. "But, I married him for more reasons then  
outside appearances." I am actually being honest with a woman  
I just met, but she seems nice enough. "Guess you could call  
it a soul mate kinda thing."  
  
She smiles at this "You guys have any kids?"  
  
I nod "a thirteen month old son, and a one month old daughter."  
  
"You have pictures?" she asks.  
  
"Logan does." I reply  
  
"Does what?" Logan asks returning with two flutes filled with  
champaign. He hands one to me.  
  
"Have pics of our children." I answer taking a sip of the champaign.  
Oh yea, this shit is defiantly pre-pulse, doesn't taste like radiator  
fluid.  
  
"What parent wouldn't." Logan says pulling out his wallet and  
removes the picture he took of me and the kids the day I brought  
Lexi home from the hospital.  
  
He hands it to Jasmine. "The one on the couch is Jesse, the little  
one in Max's arms is Alexis."  
  
"They are so cute." Jasmine states.  
  
Richard has returned from chatting with his father-in-law and now  
stands by his wife "Whatcha lookin' at Jazy?"  
  
"Your cousin's children." she responds.  
  
Richard adapts a look of surprise on his face and glances at  
Logan disapprovingly "And here I thought we were like brothers  
man, you wound me." he examines the photo. "They are cute."  
he agrees. "Must get that from their mother."  
  
I watch as Logan shoots a glare at Richard, not unlike the ones  
my own brothers give each other when someone goes to town on their  
egos.   
  
"Can't argue with him there." I tease looking at Logan.  
  
"You know what they say about brains and beauty." my husband returns.  
  
"And vise versa." I quip back with a smile.  
  
"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." he volleys a remark  
back at me.  
  
"Some people have bad eyes." I inform, tossing the next line  
on his side.  
  
"Not in my case." he replies, sincerely this time.  
  
Match point made. "That's what I've been tellin' ya all  
along."  
  
He smiles "Now who's bein' cocky?" he places his arms around  
my waist from behind me. He kisses my barcode again, knowing   
the reaction it would produce from me.  
  
"You two have an interesting banter flow." Richard remarks.  
"Is this a public thing, or do you always do this?"  
  
"Whatcha see is whatcha get." I sum up for the man.  
  
Richard smiles at me and turns towards his wife "We should  
probably be conversing with more guests then just two."  
He holds out his arm for Jasmine to take "Shall we m'lady?"  
  
Jasmine takes his arm "Catch up with you guys later."  
  
"They seem nice." I comment after the pair left. "All  
these months married to you, who knew you had relatives  
who weren't smucks?"  
  
"I'll take that as a compliment." Logan says and adds  
"We should probably find a table." he holds out his hand  
"Permission to escort a lady to dinner?"  
  
"As long as you do it right." I announce grabbing his out  
stretched hand and snaking it around my shoulders "Can't  
go at this thing half assed."  
  
My man draws me closer with his arm. "God bless protocol."  
he says enthusiastically.  
  
*****  
  
After a few minutes of meandering, we manage to spot a table  
that hasn't had all it's chairs filled with guests. I steer  
Max over in it's direction.  
  
"Mind if we join you?" I ask of the five people already seated  
around the table. One of them I recognize as Richard's little  
sister Lisa.   
  
She notices me immediately, adapting the same look on her face as   
her mother "Logan Cale, you better greet me better then that if  
you want to sit here." she stands up to hug me.  
  
I remove my arm from Max to hug the other woman "This payment  
enough?" I let go and look at the red head before me "And when  
did you cast the dye?" I remarked of her changed hair color.  
  
"Geez, make a girl feel insecure." Lisa smoothed her hair with  
one hand "I transformed into Pippy Longstocking last year,  
brunette seemed so boring."  
  
I turn slightly away from her and look at my wife "Why don't  
you try that baby?"  
  
"Keep it up Logan, and you'll see red" she uses her 'I can so   
kick your ass' tone of voice "But it won't because of my hair."  
she smiles to add a bit of cynicism to her words.  
  
"I like your date cuz." Lisa proclaims "Know's how to keep a man like  
you in line."  
  
"Thanks for the comment *cuz*" I use the same shortened word as  
her "But Max isn't just my date, she's my wife."  
  
Lisa looks at me in disbelief, and glances at Max "Mind if *I*  
make him see red?" she steps up to me "You got married again and  
you didn't tell me?" she smacks my forehead with the palm of her  
hand "What's the matter with you?"  
  
She faces Max fully "Hi I'm Lisa McKenzee, the groom's sister."  
she introduced.  
  
My wife shakes Lisa's hand "Max." she releases her grip "Congrats on   
your bro's marriage. I already met him, seems nice."  
  
"Doesn't he though?" Lisa replied "A little goofball and dumb  
sometimes, but that runs in the McKenzee family blood." she  
grabs Max's hand and pulls her down into the vacant chair  
"We have so much to talk about."  
  
******  
  
We conversed with Lisa for the better part of an hour through  
dinner. Her parent's, Logan's Aunt Jillan and Uncle Steve   
came over to the table as well. They're actually nice people,  
a far cry from the prudish Aunt Margot and her equally uptight  
counter part Jonas.   
  
Now I know the man's deceased and all, and I as a solider should   
have more respect to someone who took the fall, but dammit, I never   
liked the jerk. He treated Logan like some foolish dreamer who needed   
to be pulled back down to earth and remember where his priorities lay.   
I'm glad Logan didn't ask me to attend the funeral with him, caused   
I would've probably laughed during the whole eulogy and 'alarmed' the   
snooty family by spitting on the bastard's grave.  
  
Steve and Jillian fawned over the picture of the kids. And Logan  
got another smack by Lisa for not telling her that we had children.  
I got rave comments on my dress, and how good I looked for just  
giving birth four weeks ago. Revved up DNA has it's perks.  
  
After the last course of the three course meal had been served,  
the strains of pre-recorded music from the DJ's booth floated  
through the air. I'm glad the happy couple opted for the disc  
jockey, wedding singers can sometimes be lethal.  
  
The bride and groom had their traditional first dance, to   
the tune of the pre-post band NSYNC. The song was one of those  
sappy, mushy gushy "I'll never let you go" types. The lyrics  
are beautiful..but promises aren't that flawless anymore. Battles  
aren't so easily won as this pop group claims. Towards the end   
of their lyrical yarn my husband disappears from our table.  
I see him conversing with the DJ, but even with my heightened   
senses, I am too far away to hear their conversation.  
  
"I think my nephew has something up his sleeve dear." Aunt  
Jillan announces to me with a gentle grin.  
  
"Probably requesting the sappiest love song ever." Lisa  
agreed with her mom "He was always into the whole romance  
thing." she smiled in memory "Rich complained he never got  
any dates 'cause of him."  
  
I can't help the Cheshire grin that spreads across my   
face listening to the tales of Logan's youth. Romantic  
fool is right, but he balances it with also being incredibly  
stubborn and proud. But then again, so do I, at least on  
the last two. We both can't be completely, one hundred percent  
romantic, not with all the baggage we have to carry around.  
But, we still have fun trying.  
  
The last strains of the song ended, and I expected the DJ to  
go into a melodramatic speach about who the next song was for,  
but the beginning chord's of the melody simply start with out  
an introduction. It takes a minute for my brain to process what  
I was listening too, but then it clicked. My god, I haven't  
heard this in almost two years.   
  
"This isn't exactly a piece about love." Steve argues to his wife  
quietly.  
  
I hear Jillan hush him, and say that everybody's take on romance  
is different.  
  
I listen to this briefly, before turning my attention back on  
the composed masterpiece that reaches my ears. A hand comes into  
my line of sight, and I look up to see Logan standing there.  
  
"Dance with me." he uses the same words as I did in my dream.  
  
Now if I used his line and told him I couldn't walk, that'd   
be a croak of shit. So I place a hand in his, and allow him  
to pull me up and lead me to the dance floor.  
  
Once we reach our destination, we position our hands and bodies  
in a traditional way and glide across the floor effortlessly.  
I do not know anything about ballroom dancing, but today it seems  
to come to me as easily as popping a wheelie on my Ninja.  
  
We are the only ones on the dance floor. I guess everyone was  
expecting to show off their moves to a dramatic love song about  
loss, and emotion, or at least one with words. But to me this  
IS our love song. The meaning and depth of this piece speaks  
louder then all the "I will love you forever." lines of all the  
mush that has ever been written on romance.  
  
Memories of that ride on that day so long ago flash across  
my mind. Emotions ran high then, loss, fear, loneliness. It  
was then that I realized I cared for Logan beyond that of a   
business partner, or partner in crime in some cases. The  
first time we had kissed was with this hauntingly beautiful  
music wafting out of the CD player. It was in that moment  
that I was aware of the sacrifices I was willing to make to  
remain next to the one I loved.  
  
I look up at him as we continue to move gracefully around  
the empty floor. He is thinking of it too, I can tell.   
  
*****  
  
The first time Max kissed me I had put this into my CD player.  
Trying to convey with music what I couldn't say in words.  
After she came back, she denied her true feelings for the  
passion we both displayed, chalking it up to a heat of the   
moment emotion. I now know that it's a defense mechanism. She  
had never been involved in a serious relationship before, and  
didn't know how to deal with it.  
  
"If this turns out to be a dream, I'll be incredibly pissed off."  
my wife informs quietly to me.  
  
I laugh gently in the back of my throat. I spin her artfully with  
one hand before pulling her close again. "If this is a dream, who's  
is it? Yours or mine?"  
  
"Better not be either." she answers back passionately, staring  
right into my eyes "Just don't let go."  
  
"I won't. I promise." That dream has now come into reality at   
full circle.  
  
"This is a sad piece." Max states out of the blue.   
  
"Yea," I agree. I spin her again in the opposite direction  
from before "But now when I hear it, I think of you."  
  
She draws closer to me, breaking the traditional distance in  
of two partners in a waltz. And I have absolutely no qualms  
what so ever about her messing with this particular folklore.  
  
A waltz is not suppose to be a dance of passion, but we already   
messed with one belief, why not screw around with the others as   
well? As I lock eyes with my entrancing angel I feel more   
trepidation then dancing to all of those Latin songs my college   
roommate claimed 'lit the soul on fire.'  
  
Max hold my gaze back just as strongly, and I drown in the  
familiarity and strength of the chocolate brown irises. She  
has told me more then once that she loves my eyes, and was  
extremely glad when our daughter had that specific code in   
her chromosomes as well. But I think hers' are more stunning.  
There's something to be said of their darkness. They hold the  
sadness and horror of a woman who has stared evil in the face,  
but at the same time reflect such warmth and compassion for  
others.   
  
This soul of mine seems to be lit aflame. I have to give my old roomy a   
ring, and tell him to screw the salsa and stick to the two step.  
  
Our moment of a suspended time ends as the last chords of the song decrescendos   
into nothingness. We do not break our contact. "You better not give me any of   
that 'I was just real emotional' bunk." I warn gently, pushing back that strand   
of her hair that always seems to get out of place.  
  
She smiles softly "What a brave new world that will be when I  
feed you that kind of lying dribble." she makes reference   
to Adolph Huxley's surreal novel to coinside with my use of the   
word 'bunk'  
  
I pull her to me then, and we lock lips in what I was planning   
to be a simple show of love, but quickly became lustful when  
Max gripped the back of my neck, and shoved her tounge so far  
into my mouth I could feel it sliding across my secondary teeth.  
  
The parts of me that I couldn't control reacted to the sensations  
I was experiencing. There goes my plan to try and blend in with  
the prudish family. But I guess you can't always conform.  
  
*****  
  
I know I kinda caught Logan off guard with my bit of eroticism  
in the middle of his blue blooded relatives, but judging by the  
'object' I felt nudging my thigh, he didn't really mind it.  
  
The reason I did it was, well, because first, I have the right to   
kiss my husband when ever the bloody hell I want too. And secondly   
to let all single, female, non-relative tag alongs in this place be   
aware of the fact that the man is spoken for.  
  
I'm actually getting possessive and territorial over another human  
being. If Lydeker were here he'd either haul me over for re-training,   
or shoot me down, deeming me a 'unsuccessful endeavor.' But I'm too  
thick skulled to be tinkered to become the all American super soldier   
again. And as for Lydeker, he can kiss my trans-genitic ass.  
  
The oxygen depravation finally became an issue for Logan. I sometimes  
forget that not all people can hold their breath for hours at a time  
like me. We break apart, and even me with my cast iron lungs has a   
subtle hitch in my breath.  
  
"Any of your relatives starting to size me up for a nun's habit?"   
I question this in a whisper.   
  
"None that I can see." Logan answers "It's not an immoral sin to  
kiss your husband." he adds in defense.  
  
"Some of these smucks have a different take on immorality then  
others." I use the same term to describe these people as before.  
  
"Still that convent style is all wrong for you." he informs me.  
  
He could've gone into some long winded speach about how much he  
loves me, and that he'll lay it on the line to the family to defend   
my honor. However, this isn't a fairy tale. Although Logan does   
try sometimes to play the valiant prince charming, I am no princess,  
or damsel in distress. Someone insults me, I drop kiss their ass,  
figuratively or literally, or both. But, I still love the way Logan gets   
all defensive if someone is talkin' trash 'bout me. False sentimentality   
or not, I feel incredibly loved when this man tells those shitty parties   
to 'kiss off' instead of just telling me to 'shrug it off.'   
  
"Yea." I finally state out loud, in remark to the idea of me   
taking vows into the church "But nuns are suppose to take a vow  
of chasity."  
  
This got his attention "Then it is COMPLETLY wrong for you."   
  
"Hey Logan, come talk for a while" I recognize the voice of Richard   
without even having to look and see if it was him.  
  
"Shall we?" Logan holds out his hand to me, but I don't take it  
  
"You go ahead, I'm gonna ring Tinga and check on the kids."  
  
"Okay." he responded, giving me a quick kiss before heading in  
the direction of his cousin.  
  
I retrieve my cell phone out of my small purse at our table,  
and scout out an private area to make this call. I finally   
decide the couch in the lobby of the hotel will suit my needs.  
  
There are some people out here too, sitting on the elaborate  
and over stuffed furniture, I guess for some sort of 'escape'  
from all the festivities.  
  
I dialed my sister's number and someone picked up after the  
first ring.  
  
"Yea?" Tinga's voice comes through the receiver.  
  
"Hey hon. Just calling in for a status check."  
  
"Everything's fine baby sister." she reassures me "Charlie's giving   
Lexi her bath, and Jesse and Case are crashed out on the couch after   
watching an hour of cartoons."   
  
I smile from my end "No worries about them being night owls  
like me and Jondy."  
  
"You're right there." Tinga agreed. "So..how goes the night out?"  
  
"It's interesting." I answer truthfully "A lot of Logan's relatives  
are a bit egotistical. But his cousin's family seems nice."  
  
"Did anyone give you any shit tonight?" I hear just a slight  
hint of assertiveness in my older sister's tone. Tinga's not  
as over into it as Zack, but she does tend to get protective   
with her younger siblings.  
  
"Not really." I respond. "May have caught a glare here and  
there when I put a little something extra in my kiss with Logan  
after we shared a dance."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"I frenched him." our conversation seemed like that of just two  
sisters gossiping about our love lives. "Best fifteen seconds of  
my night so far."  
  
"Bet you forgot that his stamina can't hold out as long as yours."  
  
"Something like that." I reply.  
  
"I forgot on my honeymoon." Tinga's voice informed "Me and Charlie   
went at it for almost ten hours." she laughed lightly in memory.   
"He was so sore the next day he had to stay in bed."  
  
"Good thing you weren't in heat." I respond in a low voice "I about   
killed Logan on my last cycle. Since we've been married, the attraction's   
only been for him, but I demanded that he 'fulfill me' every few minutes.  
Even knocked it on top of the Space Needle."   
  
Scratch that comment about 'normal' sister to sister conversing.  
  
"I screwed my husband on his desk." Tinga's voice was slightly  
amused and slightly proud. "I came to eat lunch with him on his  
break. It was about four months after Case was born. Charlie didn't   
know about my stuff yet, so he was surprised as shit when I dead  
bolted his door, and knocked all his files off his work station with  
one hand. He thought that it was just some sort of post-gestation  
hormone rampage." she paused "Took him for a ride that day."  
  
"We're so fucked up girl." I sigh.  
  
"We are." she agreed "But hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing."  
  
I am about to tell her something else when I catch the snatches  
of a conversation of two woman standing near the door. They must  
be bridesmaids because of their identical moss green velvet gowns.  
Not that there's anything wrong with them. Jasmine has far better  
taste then all those brides who go for the whole bazooka pink,   
frilly, lacy, taffetas with a big bow riding on your ass.  
  
I wasn't intending to eavesdrop, but then heard one of them mention  
my husband's name.  
  
"Richard's cousin is a hottie." the nameless blonde stated.  
  
"Uh huh." her companion agreed "But Gina said she saw him here  
with someone."  
  
"Yea." the blonde said "But she also mentioned she looked like  
more bust then brains."  
  
"Like an s-l-u-t?" her friend joked.  
  
"Oh Maryanne you're so bad." the blonde laughed airily.  
  
Okay, if I weren't so damn strong I might do something simple,  
like bitch slap the ditzes. But with my strength I'd probably  
break all their bones.   
  
"Max? You still there?"  
  
Oops. Almost forgot about Tinga "Yea, just people watching, and  
found something I have to take care of. Kiss my babies for me."  
  
"You got it sweetie." Tinga answers.  
  
I disconnect the call, making the decision to at least give  
the smucks a verbal lashing.  
  
"Excuse me?" Maryanne begins when I approach her "Do you have  
an eyeliner I could borrow?"  
  
Ha. Like even if I had that kind of makeup with me I actually  
let this snob borrow it. If I did have one, I know of ten different   
ways to use it as a weapon, why waste it on her eyes?  
  
"I wouldn't help." I inform.  
  
Maryanne looked confused. Imagine that. "What do you mean?"  
  
"You'd still be a woman with two asses." How do you like that  
you sleaze? I look at her companion "With both of you, we'd  
better make that four." Can't call me a hoe an expect a clean  
break.  
  
Of course the 'genteel' inbreeds became offended, but I turned to leave   
before they could offer me back any half hearted attempts at insults.   
Although I did catch the mutterings of 'tramp' under their breaths.  
  
I only got about one more step, before I heard my name being called.  
I turn to see Logan standing near the door.   
  
He approached me "Was wondering where you got too."  
  
"Needed a little privacy to make the call." I reply.  
  
"Are the kids okay?" he asks.  
  
"Fine." I reply "If the need arises, Tinga knows how to clear out of  
a building in under five minutes."  
  
"That isn't as comforting as you think it would be." he lets me  
know "Uncle Steve is about to give the toast."  
  
"Another speach on 'here's to humanity', or what's left of it."  
  
Logan shrugs "Give's him something to do."  
  
"To honor two people on the greatest journey of their lives."   
I quote the lines from Logan's speach, as he did to me in the  
car on the way up here.  
  
Maryanne and her counterpart have stayed to eavesdrop on us,  
and I saw them cringe slightly at the mention of the word   
'kids.' Weren't expecting that I guess.  
  
Logan kissed me again, gently cupping my face in his hands.  
And this time, I let the kiss stay soft.   
  
We pull apart "Bling's stopping by later to feed Kaja right?"  
I ask.  
  
"Nice to know that you think about our dog when we make out."  
  
I smack him upside the head "She's smart, but not enough to  
feed herself."  
  
"Don't worry about it." my husband reassures "Told me he'd  
be there at eight."  
  
"Good." I inform with that smile still on my face. "Thanks  
for..ya know in there, the song." was being too vague for a  
while there, had to clarify. "Lisa was expecting some romantic  
ballad."  
  
"The ironic part of her thinking is-" Logan began in correction  
"is that *was* a love song to me."  
  
"Song without words." I look up at him "But not without feeling."  
  
"That's an actual composition." he informs "'Song Without Words'   
Second movement of 'Second Suite in F'." he touches my face with   
one hand "But your right about Sibelius. Means so much more to me   
since that day."  
  
"'Me too." I return. Screw Lydeker's training. I'm giving into the   
sentimentality I am feeling right now.  
  
"If we weren't already married, I'd ask you now."  
  
Hmm..wasn't expecting that rather random thought. Still, gotta give the  
guy pluses for originality. "Oh really?" I arch an eyebrow at him "Isn't  
that a little cliche? To be proposed to at a wedding?" wouldn't be a  
good conversation if I didn't add my version of 'Twenty Questions' to   
mess with his sudden declaration.  
  
*****  
  
"It may be." I answer honestly "But since we're not a cliched couple, I'd  
say we're entitled to a little formality. Speaking of which, if we don't   
head inside we'll meet the criteria of being 'fashionably late.'" I hold out  
my hand, and this time she takes it, casting a glance at the two women behind  
her that looked like it would cut through steel.  
  
"Do I sense some bad vibes coming of you sweetheart?" I ask.  
  
She half shrugged "Nothing I wouldn't experience after telling two airheads  
that I am not a floozy."  
  
At the word 'floozy' I feel a sudden pang of anger in me. My wife can certainly  
take care of herself, but I have the right to be pissed when someone calls her  
a slut. It may be the twenty-first century, and there is that dogma about hitting  
women, but I will bust some heads the next time an insult comes from anyone's mouth  
about my baby.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts?" her voice drags me out of my violence tactics.  
  
"It might cost more then that." I warn gently, leading her back inside  
and to a table.  
  
"Right, and America will become a super power again through cleaver market  
strageties and wise investing." she offers back, sitting in an empty chair.  
  
I do not have time to give her a remark before Aunt Jillian comes around  
with a tray of three remaining chapaign glasses "There you two are, I was  
just about to have Lisa start searching the shrubbery."  
  
Aunt Jilli always had a bit of a playful side. She loved dabbling in little  
bits of sexual innuendo.  
  
Max takes a champaign flute "Just checked on our kids. Wanted to make sure  
my sis. wasn't in over her head."  
  
"I'm sure she's not dear." Aunt Jilli responds "With a mother like you, they're  
probably very well behaved."  
  
That faint blush creeps on her face, before she hides it again.  
  
I take the other flute off the tray "Is it hot in here or something?" I jest  
sofly.  
  
"Or something." she returns.  
  
The long awaited moment has arrived. Uncle Steve has the microphone to his   
mouth, and speaks in the hearty and clear tone I loved so much as a kid.  
  
"Richard and Jazmine. One I have known for twenty-five years, the other,  
almost three years. But I love them both the same. Each presented each other  
with a special gift. One that will last them a lifetime. They will need to  
work on it, build it stronger everyday, and watch it grow. This is you're  
touch off point to a future of hope." he raised his glass "To you."  
  
The guests repeat Uncle Steve's remark and sip their drinks.   
  
My wife sets her chilled glass of champaign back down on the table, after  
sipping a generous amount from it. "Glad I remembered to pump tonight." she  
commented.  
  
"Lexi thanks you as well." I reply to her, casting me eyes to Richard and Jasmine  
about to cut the cake. I can't help the gentle grin that comes to my face at the  
way Richard doesn't just dab a little icing on his brides nose, but smears it all  
over her face. She is laughing so hard she's crying. The happy couple kiss, and  
people start to clap and cheer.  
  
The bouquet toss thing came next. All the single women swarmed uo to Jasmine like  
ravenous dogs.  
  
"They should've packed tazers for this." Max whispered to me "Something's gonna  
die."   
  
I believe her looking at this pack of female vultures lying in wait for a bunch  
of flowers. A triumphant hand reaches out to catch it, and Max joins in the   
clapping when she sees it Lisa who snagged the cluster of pastel pink roses.  
  
Lisa approaches our table, with a look of satisfaction on her face "Basketball  
in high school defiantly paid off."  
  
"Congratulations." Max remarked   
  
Lisa smiled at her "Thanks. Now all I gotta do is find a decent man." she looks  
at me "Like my cuz here. To bad incest is such a big issue."  
  
"Bigamy as well." I add to her.  
  
"Life sucks sometimes huh?" she laughs good naturidly "Besides, I couldn't take  
you away from this awesome woman you have." she smiles at Max again, leaving the  
table to show off her prize.  
  
*****  
  
It wasn't surprising to me when the escort of that shit face Mary-Anne was the  
one who caught the flimsy garder off of Jasmine's leg. I swear the woman puffed  
up like a pigeon when he slid it on her leg, like a conquest she was able to   
fulfill.  
  
As we watched Jasmine and Richard drive off in their rented limo with the trailing  
toilet paper on the fender, I caught sight of her looking at me. To which I responded  
by glaring right back. She of course pretended to be merely lost in thought, grasping  
her dates arm, and headed back into the building.  
  
The same valet pulls our car around to the covered area when we were ready to leave.  
Kid didn't even try to open my door. Guess I roughed him up pretty well.  
  
Aunt Jillian and Uncle Steve wish me well, and the male part of the party informs  
Logan to 'take care of me, because I am a keeper.'  
  
We drove off in the same compatible silence as before.   
  
"Some night?" Logan asks casting a glance in my direction.  
  
"Yep." is all I respond, looking out at the rolling scenery. The stars are out  
in large and numerous amounts. "It doesn't have to be over."  
  
Logan looks at me puzzled "What do you mean baby?"  
  
"You'll see." I tell him.  
  
*****  
  
"Beautiful isn't it?" Max remarks, her gaze upward at the dark and starry  
night.  
  
"It is" I tell her "If you're into this kinda thing." Beautiful or not, I'm  
not to keen on being this high up.  
  
"You're fine." she reassures me looking over the edge of the once functional  
piece of tourism in Seattle "Logan Cale, husband of a genetically enhanced soldier,  
father of two, protector of the night, is worried over a couple of thousand feet?"  
  
"Uh-huh" I answer her simply. I've never been to good at heights. And even though  
I've been up here before, it doesn't make me any less nervous.  
  
She turns to me, her jeans and black sweater she changed into rustling against  
each other, and mingling with the other sounds of the night. "We have to work on that."   
she pulls Jess closer to her who is sitting in-beween her legs "We don't want daddy to   
have this worry do we baby?"  
  
He shakes his head back and forth eagerly. "No scare dadeee." my son's brown eyes  
gaze into mine.  
  
"I'll work on it sweetie." I inform, patting the back of Lexi who is tucked up against  
my shoulder. I pull her back to look at me "Guess you don't want that either princess?"  
She coos and spews a stream of bubbles out of her mouth.   
  
This makes me laugh "I thought my kids wouldn't gang up on me until they were teenagers."  
I wioe my daughter's chin free of spit.  
  
"Changed world." Max informs me, helping our son perform a back flip with one of her   
arms on his back, and the other on his shoulder. "Aiight." she smiles at their combined accomplishments "Hive five little man."   
  
Jesse smacks her hand eagerly, a huge grin plastered on his face. "See daddeee?"  
  
I laugh "Yea Jess, I was watching. You're getting as good as mommy."  
  
His response to that was to propel himself at me with glee, to show off more of  
his 'moves'. I carefully pass Max the baby, and playfully flip my son onto his back.  
"You had an unfair advantage Jess." I tickle him in a rough house fashion. Being my   
wife's son, he loves the physical exertion, and wrestles back. I do the popular   
blowing thing on his stomach, and he squeals so loud people in the next state probably  
heard it.  
  
"Sounds like you at night." Max states in mischief.  
  
I glance at her "Baby.." I trail off in a tone that clearly told her not to  
talk about our sex life in front of our son.  
  
She pretends not to hear me, and tickles Lexi's stomach. She too loved it,  
and laughed a high baby laugh.  
  
"You are your mother's daughter angel." I say hauling my wrestle mania son into  
my lap.  
  
Max shoot me a playful look "I never laugh like that Logan."  
  
"I mean her carefree attitude towards life sweetheart." I clarify "Even with  
all the things chasing you down, you still manage to have fun."  
  
She shrugged, shifting Lexi closer to her body "Not gonna just stop being alive  
because someone wants to haul me into a cage and keep me there."  
  
I smile at her then. It was her idea to do this. I had plans to simply pick up  
the kids and head home for some much needed rest, with maybe a little cuddling   
time beforehand, but my wife had other plans. I heard her talking to Tinga as  
I was gathering up the kids' things. They seemed to be discussing the best way  
to get two small children safely on top of the Space Needle. We finally decided  
on the old, but still useful elevator. We had both gone home to change since it  
was a cool night, and had efficently bundled up the babies to keep them warm.   
  
"Daddy likes his 'alone time' I guess." Max's voice draws me out of my thoughts.  
  
I see her addressing Jess and Lexi "He don't wanna talk to me."  
  
"I was thinking about you." I notify.  
  
  
*****  
  
"Good things?" I ask.  
  
He smiles "The best."  
  
Lexi touches at my breasts through the wool of my sweater. "Sorry sweetie." I coo  
to my infant daughter "It's not there tonight." I pull out the bottle of pre-pumped  
milk I extracted before the wedding. I lead her tiny mouth to the nipple and she  
begins to eat immediately.   
  
While feeding my daughter I cast a glance at Logan. I can still see the slight  
uneasiness in his eyes from being so high off the ground. Being a product of   
genetic engineering, I wasn't programmed to fear high altitudes. I find them  
quite thrilling. Somewhere where the average person wouldn't even fathom of  
going. Jondy told me she loves it up on top of the golden gate bridge, and Tinga  
said she spent hours on top of the World Trade Towers when she use to live in New   
York for three months.  
  
But, my husband, as brave and strong as he is, DOES have that fear. That's just  
something we can work on.  
  
"Storee mommee."   
  
I am drawn out of my thoughts by Jesse's proclamation.  
  
He is locking both eager brown eyes at me, grinning from ear to ear. He wants   
me to entertain him. I've seen that look many a time before when I tuck him in at   
night.  
  
I smile at my little baby boy. "You wanna hear mommy make stuff up?"  
  
He shakes his head enthusiastically.  
  
"I have the strangest feeling that this won't start with 'once upon a time'"  
Logan informs me.  
  
"I'm gonna start it traditionally." I argue, before beginning my tale.  
  
"Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a big fortress.."  
  
"Like auntie!"  
  
I have to laugh slightly "Yea honey, like aunt Tinga." I continue with the rest  
of my story. "This little girl lived there with her family, her brothers and  
sisters. The fortress wasn't always happy. Things would happen, and the girl would  
often be sad, but she would only cry on the inside."  
  
Jesse is now sitting up in Logan's lap fully attentive, and even Lexi stopped feeding,  
and listened.  
  
"One day the girl and her family ran away from the sad place, but to be safe they  
had to stay away from each other. They didn't see each other for a very long time,  
always running away from bad men.." Once upon a time I never imagined I would be  
telling the story of the X5's escape from Manticore to my son and daughter.  
"Some of the children though, couldn't run from the place.One was a girl named Jesse."  
  
"Me? that's me!" Jesse wriggled in Logan's lap.  
  
"The girl had the same name as you sweetie." Logan let him know gently "But she  
was different from you."  
  
Jess just smiled that big ol' grin of his, and looked at me, wanting me to go   
on.  
  
"The girl was sick and hurt, and she couldn't fight off the badness." I use a   
children's word to describe the terror I saw reflected in my little sister's   
eyes when she saw all the blood staining her fatigue pants, seizing, and being  
strapped down. "Her sister couldn't get to her in time, and she went away.."  
/"Won't the baby die sir? What'll happen to her?" "X5-342 will be taken care  
of solider." the MP spat in my face, and he left me there. The photographer  
just looked at me, stunned, seeing a single tear on my face, that wasn't allowed  
to be there at all. Crying for the pain of something he couldn't begin to   
understand./  
  
"Her family missed her terribly" /"What is that smell?" Brin covers her nose, and  
whispers to me. "I don't know" I whisper back. It was foul, terrible, the smell  
of death. "Company front!" the bark of the drill sergeant rings in our ears. We  
move in a single block formation. To the bon fire blazing in front of us. The  
smell got stronger, nearly choking us. Each line was made to go foreword and   
stand at attention in front of the fire. And when I finally reached it, I knew  
why./ "Because they loved her with all their hearts." /"It's Jesse." Jondy's  
whisper was so quiet only our ears picked it up. "Another soldier's life wasted."  
Zack hisses beside me. The flames leapt and kissed her skin, and I saw the  
bulge of her stomach gaped open, and a child's flesh burned along with it's   
mothers./  
  
"What did girl doo?" Jesse wants to know, getting into my story.  
  
/'Do not succeed more then eight pills in a twenty-four hour period' the words  
seemed like a challenge. I touched the swell under my clothes. The weight of this  
one seemed low. There must be something wrong. A handful of tablets in my hand  
were soon swallowed. Nothing for a while, then the pain rippled up my stomach,   
down my back. I gasped silently, doubling over, my vision swam, the world   
changed colors, and then stopped./   
  
"She hurt for her sister." /The smell was coppery, and it filled my nose. I   
felt sticky around my legs. Touching it, my hand came away dark with blood and   
clear fluid. I sat up completely. Something rubbery lay in-between my outstretched   
legs. A ripped open sac of sorts, and something pink inside. A tiny being not   
moving. Small and still on the wooden floor. I rolled over and threw up.   
Embarrassing! How could I loose it over that, what I created? If I had been strong   
enough I wouldn't have to do it. I climbed to my feet. I burned everywhere.   
I hunted for sheets./   
  
"But she made sure a part of her lived on." I look at my baby, unaware of the   
tears that had fallen down my face. "You see sweetie, that girl was MY sister,   
and mommy named you Jesse to remember her."  
  
"Where'd go?" Jess was confused, he couldn't grasp that bad things could   
happen to people even if they didn't deserve it.  
  
"To the Good Place" I answer him. With Ben, with Eva, your cousin, and  
your older brother. Three months, I could tell what I would've had.  
  
Jess suddenly climbed out of Logan's lap and came over to me. "Donbe  
sad mommee. Good story." he hugged me around the neck. I could feel  
wet kisses on my face. Once upon a time I couldn't imagine this kind  
of unconditional love from my child. "Thank you baby." I tell him,   
kissing him back. He slides into my lap, and I shift Lexi to the other   
arm. Both my kids are now nestled in against me, pressed up against  
my heart.  
  
*****  
  
I'll admit being up here is still putting me on edge, but seeing what's in front  
of me, makes it all worth while. My stunning baby holding the products of our  
love to her body, it's almost religious in a way. On top of the Space Needle of  
all places, but it makes it all the more special.  
  
Hearing her talk again about that night, telling our son of the aunt he never knew,  
makes this night dear to me. I hated to see her re-live the pain, telling Jess the  
cut and dry fairy tale, but seeing the grit and real version in her eyes. But, she  
promised herself that she wouldn't hide the origins of Jesse's name. He's only two,  
so it has to be broken down into terms he can understand. When's he's older, I'm   
sure she'll tell him the deeper version. But for now, this is enough.  
  
I reach into the pocket of my leather jacket, pulling out that camera I put in  
there, thinking maybe since I'm up here I might as well get some shots of the  
broken Seattle skyline to use in an Eyes Only Broadcast. Now I have a better use  
for it.   
  
"Smile for me guys." I announce, holding me eyes up to the viewfinder.  
  
"Catch a girl off guard." Max whines playfully, shifting to face the direction   
I was pointing my camera. I knew it was strictly for drama. The woman could've  
come out of a hurricane and she would still look amazingly beautiful.  
  
"Get closer to mommy Jess." I tell my son, waving my hand in Max's direction.  
He scootches closer to her, laying his head on her chest, a place that I love   
to go as well. She wraps one arm around his waist and hold's the Alexis with   
the other, and gives me a smile that would make any guy putty in her hands.  
  
With a little coaxing I get Jess to smile as well, and snap the picture just  
as all that tickling by Max on Lexi's stomach get's her to giggle.  
  
"Now one of just you and Lexi." I say to her.  
  
She shrugs 'okay' and tells Jesse to stay by me. I hold him so he won't try to  
be brave and jump off the Needle. While I was doing that, Max had laid down on  
her back and positioned the baby to rest on her stomach. I did another double  
take when I saw her. Scratch what I said earlier this evening, my wife never   
looked more beautiful then she did right then.   
  
Lexi's small body moved ever so slightly under Max's breaths. The slow and steady   
rhythm was making her drowsy,and I could see those ice blue eyes start to droop.   
I snapped the next picture before they did though. A good photographer knows when   
their subjects are at they're best. Max sensed what kind of mood I was going for,   
so she didn't smile this time, but looked at me with a gaze of strength and compassion   
that I admired her for, one hand resting on our daughter's tiny back. Mother and child,  
never a more mesmerizing scene in my mind.  
  
After taking that last shot, I very carefully slid over to her.  
  
She hasn't gotten up yet. Lexi has fallen asleep on her and she didn't want  
to wake her.  
  
I move my son into my lap, and reach out with to run my hand along my 'girls.'   
I started at Max's face and trailed along up and over Lexi's sleeping form and   
finally rest on my beloved's thigh, stroking it gently, not in the way I do in   
our bedroom, just gentle loving movements.   
  
A sigh escapes her. "Do you think it was to soon to tell him?"  
  
I snake my head, continuing my movements on her leg "There's not a better moment  
then now."  
  
*****  
  
"Once upon a time." I say it out loud this go around "I was living in a warehouse,  
and stole my food to survive. If someone told me I would be spending a dark and  
beautiful night with my husband and kids, I would've told them to stop fucking  
with me."   
  
He smiles at me in the dark, still rubbing my thigh. Baby, I'm gonna start purrin'  
if you keep it up..."I could stay like this forever."  
  
"Me too."  
  
One eye opens to look at him "What 'bout that whole agoraphobic dealio?"  
  
"I'm safe in saying someone has my back on that." He leans down, his cologne  
filling my senses, and kisses me.   
  
I grip his neck with my free hand, and return the kiss. He pulls back and looks  
at me in a way that makes me forget I was a genitally screwed mistake. "Safe to  
say that as well." I return.   
  
His hand is again on Lexi's back "You are a great mom baby." he lets me know,   
casting a glance at our children.  
  
I can't help but smile "Not so bad yourself daddy." I pause "So am *I* safe in  
assuming that you will join me up here more often?" I touch his face "Remember  
this girl's got yo' back."  
  
He kisses my palm "It could work out."   
  
The stars around us shine like jewels on a black silky canvas, and that piece  
of scrap iron that just fell off the needle hit the ground at 55 mph. Wouldn't  
be a super solider if I couldn't wax poetically and calculate at the same time.  
  
Once upon a time a little girl grew up into a ass kicking woman, with a family, a  
whole lotta guilt, and a platoon of bad men out to get her. But she didn't live in   
a fairy tale, nor did she want too.   
  
She just wanted to live.  
  
  
*****  
  
End  
  
I added that lil 'bonding' session for a chica who asked for it. I sorta  
paralleled the story Max told Jess to the one Tinga told Case in "Hit a Sista Back."  
I loved getting into Max's maternal instincts. The show constantly shows her nature  
towards kids..and I hope I portrayed it well. Also hopping my sap stayed away from  
the nausea factor.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. Mama's In Heat

TITLE: Choices-08 "Mama's in Heat"  
AUTHOR: Mystic25  
EMAIL:yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com  
  
SUMMARY: Pretty self-explanatory, but a quick rundown anyways. It's that time for Max again, but on a night with two kids, and lets not forget the "family" it will prove to be a very interesting evening.  
  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own them, I just married them. The kids are mine, and Kaja's mine. The rest belong to Cameron and Eglee.  
  
RATING: NC-17 Can't stop minors from reading, but this contains a lot of ahem, *explicit* imagery. So don't complain to me later.  
  
CATAGORY: Romance, some angst, can't have all fluff  
  
CONTENT: bad language and sex. Alternate's between Max and Logan's point of view  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my first time doing a story that contains a lot of erotic, um "wahoo" yeah, so don't burn me with the flames, the comments I'll take.  
  
*****  
  
MAX  
  
"Try and keep the water in the tub babe." I explain the fine arts of bath taking to Jess as he splashes around in the tub. More water hits my tank top, adding more to the already damp spot on the cotton.  
  
Jess laughs, continuing to throw water at me. That's it "Wanna play it that way huh?" I fill the bowl that I had brought in to rinse his hair, and dump it over his head. My son shakes like a wet dog, giggling, as he succeeds in getting me wet again.  
  
"You are too sneaky." I playfully push him on the head a little causing him to slide a few inches back in the tub.  
  
I grab the washcloth floating in the water and clean under his arms, and then his neck.  
  
"Mommee.." Jess looks at me, his hair all wet.  
  
"Yeah sweetie?" I finish cleaning his face and proceeded to move to lower areas.  
  
Jess looks down to my cleaning ministrations "Is dat dirty?"  
  
I hesitate slightly; hopping to God he doesn't ask what other things besides peeing "Dat" is used for. "Mmhmm.." on the outside, I am the cool and collect momma. "It gets dirty like the rest of you." I rinse out the washcloth when I'm done cleaning my son's shaft. Some women would actually not do things like this, calling their husbands to deal with this "washing." But for God's sake, I lived unisex all my life, this doesn't make me cringe.  
  
"Does daddy's?" Jess asked, fingering his tiny self with one small hand.  
  
I laugh at this "Yeah, daddy has too as well."  
  
"Has to do what?" Logan's voice calls out from where he is giving Lexi her bath. This has become a tradition in this household. One of us fills up the tub for Jess and the other hauls out Lexi's little bath seat thingy. Today it's my turn with our son.  
  
"Nothing baby." I tell him "Just a little self exploration." He is standing against the counter, washing the wiggling four-month-old fish beside him. These kinds of scenes make me do a double take. Growing up in Manticore I never got to experience the kind of special attention we give our babies.  
  
I am constantly amazed at the kind of father Logan is. Firm yet loving. I remember two weeks after Jess was born; he would wake us up at three-thirty in the morning wanting food, and letting us become well aware of the fact.  
  
Logan would often climb out of the bed and bring the little boy to me.  
  
/"Jess, you don't have to act like mommy yet." he'd say, and then hand me our son. While I feed him though, he'd just watch us, like the scene wasn't real, that he couldn't be so lucky./  
  
And after Lexi, when my arm was still somewhat sore from the healing bullet graze, he'd help support our daughter with one arm while she nursed.  
  
/"Logan you don't have too." I reprimanded "Its just a graze, I need to learn how to use it while it hurts."  
  
"I want too baby." he responded simply "You carried her for nine months, gained fifteen pounds in the process, and went through five hours of labor, I can at least do this."/  
  
I promptly shut up after that, and just enjoyed the moment of having another baby home with us.  
  
"Pull the plug kiddo." I tell Jess, snapping out of my thoughts "Bath is over."  
  
Jess smiled with glee, loving this part of the bath. He flipped the switch for the stopper, allowing the water to drain. "Gone! All gone!" he cried out with delight.  
  
"Yep, all gone" I smile back, snagging a towel from the rack "Wet hug hun." I tell him holding out the towel.  
  
His little naked body hugs me through the towel, and I scoop him up in it.  
  
"Done daddee." Jess proudly announces when I bring him over to where Logan was.  
  
"Great." Logan shoots back with an enthusiastic smile. He dumps Lexi's  
bath water down the sink.  
  
"Trade off." I tell him. We swap freshly bathed kids after Logan has given the baby a new diaper. She tends to get hungry after her evening bath, don't know why, but she does. So I usually feed her afterwards. The diaper is always on; found out the hard way one time, thankfully the towel was there.  
  
As the baby nurses I wipe her dry with the towel. She remains completely attached to me. Manticore could come through that door right now and they would have to take both of us. Not even a platoon of X2's could pry off this little one.  
  
"Hungry huh?" Jess pipes up looking at the baby.  
  
"She's just like you were at that age." Logan informs "Mommy did that to you as well."  
  
Jess looked as interested as someone who had been told that gold nuggets were hidden in their coat pockets. "Really?"  
  
"Really." I answer back. Logan has taken the towel from me and wipes the back of our daughter's leg. He rubs her hair dry, accidentally touching my breast, making some milk leak one me.  
  
"Sorry babe." he tells me simply, wiping it off with the towel.  
  
"S'okay." I inform, feeling my nipple harden at his touch. /He barely touched me, why am I peaking?/   
  
After Lexi finished, I put her in her jammies with the feet. Logan helped Jess into his camo PJ's, a present from Zane. I saw him briefly at Crash. After nearly knocking him over in a hug, and spending the next fifteen minutes explaining to the guys I worked with that I WASN'T gettin' freaky on the side (both Zane and I shuddered at the thought) I spun him over to the house.  
  
Zane called Logan "a lucky son-of-a-bitch for knocking up another X5 sister." He was kinda keeping bets on who would be next. I beat his ass a little for that remark. He met the kids, and he and Jess played "solider" for the next hour. He got the camo pj's for Jess, callin' him an "honorary solider."  
  
He also asked me about this chick he'd seen around Zack lately. Turns out Logan's old love interest Asha was still kinda into my brother. As long as she wasn't expecting any re-connecting with MY man, I'm coo' wid it. Zack surprised me, in that he stayed a week in Seattle after Jess's accident. Shooting range and the asphalt in Zack's Vulcan was where they stayed.  
  
It wasn't fireworks, Zack's too damn stubborn, and Asha's, well a liberal bitchy girl, but go figure, there was some connection. Though Zane did tell me of a few lip-locking sessions on some nights. Zack left after the week.  
  
He came in to say bye to me, and I grilled him like an MP with a fresh  
catch.  
  
/"It was nothing really Maxie." Zack defended "It just happened."  
  
I looked at him amused "What about false sentiment?" I couldn't help enjoying this.  
  
Zack half shrugged "At least her hooks are out of Logan." it's his turn  
to shoot the look. "'Sides Asha's just.."  
  
"Different." I finished "What about the fact that you can't stay around?"  
  
Zack shrugged again "Lied, told her I have things and shit that makes me move around a lot. Said her group is the same way."  
  
"Mutual understanding?" I smile halfway "But." I punched him in the shoulder lightly "Glad anyway bro." and I was, Zack needed someone as hotheaded as him, and Asha needed someone to keep her away from my husband before I laid her ass./  
  
I kneeled next to my son's bed after he was under the covers.  
  
"All set for bed baby?"  
  
Jess shakes his head "no" "Storee momma."  
  
I smile "Of course" I tuck his blankets around him "That's what "tuck  
in time" was missing." I touch his forehead, and begin my story "Once  
upon a time.." I hadn't thought of anything, so I drew out the words  
to stall "A girl met this boy while she was "working.." I regaled  
Jess with a fairy tale version of me breaking through the skylight  
to steal Bast from Logan. /"You're a thief?" "A girl's gotta make a  
living" "Thank God."/ Logan sat there and listened as well, holding  
the baby.  
  
I continue on with my story, but found myself being distracted by my  
husband. He was touching our baby's head with his hand, stroking her  
tiny amount of hair gently. /What I wouldn't give for those hands to  
be on me, in my hair, my mouth my..stop, story first girl, turn down  
the sensual thoughts/  
  
"Did dey stay together?" Jess broke me out of my thoughts with his  
question.  
  
I nod at my son "Yeah, because they loved each other"   
  
Logan was softly smiling at me from the other end of the bed.  
  
I smiled back, with a long seductive smirk /Want to show that  
love now baby. God, those pants are "huggin' your ass, and their  
black, you tryin' to kill me love? And those tendons in your  
neck, damn I just want to suc-"/ Jesus, what the hell am I  
doing? I mean I usually show desire for my man, but not like  
this, while our kids are being tucked in. So why am I gettin'  
so hot and bothered? Wait, it can't-oh damn, shit-fuck, it is.  
  
*****  
  
LOGAN  
  
Max finished her bedtime story. All the while she kept shooting me these strange glances, like a cat would to a mouse it wants to pounce.  
  
After I said "good night" to Jess, I carried the baby to the nursery across the hall. This use to be Jess's nursery, but when Max found out she was pregnant again we moved Jess to another room. The purple walls Kendra had painted for us when Max was expecting Jess didn't appeal as much to the two year old as it did to his parents. He wanted green, dark green, his favorite color. So we spent the day painting and converting the other guest/study room into a haven for a growing, ball of active fire. The walls were done in a forest green, Jess even got to help with it, splashing a roller around while I held him.  
  
I push open the door quietly with one hand, careful not to wake the sleeping baby. The purple walls are still here. Along with the crib I had purchased a while ago, but it was now painted in a deep silvery chrome.  
  
With a kiss to her head, I settle Lexi down into the soft mattress. She doesn't event wake up and rolls over on her side.  
  
I flip the baby monitor to the "on" position, knowing full well that she would wake up in about three hours for something.  
  
Feeling like someone is watching me, I turn. Max is standing in the doorway; her figure is illuminated by the light in the hallway, creating an outline around her slender form. Even in the darkness, I can feel her eyes on me, the dilated pupils of a cat. Why is she using her transgenic night vision? "She's asleep baby." I tell her, "You can flip on the little night lamp, it won't wake her up."  
  
"Better in the dark." came her reply.  
  
/Was she purring?/ As I move to walk out of the nursery, I notice fully for the first time how she held herself. There was only one way to put it. She was "slinking" against the door. One elbow against the doorframe, her head sitting on the rest it created. The other placed on a protruding hip, suspended above crossed legs.  
  
I stand in front of her "You okay Max?"  
  
"Fine.." she draws out the word, this time in a low rumble in the back of her throat. Her eyes traveled lower, one hand reaches and moves with sleek motions across my chest and abs "So fiinee."  
  
I close the door to our daughter's room quickly, not wanting to fall back through the open blackness from the sensations that her touch produced from me. Now I've been married to this woman for almost two years. This isn't the most she can do to me, but this time her hand, my god, it was hot. She was fire and I was ice.  
  
I look into her eyes, which are almost black from dilation; only a sliver of white is evident around her pupils.  
  
Not to down grade my love, but she looked horny as hell. Her soft,  
long hands traveled lower then my chest. Even through black denim  
she closed around the prize, my groan told her of her success.  
  
"Like that?" she wets her lips with a fast tongue, smiling a smile that only those drunk on their own desire can do.  
  
"Max, baby." I pry her hand off me. Not that I MIND having my drop dead gorgeous wife playing around in my pants, but I'd rather not wake up the baby, or give Jess an early education. "Can you hang on until the bed room?"  
  
She pouts, sticking out that lower lip, the one that I nibble on to get her permission to enter her mouth. "Too far," she whines, but the way it came out, it was more throaty then whine. She's pulling out all the stops tonight.   
  
"You suggest we do it here in front of the baby's room?" I throw this out to her.  
  
She pauses, considering. "Too early for sex-ed." a seductive smile forms on her face. "Lets go then." her body is pressed against mine, so that moving becomes a difficult task unto itself. Max is so over sensitized right now that too fast of a step would make her come, and ruin this before it really got underway.  
  
My prince charming gene (at least that's what Max calls it, I just call it my dads instilled dogmas) kicks in, and I pick up my wife in quick movements.  
  
She doesn't protest and begins placing searing kisses on every part of my neck. As her tongue traces my Adam's apple I have to remember which direction our bedroom is in.  
  
*****  
  
MAX  
  
Logan's does his best to head into our nightly sanctuary; his movements are somewhat jerky, mostly due to me and my leach thingy. I can help it, I need the contact, and DAMN he tastes good. Just his neck, just his f*ckin' neck tastes like a forbidden fruit.  
  
I feel the mattress under me as my husband lays me on our king size bed. The sheets feels cool against my already over heated body. /Jesus girl he hasn't even really TOUCHED you yet/ Gotta blame it on the over sensitized libido, the wind would make me explode, that's how far  
gone I am right now.  
  
It's his turn to kiss me, my exposed neck line are showered by his hot,  
wet mouth. I press him closer, wanting him to touch my breasts with his  
hands, wanting to feel him on me. Dammit baby, TOUCH me.  
  
"Logan.." my voice is half mewing kitten, half feral wild cat. "Baby please." I grab one hand and place it on my right breast hidden under a blue tank and black bra.  
  
He gets the idea, because his palm closes around it. His fingers pluck  
at my nipple, hardening it through the two layers. /Yesss/ my mind chants. He keeps the action up, undoing my bra with a single hand under  
my tank. The black lace is discarded to the floor.  
  
My nipples have hardened like rocks, peeking out of my tank in sharp points. "Soo good.." I call out, my voice heavier then normal.  
  
I make a move for his sweater, roaming my hands under the cotton. They travel across contoured planes of hard muscle and the slightest chest hair. I pull the sweater the rest of the way off. The sight alone got me riled. Sitting up I have him on top of me in one fast movement. I grasp the metal zipper in one hand and tug it down, feeling his "mass" underneath his boxers. He is straighter then a Manticore solider at attention. I pressed my cervix up against him, wrapping my legs around his back. We both moaned at the first contact. "God I want THAT in me NOW." this was not a request.  
  
Logan nodded above me "In a second love, we need a condom."   
  
In my heated and hot state I forgot that I was still nursing. "All that way.." I steal a glance at the bedside drawer where Logan's little plastic "friends" lived. /Damn "whore-y" genes/ I hated feeling so trashy, but for the next few hours I was open for rides around the block.  
  
I hear him laugh lightly "Patience Max.." He sits up from his position.  
"I can keep you "occupied." until I get them." He removes my black drawstrings.  
  
Before I can wonder what the hell he means, he slides a finger inside me. Damn I love this distraction. Another digit joins his dextrose one.  
  
"Sweetheart, you are so damn tight tonight." he pushes deeper with both fingers.  
  
My world just tipped over, all the times we do this, and I still feel like it was the first time. Especially now, when I'm in "slut mode"  
  
Another millimeter, and I arch off the bed, cursing every word I can think of. My eyes open when a long kiss is placed on my lips. "Good side show?" Logan smiles, finally removing his wicked tools from my vagina.  
  
I do not respond with words. Instead I thrust my tongue in his mouth, shoving it in as far as I physically can without yanking it out by the thin muscle fibers it was attached to. He tastes sooo good. I would give up all the damn chocolate in the world if I found something that tasted as good as this.  
  
His hands are back on my breasts again, cupping them in his palms. He leans down and darts his tongue across their high planes, tracing a pattern that starts at where each slope of my "grape fruits" begins, and ending just above my nipple.  
  
/My God/ My body inches closer to his manhood as if on its own accord. My legs follow suit, wrapping tightly around his back. I am teetering so close to the edge I can feel myself pooling at just the "pre-game" show. I grab him in my hands, the latex slick against  
my palm, pointing him to my waiting center.  
  
He looks down at my movements "You don't want anymore foreplay angel?"  
  
An honest question, usually we romp around like two kids who are giving  
up their virginity. But tonight my genes are doing all the talking. All  
the foreplay in the world will not fulfill what my DNA wants, to propagate.  
  
I shake my head, touching the tip of his shaft through the condom that shrouded it. "My body just wants to be fucked, not batted at like a toy." I went for brutally honest, and felt like a bitch for doing so. My heat cycles always turn me into a tramp. They were always about me,  
my needs, getting me off.  
  
Logan takes it in strides. This isn't the first time he's been on  
top of me when I'm the Dominatrix from Hell. "Okay then." He presses  
me flat on my back, moving more on top of me.   
  
*****  
  
LOGAN  
  
I look down at the woman under me. Her hair is tousled, messy, but there is also need in her eyes. I suspected a while ago that she was in heat. Normally she doesn't act so, promiscuous. She is a REALLY sexy woman, but she never broadcasts it, unless she wanted to put the drop on someone.  
  
Heat does this to her, makes her hot and horny, and it won't go away until her body gets what it wants.  
  
"Logan for God sakes, I'm not getting any hotter down here." her snap back is harsh.  
  
It does not faze me; I know how she can get during this time.  
  
"You will babe." I warn with gentle fierceness. I shift my weight to my arms, taking more off her. Max may be a genetically enhanced kick ass solider, but I easily outweigh her by fifty pounds. She is strong, but she is also small.  
  
My wife looks at me with a "bring it on look" her gaze locked on mine.  
  
My head is poised at her entrance. I slide in slowly, almost a caress,  
to test her readiness. She is still tight, and incredibly hot and wet.  
  
"You tryin' to give that damn tortoise a run for his money?" Max is irritated at my first gentle thrust.  
  
"Just checkin'" I let her know. Her frame isn't the only thing that's small. I am not the Big Daddy, but I am large. I usually go slowly at first to loosen her up some. I know sometimes it can happen, but I always feel like the biggest son-of-a-bitch if I make a woman tear.  
  
She looks pissed now "Checkin' what? The damn oil? Gong's right in front of ya, get that bitch bangin'"  
  
She shuts up when I thrust deeper into her, this time faster. That's how she likes it when she's in heat, swift and hard. We both have a mutual agreement that when she is like this we try to meet the expectations.  
  
I pull out and lunge deeper, almost burying myself in her. She is starting to sweat now. I can see beads forming along her hairline. Another thrust, and she's arching off the bed, making a noise halfway between a growl and a moan. I keep up the fast pace, bringing her to the brink several times, but then pulling back, building up the tension to come to a final release.  
  
A final hard dive and I can feel her coming and sliding down my shaft. I too am spilling deep inside her, but it is all trapped in the latex of the condom. She shudders around me, another cry echoing around our bedroom. I look to her swiftly, it almost sounds like a half scream. But before I can analyze her features, she goes limp under me.  
  
Exhausted I too fall into a heap beside her. I am now limp and dripping  
as I pull out of her. The air suddenly got cool in the room. I snag  
the discarded comforter over us.   
  
Max opens her eyes then. Her pupils are still dilated and dark, but  
the need has quieted for now.  
  
"How was the "gong bangin'?" I use her words, touching her naked collarbone with my hand. However, before I can cuddle her to me I hear the baby monitor come alive.  
  
And let me tell you, my daughter has one powerful set of lungs. About that same time I hear a light tapping on the bedroom door, followed by a "Mommeee, have to go potty.."  
  
Max sighs beside me "So much for the days when we could screw on your  
office furniture without interruption."  
  
"You mean besides Bling and Original Cindy droppin' by?" I ask with a small smile.  
  
She half smiles, half laughs remembering those visits. The bed shifts as she gets up. A groan escapes her lips as she reaches down to pick up her tank top off the floor.  
  
"Are you okay baby?" I sit up concerned at the noise she just made.  
  
She shrugs it off "I'm coo' you just take a girl for a great ride."  
My discarded boxers are in her hand and she puts them on.  
  
"Momma's gonna take you potty baby." she calls out to the little boy behind the closed door. She turns to me "Go see what Lexi wants, if its food, bring her in here." with that she disappears through the door, leaving it mostly closed to keep Jess from asking questions about exactly what mommy and daddy were just doing in here.  
  
Lexi has not backed down, when she wants something, she doesn't give up.  
  
"Coming" I call out, mostly to myself. She can't hear me from this far,  
not unless Max's genes have kicked into her system already.  
  
Speaking of my wife, since she snagged my boxers, I'm kinda at a loss about what to put on. Unlike a woman, I can't just slip on a t-shirt and have everything relatively covered. I finally spy my robe on the armchair by the window. I pull the terry cloth over my body. Now I'm kinda glad I'm wearing this. I doubt I could've pulled my boxers back on right now. Sex is great, but it's a workout.  
  
I head out of the room, stepping over our discarded clothes.  
  
*****  
  
MAX  
  
I lead my little boy by the hand into the hall bathroom. The nightlight that's plugged into the wall outlet illuminates his camo PJ's.  
  
I push the bathroom door open with one hand, guiding my son inside. I let go of his hand, and kneel next to him, which is a surprisingly painful action. "You need some help hun?" Jess shakes his head "no" and pulls down his pj bottoms.   
  
He is soon sitting on the little potty chair we recently bought for him. He's still too little to pee standing up.  
  
With a quiet curse under my breath I sit on the edge of the bathtub. My muscles protest at my actions. /Damn heat cycles/ I always want it fast and extremely hard when I'm like this. Afterwards, I always remember WHY my husband likes to go slower at first.  
  
"I done mommee." Jess proclaims to me.  
  
"Good job hun." I make sure to praise him. One hand slides under the pair of Logan's boxers that I'm wearing. Something sticky coats my fingertips. I pull my hand out and, sure enough it's coated in red, tinged with bits of seamen. /Fuck/ I shouldn't have pushed so hard.   
The man's not small.  
  
I snatch some toilet paper from the roll and wipe the crimson stain  
off my hands.  
  
Jess is pulling up his pants, and I kneel down to help him. A gentle  
hiss escapes my breath.  
  
My son is very perceptive so he picks it up "What's matter momma?"  
  
"Nothing baby." I lie "You all set?"  
  
He nods  
  
I stand up again, ready to take him back to his room when I notice a few drops of red on the tile floor. /dammit/ "Honey." I look down at my little boy "You go on back to bed, mommy's gotta clean up in here 'kay?" I kiss him on the cheek.  
  
"'Kay momma." Jess responds  
  
I rest my hand on his back, and lead him out the door "Sweet dreams babe."  
  
"Nightee." Jess responds as the door shuts behind him.  
  
After my son leaves, I take deeper stock of myself. Shit, what did I do? I pull down the shorts and climb into the bathtub to keep any more blood off the floor. I examine myself thoroughly, tracing a hand around my vaginal lips. There is seamen on them, a few drops of blood,  
but there aren't any lacerations. I touch the outside of my clit, and damn, that answered the sixty-four million dollar question. I hone in my vision, and see the distinctive tears, one on each side of my clit walls. I touch one of them with my finger. It stings, and I have to sit down on the edge of the tub.  
  
Only I would push my husband to bang so hard. Did I mention how much I HATE being a heated, horny bitch? I don't have to deal with the "one-night-stand" aspect anymore, but now I just feel slutty. I have a man who loves me, who WILL be there the next morning, and I used him like a sex toy. Worst thing is, he'll find out about this one way or another,  
and HE'LL feel guilty, when its not his fault I wanted it so fast.  
  
But first things first, I've gotta clean myself up. I reach for the mobile showerhead, turning on the water to just below scalding. I flip the setting to "one-jet massage" and proceeded to wash away the blood. Shit, shit, shit this hurts, it burns. Almost feels like right after Lexi came out, my insides felt like they were on fire and Janston's nurse wanted me to push again to deliver my placenta.  
  
Back to now, the blood is washing away down the drain. Note to self: clean this bathtub before tomorrow night.  
  
*****  
  
LOGAN  
  
After dropping off Lexi in the nursery (she just needed a diaper) I headed back in the bedroom. Max isn't in there, which surprised me.Jess doesn't normally take that long to use the bathroom. Since I'm here, I might as well change. I toss the robe on the bed, grabbing a pair of track pants and that old MIT sweatshirt. /What a waste of money to dad. Went from a computer programming major to a cyber journalist. Changing majors flushes a lot down the crapper./ I put on some underwear and then the clothes. The shirt smells like Max. She loves to steal it whenever she can.   
  
Not that I mind. I smile, can just imagine what mom would say if she were here. /"I smell cherries on this, Logan.." she'd look at me with a disapproving, but not disappointing gaze.   
  
I would shrug "What can I say mom, Max loves to steal things."  
  
She would laugh then "Just like I do with your father." she'd ignore the warning look all kids give their parents about talking about them and sex in the same context. She would inhale it again "I like it, cherries goes so well with your cologne. Tell her not to switch fragrances."  
  
"I won't" I would say with a smile./  
  
Mom would've loved Max. She liked Val, but always was antsy about her drinking /"She's a good girl Logan, but she likes the bottle too much."/  
  
But Max, she and mom would've hit it off. Aunt Jilli and mom were a lot a like, and she calls me once a week to see how me and my "darling wife" are doing.  
  
I shake my head to clear it from those thoughts. I DO wish both my parents were still here; to see their new daughter-in-law and grandchildren, still miss them, even though I've been on my own since they were killed. Even dad and his rigid dogmatic views would've liked Max. But at least I knew them. My wife on the other hand, never knew of "love" and "parents" as a child. "Daddy" was a cruel SOB, and the love was replaced with being spared by being knocked out as a team of doctors broke your bones for the heck of it.  
  
I round the corner of the bed, when something catches my eye on the sheets. Leaning over I look at a damp spot near the center of the bed. Mostly my ejaculated seamen, but there's something darker, it's blood.  
  
I quickly leave the bedroom, stepping out into the hallway. Why didn't she say anything? I am jumping the gun and assuming the blood Max's. It has to be.  
  
Walking in the hallway I spy my son peering out of his bedroom. "What is it Jess?" I ask.  
  
"Mommee hurtee." he states in a little boy's voice of concern.  
  
"Go back to bed son." I say, "I'll see what's the matter."  
  
"Night daddee." Jess smiles and closes the door.  
  
I return the remark and stop in front of the closed bathroom door.  
  
"Max?" I knock with one hand "Can I come in?"  
  
"Its open." came her reply.  
  
I turn the knob, and push the door open "Why didn't you tell me?" I step into the bathroom and close the door.  
  
Max is climbing over the edge of the bathtub "Nothing to see really." she reaches for a towel on the rack.  
  
I hand it to her and she wraps it around her lower half. She steps completely out of the bathtub and I can see the grimace still on her face.  
  
I spy my boxers on the floor. The crotch is speckled with blood. "This doesn't look like nothing baby."  
  
She sits down on the closed toilet "Not like I've never bled before."  
  
I ignore her remark "Hop up on the counter and let me look."  
  
She shoots me that famous look, and then states honestly "I kinda don't  
feel like "hopping" up on anything right now." she looks down briefly.  
  
"That much?" I asked, concerned, and also kicking myself a little for doing this.  
  
"Sore mostly," she lets me know, trying to reassure me slightly.  
  
I pick her up off the toilet. For a revved up super solider, she doesn't weigh much.  
  
I set her down on the marble counter top gently.  
  
"Didn't know you doubled as a gyno." Max says at my wanting to examine her.  
  
"Well kept secret." I jest back, pulling the towel down from her front.  
  
I touch her vagina again, only this time with scanning hands rather then riled, roaming ones. There is little blood on the outside, a small amount dotting the towel. "Where'd you tear?"  
  
"Canyon walls." she throws back.  
  
"Your clit?" I say, strangely enough remembering that name from a hooker friend of one of my ex's.  
  
"Yeah." her breath hitches as I touch her deeper, feeling the beginning of a tear. Blood speckled my finger as I pull it out "Didn't think you'd know that one."  
  
I smile lightly "My ex-girlfriend knew a lot of call girls."  
  
This makes her eyebrows prick up "You went outside of your social circle to date?"  
  
"You're right." I throw back "I mean look where that got me."  
  
Her hand finds the upside of my head in quick order.   
  
"Damn." I find the other laceration "I'm so sorry about this baby."  
  
"Logan." there is a wary tone in her voice "My libido was fucked tonight, you just did what I wanted."  
  
"Still feel bad though." I throw back.   
  
I stand up and open the medicine cabinet.  
  
"What are you looking for?" Max calls out to me.  
  
My hand closes around the medicine tube before I can answer "This." I show her the tube "It's the ointment the hospital gave you after Lexi was born." I also pull down a set of latex gloves Bling kept in here.  
  
"Playing doctor?" again the eyebrow arch.  
  
I pull on the gloves, feeling the snap back from the latex. "Just going to put this on for you." I spread some of the ointment on my finger.   
  
As I approach her she shies slightly away. "What?" I look at her.  
  
"Nothing." she bites her lip, and I can tell she is nervous "I could do it."  
  
"It's hard finding the right spot by yourself." I say, trying again.  
  
"Logan wait." she stops me again. "I can't, I mean-" she stumbles over her words like a newly blind man in a field of roadblocks. "Damn, I don't DO those." she looks at the gloves with a wary eye. "I hate the way they feel, so cold and powdery." she was speaking from experience.  
"My memories of cold and powdery hands always ended the same way."  
  
I look at her, seeing the look of the girl-solider during countless examinations and "procedures" She looked like a caged animal. "It's me Max." I reassure her. "Manticore is far away now. I have to wear gloves because I cut my hand last night. It wasn't exactly on a clean place, and I don't want you to get an infection or something." I look into her eyes "I won't hurt you baby, I promise."  
  
"I know." she states "Its just-" she breaks off and looks down at her lap.  
  
"I'll be as fast as I can." I say. This time when I move closer to her, she does not back away. My covered hand spreads the cream over the tears. "Lean back some honey-"  
  
"Don't call me that!"   
  
I look up at her sudden outburst "They always called me "honey" or "angel." when they did stuff, like I was their god-damned daughter!" her voice is upset.  
  
"Shh." I grasp her hand with my free one "I'm sorry baby." I am careful not to call her "honey" again. I help her lean back some so that her head is resting against the mirror. I quickly coat the rest of the laceration I now have access too.  
  
Max makes the sound a cat does when it cries out. "Almost done." I tell her, squeezing her hand. I finally pull back "Finished." I peel off the latex glove and chuck it in the trash.  
  
Max carefully slides off the counter. "Thanks" she looks down at the dirty boxers on the floor "Gotta change out of the "whore outfit."  
  
"Here babe." I hold out her pair of cargo pants from the hamper. They smelled relatively cleaned.  
  
Max pulls them on slowly along with a thankfully clean pair of her underwear. She does up the drawstrings, but not too tight.  
  
"Jess was worried about you." I state.  
  
"I should talk to him-"  
  
"I already did." I interrupt.  
  
She looks at me again, a gentle gaze "Thanks." her voice quivers near the end.  
  
"Hey." I say softly "C'mere." I pull her into an embrace "You're okay." I soothe to her.   
  
Her quiet crying is muffled somewhat in my shoulder. I hug her tighter, kissing her hair. I so wish Manticore's director Renfro were standing here so I could blow a hole right between that fuckin' bitch's eyes.  
  
Before we were married, I rarely saw Max cry, didn't think at times that it was possible. But now, I think she feels safer, and that allows her to let her guard down. I hate to see her like this, but am glad she allows me to offer her comfort, instead of just shrugging it off.  
  
*****  
  
MAX  
  
Damn, I am all over the place tonight. First pretty much normal, then a hot, horny sexpot, and now the screwed solider. My battle scars sometimes get the better of me. But, Logan is always there, even if I don't want him to be. I never had the chance to lean on someone as much as I did him. Not even Cindy or any of my sibs has done what he has done for me.   
  
I hear him say he's sorry again, and I resist the urge to smack the man upside the head, my rendition of "tough love"/Baby (smack) I love you, but (smack) stop feelin' bad for stuff you had no control over (smack, smack)/  
  
"Think we can progress towards the door?" my voice is muffled in the cotton of his sweater.  
  
"Never live in the moment do you?" his tone is lighter, casual joking. He senses I am coming back down to earth. He messes with my hair, touching the long, straight strands. My curls are gone, but they were too high maintenance anyways.  
  
"Can't get stuck in the past" I throw this out, breaking our embrace. I side step him, and take a tentative step forward.  
  
"I forgot, you're a "move if forward" kinda girl."   
  
I shoot him a look, the one that could either say, "You are such a dork" or "wipe that smile off your face before I break it off" depending on my mood. Another step, ouch, still hurts. "Yeah I am." I reply to my husband's earlier remark "But apparently my body has other ideas."  
  
That look of concern is back on his features. "Are you okay?"  
  
Curse my photographic memory, only makes me remember all the damn muscles the female body contains. So I can pinpoint EXCATLY where it hurts. "My goal is the bathroom door by nightfall." I wish Renfro were alive, could show her how well I "studied" in my course of evoking pain on female genitalia. /I can shove this switchblade up your urethra, you'd bleed out pretty well, plus get the sensation you're kickin' it with a porcupine. All those times, I told you where to stick it..well/   
  
"Can I offer you a hand?" Logan holds out his right hand, but then retracts it just as quickly "Or would that just piss off the solider who wants to "be all she can be?"  
  
"Shut up." is all I say, placing a hand in his. I am then completely lifted off the floor. "Thought you were just gonna give me a hand."  
  
"Hands are connected to arms baby," he states to me as we exit the bathroom "Can't have one without the other."  
  
"Where to?" he asks once we are out in the hall.  
  
"Portland's nice this time of year." I throw out, milking his words for all they're worth.  
  
"Don't think I can carry you that far, too much stress-"  
  
I glare at him "Is that a subtle way of saying I'm fat?"  
  
"Stress on my nerves Max." he clarifies "Halfway out of Seattle you'd be complaining about how "you can walk, sacks are hauled, sleaze asses are hauled. Soldiers walk on their own two legs."  
  
"Still didn't clarify 'bout me bein' fat." I warn.  
  
"I never said that." he replies.  
  
"Liar." I tease  
  
"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much." he quotes from Shakespeare.  
  
"Too bad I'm not a lady."   
  
We reach the living room. Logan has obviously decided where to go. I am set down on the couch. "Thanks for the ride."  
  
He kisses me lightly on the mouth "I'll send ya the bill later." He fall beside me on the couch.  
  
"How's the pain?" his hands are on my shoulders, kneading them.  
  
"Bearable." I say, trying to keep the sigh out of my voice. I know that he's just trying to offer comfort, and sometimes I have to beat down that voice that says "I don't need coddling" "Listen baby." I begin, shifting to face him "This isn't your fault. I have no concern over anything except ME when I'm in heat. Don't get on a guilt trip at my damn feline genes screwin' me up."  
  
"Max," Logan looks me right in the eye "You are not responsible for your actions anymore then an 100% full blooded cat. The gene splicing did this to you, you didn't ask for it."  
  
"Yeah, I just took." I spat back. "God what if-" I break off.  
  
"What if what angel?" Logan asks.  
  
I sigh shakily "What if I got pregnant tonight?"  
  
"We used protection-"  
  
"That's not fool proof!" I argue back "You know that sometimes it can break or seamen can spill along the outside." I pause "I can't, I mean, if I'm knocked up, it'll cut off my breast milk, it'll be too soon." I don't think my body could handle being pregnant again. And heat is the guaranteed method of doing so. I love both my babies, but I didn't get pregnant with Lexi until Jess was almost six months old. "I need to find out."  
  
"How early are you able to tell?"  
  
"Almost right away." I answer, "When I was expecting Jess, I knew nearly right after." had that verified by a bitch in a lab coat, who has since gotten fired, thanks to a little Eyes Only digging.  
  
"There are a few places open tonight." he suggests.  
  
*****  
  
LOGAN  
  
Max left a few minutes ago, to buy a pregnancy test. We never had use for them. With Jess she kicked my ass to let me know what I had done, me acting like an SOB. Glad the way things worked out though. And with Lexi, it was an ER doctor who gave us the news. This is the first time we play the "waiting game"  
  
Max left here so uneasy, twirling the key to her Ninja in her hand. I know she is worried about this. Having another baby, I know she loves kids, but she is scared. She is still breast-feeding Lexi, and this will mess up her hormones. I also know what she hasn't said; she is worried about her seizures. Jess was born a month early because of them. All through Max's resulting c-section she was anxious. I could see her remembering the days of being pumped full of drugs and experimented on in her eyes.   
  
I stroked her hair the whole time comforting her /"Sweetheart, it's okay. Your both okay. Manticore isn't here anymore"/ Words I had spoken to her again tonight. /"Almost there Max." the OB surgeon reassured, another few seconds and our newborn son was raised pink and screaming in the air. "Look what we have!" "Is he okay? Does he look normal?" Max called out, not being able to see him. The OB laughed "He's a normal, healthy baby Max, with one powerful set of lungs"/ I had kissed her then, and we cried. Being "normal" held much more meaning then any of the doctors knew.  
  
Now almost two years and another kid later, we are back to where it had begun, and I know it scares her. Her body is capable of withstanding a lot. But both pregnancies took their toll on her. She shoveled down so much Tryptophan to keep her seizures away. She would get terrible backaches, more so then other pregnant women. And her normally high metabolism was sent into overdrive, making her food intake tremendous.  
  
Tinga was around to help with the last one, rubbing her feet, while I did her back. Offering emotional support was Max became afraid of another seizure-induced labor. Hell even Zack dropped in one night, about three weeks before Lexi was born. I came home from running an errand to find my front door lock picked. Stepping inside, I found Max half asleep on the couch with Zack sitting on the edge of the coffee table kneading knots out of her back. /"Damn Maxie, you are so knotted." "Mmmhmm.." Max had mumbled under her breath "You ever tried carrin' fifteen pounds on your stomach?" "Thanks though." she added later. "Can't have my second in command out of shape." was all the man had said, focusing on his task./  
  
So now I sit here, and wait. I offered to pick up the test for her, but she said that she needed to ride. Her Ninja is a release for her. When she feels to pent up or caged in, she'll just drive on it for hours, coming home at three a.m., throw off her clothes and climb into bed beside me. Her favorite position is with her back pressed up to me, and she'll just slide in next to me after a late ride, and I never question her about it. If she wanted me to know, she'd tell me.   
  
If that test turns out to be positive, I well; actually I don't know how I'd react. Happy, a little concerned, nothing comes easy for us. Max's body may carry this child, if there is one, but I also witness what happens. In the words of countless women to their husbands or significant others on their maternity ward hospital beds "I did this"   
  
And if it's true, I have a million and one things to think about, but right now I can just wait.  
  
*****   
  
MAX  
  
My baby did me good tonight. Feelin' her raw cc's of power always seems to help clear my head. The little drug store (at least the post-Pulse's equivalent to it) has more business outside its doors with the illegal stuff then the OTC junk it's sellin'. I park my Ninja next to the curb, and drop her kickstand to the road.   
  
The "retailers" take interest in me as I approach. But then again, they would notice anything that had breasts and a pulse.  
  
"Hey sweet thing, come over here."  
  
"Got somethin' real sweet for a suga like you"  
  
I roll my eyes and step past the sleaze. The store is dimly lit, most likely to conserve power. There isn't enough of anything nowadays, and whatever meager bit people have is damn expensive.   
  
There are a few people wandering the aisles. One man smiles at me while picking out condoms and hemorrhoid cream (don't want to know what's on his mind right now). I head into the appropriate aisle, and am greeted with fifteen different kinds of pregnancy tests. Still don't know why there are so many. How many different ways can a girl piss on a dipstick? I grab one that shows positive results with a single blue line, not three yellow, or two lines means yes, and five means you're warped.   
  
The guy at the check out counter eyes my purchase "Wild night huh?"  
  
Okay stubby here is partially right, but I ain't givin' him the satisfaction of knowin' it. Kid thinks he's all that workin' at a convenient store for his green. I throw him ten and a few quarters. He collects the money "Are ya gonna call this guy and let him know he won?"  
  
Say what? Okay, stubs has crossed the line. I raise my left hand in the air "Ya see this?" I wiggle the finger with my wedding band on it.  
"Means unlike you I get hot and bothered with my husband, not the lingerie section of the Sears Catalog" I pull my fingers into a fist "Now ya see this?" I yank idiot boy across the counter with my free hand "Its gonna smack yo' head in for gettin' all like a wanna be playa" Heh, kids wishin' he kept his mouth shut now. "Now just give me my change 'for I shove it in the dipstick that ain't bein' rung up."  
  
Fifteen cents and a dropped looser later I headed back outside. Mr. "Hey sweet thang" and his buddies are still as "charming" as I left them.  
  
I slide the key into the ignition, "Nice machine" one of the wall scuzes announce. His hand reaches out to touch the black crome- but instead is crushed in between my fist. NO ONE touches my baby but me.   
  
Not waiting for scuz's reaction, I hop on my baby and peel out of the parking lot. Night is still young, curfew not in effect. So people are still roamin' the streets, looking for something to do, or someone.  
  
Red light. I slow down, checking my watch. Another cyclist has pulled up beside me. Rider guns the engine to get my attention.  
  
Damn how long does a light take to change? Is EVERYTHING in this city messed up?   
  
Real nice bike though, Ninja ZR-1200. Same color as my other wheels, cherry red. Gotta be 900 cc's at least.  
  
"Sweet baby huh?" rider calls out from under his motorcycle helmet.  
  
"Nice." I throw back out.  
  
"Want to drag?"  
  
I snort, "You'd loose"  
  
"Sure of yourself huh?" rider states "Kickin' down all those guys in combat trainin' gave you a swelled head"  
  
I do a double take. How the hell does this guy know who I am? Who told him? And what's the best way to loose him?  
  
"Cool the escape and evade thinkin' Maxie" he pulls of his helmet "I'd find you anwayz"  
  
"Krit," I now relax at the face of my brother. "Whatcha doin' here?"  
  
"Wanted to see the city little sister" Krit responded "Last time all I got was a hospital tour." he looks at me.  
  
"Blame on the sister that was pregnant at the time cat-man" I throw back.   
  
"How is that going?" he refers to Lexi  
  
"She's fine bro." I answer back "Four months old and kickin'"  
  
The light turns green, finally.   
  
"Is that race still on?" I smile to him.  
  
Krit responds by simply placing his helmet back on and revving up the engine.  
  
I revv up my baby too, louder and we blaze down the road.  
  
Krit pulls ahead of me, with a loud "Tyea baby!" He weaves in front of me, showing off.  
  
I crank up the engine, and blaze past him, pullin' up my baby's front in a wheelie. Tires hit the pavement again and I smile at Krit who is now behind me. The engines of two Kawasaki's and two screaming riders draws attention from the "street crowd" A group of them gather at the sidewalk where I decide to end the race.  
  
Krit pulls up beside me "Nice gunnin' Maxie"  
  
"'Course" I throw back "Its in the genes"  
  
"Go girl!" some anonymous person calls out to me   
  
Krit dismounts his bike "We have the same genes."  
  
"Okay, then its all skill" I return.  
  
Someone "ooo's" at my burn.  
  
"Skills and attitude." Krit teases  
  
"Best combo." I state as he steps up to me.  
  
"Whatever." he throws back, locking me in a hug.  
  
I hug him back "Glad you came by bro."  
  
"Me too." he pulls back "So, can I buy the triumphant a drink?" he nods his head in the direction of Crash.  
  
Didn't even realize we stopped here "I can't." I state.   
  
"Yeah ya can Maxie." Krit corrects "I'm dishin' out."  
  
"Told Logan I'd only be gone for a minute-"  
  
"So call him and tell him you're gonna be late-"  
  
"I'm in heat." this shuts him up.  
  
Krit eyes me "Did you-"  
  
"No!" I throw back "I mean not with anyone outside my marriage"  
  
"Don't feel a desire to jump those guys-" he nods at some men hangin' near the entrance of the club "Or me?"  
  
I shudder at his last thought. That's why I hate bein' in heat. It don't care if I screw a stranger or my own brother, so long as I screw. "Thankfully no, think Logan and I got it under control."  
  
Krit probably didn't want to know that last part, too much information "Then there's no prob. Tell the brother-in-law I'm not gonna keep you out that late, and I don't do incest."  
  
"Shut up" I smack him on the back of his head. "'Kay then, you've convinced me."  
  
"Great!" Krit replies enthusiastically, grabbing my arm "Move it out solider."  
  
"Hey who's second in command here?" I shoot back.  
  
"Who's first?"  
  
"Good point"  
  
We enter Crash, which is loud and crowded, your basic average night.  
  
My Jam Pony guys are nowhere to be seen, all hiding out in the back room. I drag Krit there and pull out my cell to call Logan.  
  
"You sure you don't mind?" I ask my man on the other line.  
  
"It's okay baby." he replies, "I'm having Mrs. Moreno watch the kids, and I'm headin' down there."  
  
"Don't have too." I protest "Me and Krit are just gonna hang, he is my bro."  
  
"And I'm your husband." Logan threw back "I want too."  
  
"Kay" I respond simply and disconnect the phone. Stubborn. But I am glad for it.  
  
"Now there's something you don't see everyday."   
  
Krit's voice makes me look up. In the back corner at a table is the famous blonde, and guess who's with her? Man, he must have it bad.  
  
"Who's that chick?" Krit gazes at our brother Zack next to Asha, one arm casually slung across the back of the booth.  
  
"Asha." I pointed out to my other brother "She was a friend of Logan's, and she and Zack kinda.."  
  
"See it" Krit interrupted "But don't believe it. Zack with a -GIRL."  
  
"Messed up huh?" I smile  
  
"Like Renfro frenchin' Deck" he shuddered. "Gotta see what kinda gurl this is."  
  
I trail behind Krit as he makes his way over to them. He stops a few feet away from them "Sir! Permission to ask about this fucked up situation sir!" Krit barks this out like a drill sergeant.   
  
"Denied." Zack states. He stands up to face him.   
  
"Yes sir." Krit responded "Then permission to say you have all your nuts in one basket-"  
  
Zack slaps him upside the head "You ass" he turns to Asha "Krit this is Asha, Asha, Krit, my bro made from genetic leftovers."  
  
"Thank you nut-boy." Krit throws back with a smirk.  
  
"Hey Cat-Man." I call out, stepping up to them "Leave nut-boy alone."  
  
Krit hates that name "I'm gonna kill Jondy, can't keep her damn mouth shut."  
  
"Like you." Zack throws back. He looks at me "What is it with my little sisters and my-"  
  
"Enough of that" I interrupt, looking Zack in the eye, and then I steal a glance at Asha "Glad you can put up with this"  
  
Asha smiles slightly at me "I try." she then changes the subject "Where's Logan?"  
  
"On the way," I inform. Now the way Asha is standin' in close proximity to Zack should be enough for me, but I still don't like the way she said "Logan" just then. Might be harmless, but I haven't pledged eternal friendship to the woman yet.  
  
"You guys have a fight or something?" Krit asks beside me "That why you came out alone?"  
  
"No" I draw out the ending syllable "Just had something to do."  
  
Krit looks at me with a gaze that says "Sureee"  
  
I shove my brother in the direction of the bar "Meow Mix, go get that drink you owe me."  
  
"Pleasure?"  
  
That's something to debate. I don't know if I AM pregnant, but what if I am? Alcohol wouldn't be good, but still I really don't want a club soda "Colada, no flavor" I call back out, watching Krit look at me funny.  
  
"Goin' sober Maxie?" even Zack thinks I'm actin' weird.  
  
"What?" I snap back "Can't a girl have a "straight drink" without her brothers lookin' at her like a virgin commin' out of a whore steamer?" I yank a chair from a nearby table.  
  
As Zack and Asha reclaim their seats, I absent-mindedly fiddle with the small box in my jacket pocket. Directions said three minutes-  
  
"Here ya go little sister." Krit sets my drink in front of me "One pure white piece of crap, and the pale yellow good stuff for me" he pulls up another chair and sits beside me. He raises his beer mug "A toast to Maxie, may your sibs find out the reason you don't want the percents tonight"  
  
I kick Krit under the table, making some of his beer spill onto his blue long sleeved shirt.   
  
"My bad" I tease taking a sip of my drink.  
  
*****  
  
LOGAN  
  
I park my Aztec out on the curb and climb out. Mrs. Moreno had been asleep, and I almost didn't ask her to watch the kids, but the woman insisted after I told her why. Walking up to the entrance I spy Max's Ninja, and along side that is a similar cycle, but of a different color.  
  
Walking past the bouncer I head into the back room where Max usually hangs out.  
  
Cindy spots me out from a far table "Hey boo, lookin' for yo' suga?"   
  
"Yeah I am" I tell the woman wearin' a teal halter and black leather pants.  
  
"Right over there" Cindy points to a far corner table   
  
"Thanks"   
  
"No prob, gonna step in on our girl in a sec and ask what's the dealio wid her sittin' with her boyz and not me"  
  
I am confused by her last remark, but when I head over to the table I get what she means. Oh yea, Zack is here, but why-oh Asha, they're still shacked up? Interesting, okay see Max, and who's the man next to her? Tall, dark hair, dark skin tone like Max, gotta be Krit, BETTER be Krit. No doubt it is, she did call me and tell me he was in town.   
  
/"Oh ye band of brothers"/ Funny how that line from "Henry XIII" seems to fit this situation.   
  
Max spots me when I'm about three feet from the table   
  
"Hey baby" I kiss her when I finally reach her.  
  
"We're the kids still sleeping when you left?" is my wife's first question.  
  
"Yes" I answer, "Which is good considering" I shoot her a look, reminding her of the fact that she can function with little or no sleep.  
  
"Gotta luv the martial banter," Max's brother Krit states in his seat. He sips from his mug and looks up at me "How's it goin' Logan?"  
  
"Fine Krit" I inform the younger man "You just get in town?" I pull up a chair beside Max  
  
"Yep" Krit states "Drag raced Maxie here-"  
  
"And got your ass kicked" Max broke in  
  
"I was gettin' there" Krit says   
  
"Off night Krit?" Zack throws in  
  
Is that Asha's hand on his leg? Damn, didn't think Zack would let ANYONE do that without shattering their hand, took me a while to warm up to Max enough so she would allow me to do that. We never had a "first date" before we were married. Jess happened, and we finally let go of all the tension. That night after I proposed Max let me touch her that way, her and not her heat. Asha's hand is moving now, okaay time to look at something else.  
  
"Tryin' to be like my big brother" Krit responded to Zack's remark  
  
I laugh in the back of my throat. Krit is something of a smart-alic,   
more so then Max.   
  
Zack looks pissed, but then again he ALWAYS looks pissed "Shut up Krit"  
  
"Didn't Maxie kick YOUR ass about a year ago Zack?" Krit asks "At some cabin?"  
  
"Remember the a-hole I tore ya last time?" Zack states.  
  
"No" Krit responds.  
  
Zack drops the subject, with a sigh.  
  
"You okay?" I whisper in my wife's ear.  
  
"Coo'" is her response "things in my pocket"  
  
"Haven't taken it yet?" I ask an honest question.  
  
She shakes her head "Haven't gotten the chance"  
  
"To what?"  
  
Gotta love Zack. Never neglects to use his damn heightened senses.  
  
"Somethin' goin' down guyz?" there's that cockiness.   
  
"Nothing's goin' down Zack" I inform.  
  
The "uh-huh" look is shot at me by Max's brother. He would've made a great correctional officer.   
  
Thankfully, Cindy comes up to the table  
  
"Ditchin' me boo?" she teases to Max  
  
"Ya know I'm not like that" Max states back "Original Cindy" she starts the introductions to the people who don't know the other woman "that's Asha, and you met Krit once-"  
  
"Yeah" Cindy breaks in "the hospital"  
  
"Seems to be the hot spot" Krit states "Speakin' of which-"  
  
"Original Cindy don't swing that way" Cindy informs with a glare  
  
"Nothin' wrong with that girl" Krit finishes "Sides everyone knows that me and Zack-"  
  
Max nearly chokes on her colada, and both she and Zack slap their brother some sense.  
  
"Okay, I'll retract my remark guys, *I* don't swing either of those ways"  
  
*****  
  
MAX  
  
This package in my pocket seems to be gettin' heavier by the minute. I lean more against   
the bar, watching Zack, Asha and Krit play pool.Krit's kickin' major ass. He was trained and taught to coordinate missions, which meant knowing a lot of physics.  
  
"Your boy finally found himself something sweet" Cindy leans back next to me.  
  
"She's something," I state back  
  
"What was the deal with her and yo' man?"  
  
I shrug "Logan said that they went out for about a year, and then he met Valerie-"  
  
Cindy gazes at me uncomfortably "Don't get me started on that messed up whack job. Girl had issues, kidnappin' Jess and tryin' to kill my girl" she looked back at the game "At least she keeps her rods under wraps"  
  
"Yeah so," I cut in "You know how I feel 'bout guns" /One shot and she fell. I blinked, that's how fast it came. She was gone/ "My sister Eva was killed right in front of me. I swore against guns after that night" I look at Asha as she makes a side shot "But that's not a real issue with her"  
  
"Suga, Original Cindy's gonna break it down for ya. Whatever went on between Ms. NRA and Logan is in the past. He's all about you now, and has been for a LONG time before you were his wife" she looks at my bro "And girl's hooked up with your boy, so you can chill"  
  
"Probably right"  
  
"Am right hun" Cindy corrects, she looks at me again "So what else is swirlin' round in that head of yours?"  
  
"Nothin'" I lie  
  
"Don't put on no act, this ain't the Globe, Shakespeare. I can tell something's on your mind. Is that other brother right? Did you and Logan get into something?"  
  
"No" I told her flat out "We didn't piss each other off or nothin'"  
I pause "We got into something, but it wasn't an argument. I was kinda in heat-"  
  
Cindy's eyebrows rose "Banged the gong?"  
  
I glare at her "What do you think?" my expression changes "I came downtown to pick up this" I show her the test  
  
"You think you might be pregnant?" Cindy takes the box from me  
  
"Manticore made us like this for this exact reason. Heat cycles almost always result in conception. Brass liked to keep track of things"  
  
"That's messed up" Cindy shot back "But this time, yo' doin' it right.  
On your terms, with your man"  
  
"Still don't know"   
  
"And why's that?" Cindy shoots me a look  
  
"I'm still nursing" I inform, "Being pregnant will make my milk dry up, it's just so-soon."   
I look at her "I'm still post-partum" I just don't think I can handle it right now"  
  
"And what does Logan think?" I hear Cindy ask  
  
"Honestly don't know." I reply "We didn't talk about it much before we came here"   
  
"Might be nice to have another one"  
  
"Yeah" I look at her "But it's a lot of work and time and weight gain on my part. Logan and I thought about maybe having a third, but not until Jess and Lexi were a little older. This just slapped me in the face-"  
  
"What about when you were in heat before?"  
  
Great point Cindy "Thought about that. But don't make me feel more secure. First time in heat with Logan, Jess happened. Second time, I was already pregnant and we used birth control my OB/GYN gave us. Third time, I found out-did the math, and that poker game we played wasn't where it happened. It was the trip we took up to the needle-"  
  
Cindy looked at me "you took the A train around the Space Needle? That is kinky" she   
paused "No barriers then?"  
  
I look at her with a "you caught me" gaze "Was more concerned with getting it on, then puttin' it on. Had it tonight, but still-"  
  
"Right down the middle!" Krit's cries out as the six ball, and the eight ball break and sink into two separate corner pockets. "I believe that's game" he looks over at Zack and Asha.  
  
"Didn't tell me he was a pool shark Zack" Asha looks to him disapprovingly.  
  
"Shark, cat, mouse. Got it all," Krit jokes around with the contents of his genes.  
  
Asha thinks he's kidding, thank god. "How much did I drop?" she fishes out her wallet.  
  
Krit calculates the amount in three seconds "Ten"   
  
Asha slaps the amount in his hand. She turns to Zack "Next time tell me these things babe" she kissed him on the side of his face "Going for a drink"  
  
/She called Zack babe, and got away with it..whoo-boy, he must like her/ Asha shuffles past me to the bar.  
  
"You too" Krit looks at Zack "Need my ca-chings"  
  
Zack balls up the money and shoots it as Krit's head.  
  
Krit catches it, and places both bills in the pocket of his jeans.  
"Appreciate it again babe"  
  
Zack whaps Krit with the end of his pool cue.  
  
"What'd I miss?" Logan stands beside me, a beer mug in his hand.  
  
"Asha callin' Zack babe" I relpy.  
  
Logan snaps his fingers loudly "Damn, and I forgot my camera"  
  
"Shut up 'kay?" I return "It's still weird to me to see him livin' a social life" I look at my brother racking up the balls.  
  
"He has the right to a life as much as anyone" Logan glances at where I am looking.  
  
"Maxie," Krit's voice interrupts "How 'bout a lil game?"  
  
"I pass" I call out. Still haven't taken that test.  
  
"C'mon" Zack argues "What? Just don't want to loose to us little sister?"  
  
Now how can I back down from that challenge? "Famous last words guys."  
  
"Knock'em down baby" Logan encourages beside me  
  
I smile at him, and head over to the pool table  
  
"That's my boo" I hear Cindy call as I walk away.  
  
"Heads up" Krit tosses a pool cue up a good distance in the air.  
  
I flip once and catch the cue with one hand.  
  
"Show off" Krit snaps, amidst a few cheers from a few bar patrons.  
"Goin' down Maxie" Krit looks at me  
  
"Just rack'em up Cat-Man"  
  
Zack lifts the triangle off the balls "Maxie, you break"  
  
"So nice of you to let the girl go first" I lean down and take my shot.  
Clank. Eight, five, six right corner pocket. Next shot is a scratch.  
  
"Good job Max" Sketchy's even getting in on the act. I see him out of the corner of my eye with a beer in his hand.  
  
"Your move Zack" I inform.  
  
My brother takes his shot. "What's up with you and Logan?" Four and three go in left side pocket.  
  
"Nothing Zack" I lean against my cue "Why do you think that something's goin' on?"  
  
Two and the white cue in right side pocket, scratch. "Just that he came in after you showed up alone."  
  
"I had an errand"   
  
Krit moves to take his turn "Skill steps up to take his shot"  
  
"Where?" Zack throws back. He looks at me again "You had an errand to run ALONE, and then show up at a bar afterwards?"  
  
"Is that a problem?" I snap back "I'm married to him, we're not attached at the hip" I look over at Asha standing beside Logan /Hey hey HEY! Your boy is right here, back OFF of my man/ "You'd like it if Asha hung on you like a coat on a hat rack all the time?"  
  
"Guys" Krit cuts in "brother's about to kick some major sibling ass, can we PLEASE pay attention?" of course he misses his shot.  
  
"Saw that one all right," I laugh at his look.  
  
"You have me there Maxie" Zack admits to my earlier remark "But still-"  
  
"Just don't worry bro," I line up my shot "We're coo'" last ball goes in. "Krit racks"   
  
"Only loosin' by seven," he informs me in a "so there" tone. He collects all the balls and re-racks them.  
  
Next round of playing Krit pulls ahead of me, and is now loosing by only two points. Zack is behind by one, and it's his turn.  
  
"Hey chickie chickie-OW!" Krit shuts up with his distraction when I slap him upside the head.   
  
Zack's shot makes it. He now has fourteen. He also lands his final shot and wins the game.  
  
"Chickie just kicked your ass boy" Zack looks at Krit, and then to me  
"You too Maxie"  
  
"Can't you just say good game?" I cross my arms across my chest.  
  
Zack holds out his hand "Good game sis"   
  
I take it and find myself pulled against him in what Manticore call's a combat lock.  
  
"What gives?"   
  
"Gonna tell me?" Zack's voice isn't angry; it's more cocky and teasing.  
  
"Why you wanna know so bad?"  
  
"I'm lookin' out for ya-"  
  
"It's not bad Zack, already told you that"  
  
"Still-"  
  
"Fine! I tell ya" I interrupt. I back flip, taking Zack with me. I am now on top of the pool table. Another flip and I have Zack flat on his back on the green fuzzy top. "I was in heat tonight and Logan and I got into it. Came down here to buy a pregnancy test and I ran into Krit"  
  
"You think-"  
  
"Don't know until I take the test" I inform "Which I'm gonna do right now" I back off from Zack's face "How's that?"  
  
"Informative" Zack states, still lying where I pinned him.  
  
I shake my head and walk back over to Cindy "Need my stuff back"  
  
Cindy hands me back the box  
  
  
*****  
  
LOGAN  
  
"Boo-" Cindy states beside me after Max disappeared to the ladies room. "What's your plan for this? I mean you ready if it turns out positive?"  
  
"As I can be," I tell her "I know for a fact that if she is pregnant, Max would want to keep it, and so would I. We'd just have to work with it." I laugh slightly "Three years ago I wouldn't have imagined myself talking about the "what-if" scenario of a third child in a bar at night with my wife's lesbian friend" I pause "No offense"  
  
"It's just your represent of where ya are" Cindy informs "I've known Max for five years, and I never thought I'd be in here talkin' to a cyber journalist blue colored white guy who's the husband of my gurl, no offense to you"  
  
"Don't worry about it" I raise my beer mug "here's to takin' a step back"  
  
"True dat" Cindy touch's the mug with her black margarita.  
  
"Logan, does Maxie know about this swing?" good ol' Krit and his mouth.  
  
"Yeah that's it Krit" I look at my brother-in-law "She's a single lesbian and I'm a straight guy whose married to her best friend, YOUR sister, but we decided what the hell?" I drape an arm across Cindy's shoulder "One quickie here on the bar in front of everyone while Max is in the bathroom." I say this with a completely straight face, and raise my glass to salute myself. "Wanna watch?"   
  
Cindy laughs at my remark "Got that right" she sips her drink. "Boo you messed up sometimes" she addresses to me.  
  
"Okay, I can take a hint," Krit states pulling up a chair beside the bar. "So-" he sounded more serious this time "There's a chance that Maxie might be pregnant?"  
  
How'd he? Oh right, between heightened hearing and Zack's mouth how could he NOT hear what Max told Zack after she pinned him, which was a pretty good move. "Yeah" is all I say.  
  
Zack takes the vacant spot beside Asha. "Maxie's pregnant?"  
  
Is there an echo in here? "She might be" Receptiveness is the key to redundancy. "She just went to take the test"   
  
Zack seems to ponder my remark. He places an around Asha's waste. "Still seems kinda unreal. Maxie, Tinga, Jace as mom's."  
  
We seem to be taking a lot of trips down memory lane tonight "Changes happen Zack" I point out. "I mean look at you" I glance over at Asha. The girl who once called Uncle Jonas "a rat's ass" to his face at dinner. She called him an ass. Max refereed to Aunt Margo as a "wolf in bitch clothing" I seem to always have relationships with girls who hate my relatives. Oh well, hate them just as much.  
  
"You too Logan" Asha points out "Didn't think I'd come back to find you married, let alone with kids."  
  
"Or that's you find that" I nod towards Zack.  
  
Asha half smiles "Nice find though" she kissed him.  
  
Okay, looking away. Don't MIND the relationship, but don't want to SEE it either, thank god she didn't use her tongue.   
  
"Well if anyone can handle another kid it's you and Maxie" Krit informs.  
  
Can we? What will it be like with another? I mean, I love our kids already, and I would love this one, but can Max handle another pregnancy so soon? That is the most concerning to me. Though Lexi was natural, there were several tense moments. Sometimes I felt Max's hands shake, and not just from bearing down. She fought to keep her seizures under control. Janston didn't take any chances, and had an OR reserved should the worst happen.  
  
"More worried about Max then me"  
  
"It's the seizures isn't it?" Zack chimed in, guess his lips are free.  
  
"What?" Asha looked confused.  
  
"Our family has a history of seizures" Krit notified "Logan told me that Maxie went into labor a month early with their son because of them, and our sister Tinga almost gave birth five months premature, but they stopped it in time."  
  
"I'm sorry" Asha didn't know what to say.  
  
Zack shrugged "We get by Asha. It's not a death sentence. Maxie's strong. She's had two kids already, she can handle a lot."  
  
For some reason, Zack's statement gives me more confidence.  
  
*****  
  
MAX  
  
I step out the door of the stall. Damn three stalls. Line was out the door. My cervix is kinda burning from the tears I almost forgot were there. I hold the test in my hand by the sanitized end. Ten minutes, that's to damn long. What happened to instant? Most likely went out with the Pulse.  
  
Cindy steps up beside me "What's the verdict?"  
  
I look at my watch "Won't know for another eight minutes."  
  
"Ya know whatever the outcome, Cindy's here for ya"  
  
I smile "Thanks" I place the wand back in the box carefully to keep the results valid, aka: to keep the piss on the stick. Box is shoved back in my jacket. One step and DAMN, somebody ordered a fire? "Shit"  
  
"What is it boo?" Cindy's hand is on my shoulder  
  
"Got into a lil bit of a scrape tonight."  
  
"You tore?" It was an honest question "Boy shouldn't have-"  
  
"Wasn't his fault" I snap "I was in heat, fast is my middle name at this time."  
  
Several women stopped at that remark.  
  
"Funny how this is a bathroom, not a movie" Cindy glowered at a blonde.  
  
"You're too good to me girl"  
  
"No prob" Cindy holds out her hand "Original Cindy's offerin' the service"  
  
I smile and allow her to help me outta there.  
  
Logan spotted Cindy's "helping hand" act.   
  
"You okay angel?" he looks at me with concern "Hurts again doesn't it?"  
  
"It's fine" I reassure "It's not that bad."  
  
Cindy lets go of my arm when Logan touches my face "Should have been more careful-"  
  
"Logan don't, okay? We've been through this." I don't want him to feel guilty anymore. "I'm okay," I hiss under my breath. "And I have seven and a half more minutes to see if our life changes again" there's that hiss again.  
  
Again I am picked up "Baby-"  
  
"Max don't argue, you'll loose" he carries me back to the bar.  
  
"Maxie wha-"  
  
"I'm fine Zack," I say as Logan puts me down. "And NO I don't know yet"  
I carefully take a seat beside my husband.  
  
Zack reclaims his seat beside Asha "Looking out for you is my job Maxie"  
  
"And you do it in such a great pain-in-the-ass way" I glance over at Asha. Good, she's keepin' to hers, and not mine.  
  
"If it's any consolation Maxie" Krit begins "I'm a great uncle to your kids"  
  
I laugh lightly "Means so much bro"  
  
"And you're a great mom" Logan adds beside me.  
  
I turn. Logan's mentioned more then once how good of a parent I am, but it still feels nice to hear it from him. I kiss him. Means Manticore failed in the emotionless department. "Thanks baby"  
  
A timer beeps. Cindy had apparently set her watch to the countdown. "Waiting game's over suga"   
  
I take the test out of my pocket. Even in a box the results are clear. "It's negative" if this is what I wanted, why do I sound sad?  
  
"I'm sorry sweetheart" Logan apologizes beside me. His hand is on my back.  
  
"Don't be sorry," I argue "Not for this" I shrug "Sides not like you were a one night stand or nothing, we have more chances."  
  
"You have plenty of time gurl," Cindy agrees   
  
"When it's a better time for us," Logan added "for you"  
  
"Yeah, guyz got a point,"  
  
Logan pulls me into a hug, which I return. How can I miss something I never had? I feel many sets of eyes on me. My brothers, Cindy, hell even Asha-but I'm still not buddy buddy with her.  
  
It's ironic how up a few years ago I fought from givin' into my heat cycles because I might get pregnant with some anonymous guy's kid, or worse, that it would be Logan's, and he would feel some obligation to me because of it. But that already happened, and now the idea of getting knocked up in heat doesn't sting as much as it use to, so long as it's with Logan. But that didn't happen, I'm glad my body won't have to undergo that kinda change so soon, but a small part of me still wants it.   
  
Logan's hand is rubbing my back "I love you sweetheart"  
  
"You too baby,"   
  
"Cindy ya know what this makes me feel like doin'-"  
  
"Krit, ya wanna eat your own eyeballs?"  
  
Logan's laugh is low and quiet in his throat. He pulls back and kisses me.  
  
"Some night huh?" I bite my lip "You serious 'bout trying again?"   
  
He touches my hair "I am,"  
  
"But THREE?" there's my skeptical solider side.  
  
"Never though I'd have ONE, until I met you. Doesn't sound so bad."  
  
There's the statement that makes me smile. I am still glad I'm not knocked up now, even with the small part of me that wants it.   
  
Because I know I can-WE can have another baby, when the time is right.  
  
Heat isn't always such a bad thing.  
  
****  
  
END  
  
Whoo, this one was long. But I can't just have pure smut, I tried, but this is what I came up with. I'm thinking about introducing a third member of the Cale family, but this was too soon after the second. Just opened the door to some opportunity.  
Zack, Asha and Krit weren't originally suppose to be in here, but I needed a way for Max to be late picking up the test. I didn't want any Manticore, and sure as hell didn't want her in an accident. So this is what I thought up. Plus wanted to play around more with what I began with Asha and Zack, heh. I'm outta here. 


	8. White Out

TITLE: Choices-09 "White Out"  
AUTHOR: Mystic25  
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com  
  
DISCLAIMER: Cameron owns the ones I didn't make up:)   
RATING: PG14 for violence and language  
CATAGORY: M/L Paring, Z/A (Zack/Asha) Pairing/Angst Alternate Universe  
  
SUMMARY: Last time it was Val who took their child, this time it's much worse. Now it's a race against time to save Max, Tinga and their children before they find out how bad "worse" is.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, even with the slight burns on my last chapter, I appreciate the comments. I think I'm gonna lay off the smut and stick to the action, bang bang aspect. Heh, I'm more of a twist the arm of bad guy gurl then "let's twist the cork off the champaign"  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE #2: For Alec fans, I worked him in here to go with my universe. For those still in the first season, Alec is another X5. That'll be his base line for the story. Don't want to give spoilers to those who haven't seen the new eps.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE #3: Okaay..after tonight's ep ("Medium is the Message") I learned a heck of a lot about White. I'm gonna play with that, but only slightly. The guys still in season one deserve not to have the story line spoiled for them. So I KNOW that all of this new stuff may not be exactly right, I did it on purpose.  
  
*****  
  
SEATTLE  
UNDISCLOSED SECTOR LOCATION  
  
"Alpha one, do you have the targets sited?"  
  
"Copy that, subjects have been made"  
  
"Alpha Unit move out, and remember, Base wants them back alive"  
  
The man in black nodded silently to another member of his unit. He responded in kind, and switched on his stun gun, checking the ammo of his gun.  
  
The leader gave the order to move out.  
  
*****  
  
SEATTLE  
HOME OF CHARLIE AND TINGA SMITH  
  
"Pow!" Jess threw down his solider on top of Case's.  
  
"I dead!" Case cried out, not in the least bit worried that he lost more "men" then his cousin.   
  
"You took out his whole unit baby," Max said, observing the boys on the floor of the living room with their toys. She turned to her sister "Brings back memory's huh?"  
  
"Oh yeah, combats" Tinga sipped her coffee. "Always loved getting hauled out of bed at 0400 hours to trek three miles on the woods in camo and with more artillery then was in the weapons bunker."  
  
"Wasn't as bad for me" Max stated, leaning more back into her chair  
"Sleep was never an issue"  
  
"I know, you always kept the rest of us up, you and Jondy-" Tinga shot her baby sister a stare.  
  
Max shrugged "Nothing wrong with a lil convo time," she drank from her coffee cup.   
  
Tinga snatched the remote off the kitchen table "Wonder how the game's goin'" she turned it to a sports station.   
  
"Courtside you said?" Max was watching the game taking place in front of her.  
  
"Yep, the best kind." Tinga put down the remote "Charlie likes to be so close he can feel the sweat that rolls off the players"  
  
"Nice" Max said disgusted. She scanned the court looking for the boys. Charlie had scored tickets to the Seattle Piston's game (since Seattle bought out the team in 2015). He convinced Logan to go with him, and Max got her man to take him up on the idea. He loved sports more then her. Plus she said it'd be coo' for her and Tinga to have a sister's night in with the kids.   
  
She soon spotted the pair sitting just off to the right of the visiting players.  
The shot was only for a second before the camera followed a player dribbling down the lane.  
  
"Nineteen to ten" Tinga red the score off the bottom of the screen "Charlie's gotta be happy" her smile vanished when she heard a faint noise from the window.  
  
Case heard it too, and stopped in his playing. "Momma.."  
  
"It's okay baby" Tinga stood up from her seat.  
  
Max set down her cup on the tabletop, and stood beside her sister. Tinga waved her hand, signaling Max to check for the source of the noise on the left side of the apartment.  
  
Tinga stepped up to the window and peered out. Honing in her vision, she saw nothing in front of her. But then the silence was broken as a figure crashed through the large picture window.  
  
Six-month-old Alexis woke up from her nap in her playpen, crying.  
  
Shattered glass crunched under the feet of the man covered in black Kevlar. Two more men emerged behind him." I believe we've hit the jackpot guys,"  
  
"Gambling's a bad habit" Max spat out, taking in the sight of six armed men dressed all in black, and carrying high tech, military issued assault weapons.   
  
"Turned out well though," The same man aimed his weapon at her "Got to the objective"  
  
"Which is what?" Tinga growled, perched in a fighting stance  
  
The man actually smiled "To bring in the X5 females and their offspring" he glanced over at the baby "Thought there was only two," again the sleazy smile "Base will be happy about another" he reached out his hand to touch the crying infant.  
  
Max jumped him "Back off ass!" she moved to get in a sidekick, but was met with his high-powered tazer in her leg. She landed hard on the floor.  
  
"Take it easy momma" the solider put his tazer away "I'm not gonna hurt her. She needs to be in good condition." he leered at her "as do you, which won't happen if you piss me off anymore"  
  
"Mommee!" Two-year-old Jess scrambled over to Max. The soldiers didn't feel that he was a threat and let him kneel next to his mother.  
  
"S'okay hun" Max climbed to her feet. Jess locked his famous death grip on her leg. She picked him up, and tried to calm him down.  
  
The leader looked over at Tinga "I trust you won't make the same mistake as your sister 656." he held up the tazer "These things may not do much damage on Manticore soldiers, but I have NO problem using it on the little half-breeds here."  
  
Tinga looked at the man in a rage "Why do you want us?"  
  
The man found that amusing "656-"  
  
"My name's Tinga!" she grabbed him by the neck.  
  
Another solider pulled Case to him by his shirt collar "Momma!"  
  
"Let go of my son!" Tinga screamed at the solider.  
  
"You release your hold first on the Sarge, or I turn the little soldier's status here to KIA"  
  
Tinga dropped the man to the floor, and true to the ass's word, he let Case go. He launched himself at Tinga the minute he was free. She scooped him up and held him to her chest.  
  
"Ah motherhood-"  
  
"Shut up dick!" Max shot out venomously. She was now kneeling next to the playpen, stroking her crying daughter's head. She glowered at one solider aiming his semi-automatic at her "If you know who we are, what makes you think we'll just go along like defenseless damsels in distress? What if we just want to introduce your whole outfit to the asphalt ten stories down?"  
  
Once more the squadron leader grinned curtly "Stakes are too high for that kind of game 452." he swung his gun barrel at Jess "You have more to worry about then just yourself." he flipped on his wrist unit.  
  
"Base this is Alpha, we have the X5's in Sector Four"  
  
"And the two boys?" came the scratchy voice on the other end.  
  
"Them as well sir, along with an infant. Apparently 452 banged it up one more time then we knew"  
  
A pause, then slight laughter "That will be to our advantage. The transport is downstairs, get them there"  
  
"Affirmative Sir"  
  
"Don't mess up this time Private Jenkins"  
  
"I won't Sir"  
  
Jenkins ended the communication "Restrain them" he ordered to his men, Two pulled out titanium handcuffs. "In the front"  
  
He gave a nod and three soldiers aimed the sights of their guns at the kids. "And if you get the itch to plan an escape one of my boys will get trigger happy on the little guys. These are hyped up Magnums XR-05's. Cyanide pierced tipped bullets; that once squeezed off travels from barrel to flesh at fifty miles in 1.5 seconds. Not even Manticore tinkered you with enough speed to stop something that fast. Remember this fact ladies, so you don't have to be reminded in a more graphic way"  
  
"Ready to get kinky baby?" the solider leered at Max, holding up the metal restraints, he got closer, licking his lips "You and her are too hot lookin' to be freaks."  
  
"I'd kick you, if had any balls" Max spat in his face "And I'm not wearin' those"  
  
"Should 452 be reminded of the consequences of her choice?" Jenkins called out.  
  
A shot rang out, as the solider, shot a hole through Tinga's apartment wall, barely an inch where Lexi's playpen was set up. She screamed.  
  
"Enough dick-less" Max ordered, she picked up Lexi, who was all red faced, and scared. "I'm not wearin' those so I can let you or some other slimy sleaze hold MY baby" She cradled the baby closer to her.  
  
Jenkins stepped back for a second "Okay then" he looked at his captive, who shot him a venomously hateful stare. "You hold them then" he referred to kids. The Magnum barrel made its stop point black at Lexi's head "I smell any shit, and she'll be so much dead weight"  
  
Max looked defiantly at the man. Unknown to any of the soldiers Tinga wedged a place card with the numbers "911656452" in a crack in the light switch cover plate.  
  
The soldiers shoved them along to the front door. Lexi cried louder, when a solider ground the barrel of his weapon in her tiny neck "Shut up kid! Or I will shut you up!"  
  
"Shit, these kids are going to draw too much attention to the mission, take care of that," the leader ordered  
  
"Yes sir"  
  
And before Max knew what they meant two of them zapped her with their tazers. She cried out, and the last thing she and Tinga heard before blacking out was their kids crying as the soldiers yanked them up to take them to the transport.  
  
*****  
  
TRENTON PARK   
TINGA AND CHARLIE'S APARTMENT  
  
"So far there hasn't been any trace of blood, Matt announced.   
  
Logan stood above him as Det. Sung took evidence samples from the scene that he and Charlie found upon returning to two-bedroom apartment.  
  
The place was in shambles. Glass from the picture window coated the floor, and several bullet holes were drilled into the oak siding.  
  
Logan had called Matt to help him, because no. one, he was a detective, and no. 2, he wouldn't ask too many questions. He glanced over at the upturned playpen.  
  
"Whoever they are Logan-" Sung stood up from his kneeling position and looked him in the eye "They knew right where to go. The neighbors only reported hearing a crash, they didn't see Max, Tinga or the kids leave this building with anyone, which leaves me to believe this was orchestrated"  
  
"No one saw a strange car or van?" Logan found it hard to believe how two women and three kids can be taken and no one noticed.   
  
"You know how it is out there" Matt pointed to the street "Something goes down at night, people are too scared that it might happen to them. No one helps, no one questions, the just lock up and hope it'll all go away."  
  
Charlie looked disgusted "How couldn't anyone not notice?" he stepped over to the Detective, his black Crosstrainers crunching on shattered glass "I mean, our wives are NOT your average girls on the street. Wouldn't it seem like a cause to at least be a little damn curious at two women single handedly kicking the asses of armed intruders?"  
  
"Unless they were inestatized," Matt suggested, "Let's jump the gun and assume the people who took them DID plan this, that means they knew that Max and Tinga were Manticore; so they most likely carried some sort of tranquilizer or supped up electric tazers, knowing what they were up against. And this-" he walked over to the wall where the still smoking bullet was implanted in the wood. "This is a single slug, embedded six inches in solid oak, these guys have highly advanced weapons, only associated with SEALS or other military task forces."  
  
That fact didn't make Logan feel any better, knowing that his wife and kids were in the hands of people with a twisted agenda. He leaned his hand against the wall, and brushed against something. He lifted his hand, spying the wedged piece of paper in the light switch.  
  
"Take a look at this" he waved over the two other men in the room. "These numbers" he pointed to the last six digits, "all except the first three are the ending sequences on Max and Tinga's barcodes"  
  
"911" Charlie read aloud "Isn't that shorthand for an emergency?"  
  
*****  
  
TWENTY MINUTES LATER  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
Logan stood by the door awaiting for, of all things, the arrival of Zack. He had called him on the contact number. After about two rings, Mr. Subtle finally picked up. /"This better be lethal" for some reason, Big Brother had actually not been all gung ho about a call on his contact number; maybe it had something to do with the noises in the background. "Zack, it's Logan, something's happened to Max and Tinga-" At the mention of his little sisters' names Zack suddenly switched gears. "Damn shit asses" Zack cursed after Logan had told him what happened "Messin' with my siblings." There was a creaking of a bed, Logan's assumptions about the noises were correct "I'll be there in twenty"/  
  
He stole a glance at Charlie. His brother-in-law looked as together as him at the moment, trying to focus on something other than the door, but that was as successful as Ganges Con going vegetarian.  
  
Logan gazed at the piece of folded paper for the tenth time since arriving home. "911" those first three numbers screamed at him. Emergency. Something had happened that his sister-in-law and his baby couldn't control by themselves. Matt was most likely right, that these people were affiliated with Manticore. The nature of the break in was too "well done" to suggest otherwise.  
  
He thought for a moment, before finally flipping open his cell with a sigh. /Dear God, here goes the call to hell/  
  
"Who you callin'?" Charlie asked from across the room where he sat on the sofa.  
  
"Someone who better be worth my minutes" Logan threw back. He punched up the number from the phone's memory. After a few rings the other line picked up.  
  
"Welcome to my revved up dreams"  
  
"Alec, is that all you think about?"  
  
"Whoa Logan," a pause, as Alec shifted his phone to the other hand. "Scratch that comment, caller ID just said Cale, figured it might be the other-"  
  
"Is that suppose to help the situation?" Logan shook his head at the young X5 with more hormones then the all the pubescent males who horded Dior catalogs in-between their mattresses combined. "You hittin' on Max?"  
  
"Not like it was successful," Alec argued back. There was a rustle as he checked his watch "It's Friday night, shouldn't you and the Mrs. be involved in some extracurricular activities, instead of calling those of us who have to actually scope out our entertainment?"  
  
"Alec, Max was-taken" he cut straight to the point, ignoring Alec's sarcastic remark. "Along with my sister-in-law, my nephew and my kids"  
  
"Someone was thorough" Alec whistled "Sister huh?" he referred to Tinga "An X5 I assume, Maxie sure gets the Hallmark factor award for the pet names of her unit"  
  
"What the hell difference does that make?" Logan growled in the receiver. "I'm asking for your help, so would you just quit with the sarcastic BS?"  
  
"Sheesh, take it easy. I'll do it, once again Alec to the rescue"  
  
Logan rolled his eyes "Be at the penthouse as fast as those whacked up genes can move"  
  
"First time I've been invited to the pad since Maxie hooked up with you permanently, and I don't even have a date."  
  
"How about I arrange a little meeting with some ICU nurses?" he threatened   
  
"What army's backin' you up?"  
  
"Just get here" Logan disconnected the call.  
  
*****  
  
UNNAMED BASE OF OPPERATIONS   
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION  
  
"Up and at'em solider" a rattle above Max's head pulled her out of her haze. She immediately pulled herself into a sitting position, almost whacking her head on the metal roof of whatever the hell she was being held in.  
  
"That's a good little experiment" White, the man taunting her cooed in sarcasm.  
  
Max soon identified the metal above her as the underside of a bunk against the cell she was in. She looked for Tinga and the kids, but only found her sister chained by her arms to metal holders in the wall.  
  
"656" White looked at Tinga smugly "Your "sister's" finally decided to wake up and join us."  
  
Tinga tried once again to lunge at White, but the chains she was imprisoned to were strong enough to stand against the X5's attack.  
  
White actually laughed, "It's useless 656, I'm no idiot. Those restraints are built Manticore tough. You'll dislocate everything and not even put a crack in the wall"  
  
"What did you do with my son?!" Tinga barked, still struggling. "Where are our children?"  
  
"Sorry but that's classified information solider" White sneered. "You know how that runs"  
  
"You're the only thing that's gonna run around here-" Max sat up off her bunk and leapt at the metal bars. A jolt coursed through her body when she made contact with the metal. She pulled back, and slid to the floor from the aftershock.  
  
"Like that?" White looked down on her. "I say everyone who captures hyped up prototypes oughta have these 100 volt shock systems don't you?"   
  
"Where are my kids?!" Max barked out. Her hands were red and blistered from the contact point on the bars.  
  
"Patience solider" White addressed "I can personally guarantee that they're alive."  
  
"Sure is nice of you" she spat back, finally getting the shaking caused by the electric shock under control. "Bein' alive isn't what I'm worried about"  
  
White laughed cynically "I take it you remember the medical evaluations 452. Although, I doubt you've ever had this kind of examination before"  
  
"Why?" Max's voice was demanding, "What did you do to them?"  
  
"Nothing yet" White replied "Well except for a routine physical exam," he paused "We were prepped for two toddlers, having that third one, we had to make preparations"  
  
Max immediately snapped to her feet at that remark, careful not to touch the bars this time "What did you do to my baby you rat bastard?"  
  
"See for yourself" he glanced behind him where a woman in a white lab coat was wheeling a small gurney. The baby was on it, in a spread eagle position on her back, wearing nothing but her diaper, with two electrodes attached to her chest that were hooked up to a portable EKG monitor.  
  
"Why isn't she moving?" Max looked at Lexi's motionless form "What did you give her?" her snap back was venomous.  
  
"Full of questions aren't you 452?" White leered at her through the bars "Just a mild sedative, she was getting a little fidgety, guess she missed her momma" the last few words were incredibly sarcastic.  
  
"Or she recognized you for the shit face that you are" she returned  
  
"I'll let that slide 452" White stated, "It's an anxious time-" he looked over at the baby.  
  
"I want to make sure you are good on your word"   
  
"Don't you trust me Max?" White used her given name as a taunt to throw in her face.   
  
"You really want me to answer that?" Max threw back  
  
White suddenly whipped out a revolver "How about we answer the question about how long these kids will go unharmed-" he cocked the gun at the sedated baby.  
  
"GET AWAY FROM HER YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Max lunged at the bars, not caring about their shock effect. She heard the hiss of her sweater being burnt by the electricity.   
  
White released the trigger, as if he suddenly had a change of heart "Why waste bullets" he looked at Max, who was seething with rage. "Besides, none of you are of any value to me if you're dead" He pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, and looked over to the armed solider on his left "Restrain her when I say. I'll take care of the other"   
  
"Yes sir" the solider responded crisply, pulling out the same type of cuffs that had been used on the two X5's previously.  
  
"Exercising us?" Max threw out with sarcasm.  
  
"I think you've had enough of that 452" White unlocked Tinga's restraints from the wall, giving a nod to the armed solider. He in turn locked the titanium manacles around Max's wrists.  
  
White secured Tinga's hands in the cuffs "Need to see what inside two hot lookin' freaks, sugar 'n spice-" his breath was hot on her ear.  
  
"Bite me!" Tinga growled swiping at his face through the restraints.  
  
White reeled back briefly for a moment. "Ya had to go and piss me off" a quick glance at the solider beside Max and the man stuck a cattle prod into her stomach.  
  
"Maxie!" Tinga watched as her sister fell hard on her side, her locked hands being of no use to break her fall.  
  
"I assumed that being the second oldest in your unit 656," White began goading Tinga "You would remember that if one of you messes up, the whole squadron gets it." he actually smiled "But I'm a little more on the cynical side. You screwed up, so I think watching 452 take the fall for something YOU did is better then anything I could do to you physically" he looked her up and down "And BOY, the things I could do to you physically"  
  
Max came back to the world in a slight haze when White yanked her up by the cuffs. "On your feet solider" he stood her up to face him "You and 656 get your wish, at least part of it"  
  
Max wondered what the hell he meant, but didn't have time to phrase it in a smart ass way before she and Tinga were forcefully hauled out of the 8 x 5 steel cell. Once outside they were surrounded by armed guards; who all locked the barrels of their hyped up Magnums on the two captives.  
  
/Déjà vu/ Max thought bitterly remembering when Deck had captured her and Zack, wanting to take them back to Manticore.  
  
With guns locked on them, and guards watching their every move, the two X5 hostages were pushed forward.  
  
*****  
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
Zack studied the numbers Tinga had written on the place card "This was all that was left?" he asked of the two other men in Logan's computer room.  
  
"That and the broken glass" Logan offered  
  
His brother-in-law shot him a low glare "It's a call of emergency" Zack went on, looking at the piece of paper again "If an obstacle was too big for any of us to deal with, we'd leave a marker like this, asking for back up. "911" for emergency, and then the designations of who called it" /Maxie, Tinga, my little sisters, whoever has them will eat their own balls when I get through with them/  
  
"But why the kids?" Charlie asked from his seat "They weren't from this Manticore base"  
  
"Yeah, but they are the children of Manticore soldiers" Zack answered. "Deck wanted Case that time because, up 'till then, there had been no successful offspring conceived between normal civilians and X5's. Most of Manticore bred with its own. Renfro became fascinated with the resulting genetic codes and DNA sequencing in such babies. And if these guys are from home sweet home, they're probably salivating over having their hands on them"  
  
Charlie looked more upset "Ask a silly question" his words were angry.  
  
"Did any security cameras in the building pick up anything?" Zack suddenly asked, looking at Logan.  
  
They most likely went down the fire escape" Logan replied back "No one saw them leave, and I doubt using the halls would be an elusive escape route"  
  
"But there's a hover cam sect not far from our apartment" Charlie informed, "It might have picked something up, it's a night watcher, so it normally activates around 7:00. The sect faces the back of the building, so the fire escape would be in its view"   
  
"I'll see if I can hack into its feed" Logan swiveled in his chair to face the computer screen.  
  
"You do that" Zack came in.  
  
A few short knocks were heard on the front door.  
  
"Since I am doing THAT Zack, you can get the door," he typed on the keyboard at a fast pace.  
  
Zack slid off the table he was sitting on "Sure Logan, I'll also put some mints on your pillows while I'm up" he quipped in sarcasm, heading towards the foyer.  
  
"Who is it?" he called out, always remembering where he came from.  
  
"Genetics peddler" came the reply.  
  
Looking through the peephole, Zack saw the face of a young, dark haired man standing there.  
  
"As much as I love staring at you through this shit small hole, I'd appreciate it if you open this thing before I do"  
  
Zack pulled open the door, coming face to face with Alec.  
  
"Hey Zackie boy, remember me?" Alec stepped into the penthouse  
  
"Vaguely," Zack answered, "You're an X5?" it was more of a statement then a question.  
  
"Alec would do fine" Alec responded "If we used only designation class, it'd be confusing as hell to talk to each other" he came more into the apartment, and Zack slammed the door after him.  
  
"So you're one of Max's "brothers?" Alec stopped walking, and turned back around to face Zack.  
  
"What's it to you?" Zack barked back  
  
"Nothing," Alec defended "Just wondered if all of you were so "cutesy" with each other"  
  
"I don't see how that's a problem" Zack argued "Units take care of their own"  
  
Alec didn't comment, following the older X5 back into the computer room.  
  
"Back up has arrived fellas," Alec announced, as he came through the door-less entry. He looked at Logan, typing away at his computer "And as usual, this is where he is found"  
  
"Kind of like you and strip joints" Logan threw over his shoulder.  
  
"It's good entertainment" Alec defended "You oughta go one day. Bring Max, sure she wouldn't mind makin' some extra cash-"  
  
"Can we focus on the task at hand please?" Logan broke in with annoyance.  
  
"Fine" Alec came back "So you have any idea what kind of shit Maxie got herself into this time?" he leaned back against the computer desk.  
  
"Not yet" Logan stated above the pinging of his hands on the keys."But so far, all the signs point to some kind Manticore related task force" his hacking had brought up the mainframe to the hover drone read outs. He zoomed in on the map, to find the particular drone that had been assigned on Tinga and Charlie's block "Serial number 253718666" Logan read the code "666, funny how that seems to fit the situation"  
  
"Gotta love fate" Alec came back. He had the picture that had been beside the monitor in his hand "Excuse the subject change, but Maxie is one fine piece of ass."  
  
"If only she didn't want to drop kick yours every time she saw you" Logan commented, bringing up the time surveillance footage that was taken three hours previously. "I'm in" he announced, running the feed  
  
Alec set the photo back down, as the visual began to play on the screen. The camera focused on the side of the large picture window in Tinga's apartment; the one that had been shattered in the attack.  
  
The break in had already occurred; the soldiers had their backs to the camera. But it was plain to see the weapons in their hands that were aimed at the people inside the apartment.  
  
Zack leaned in closer to the screen "Audio sucks, can you enhance it?"  
  
"Hang on a sec" Logan stated, fiddling around with the system. After a few seconds static broke in on the speakers, but then the almost non-existent audio feed became louder.  
  
"I smell any shit and she'll be so much dead weight" the soldier's taunting words came through the speakers.  
  
Logan watched in rage as a gun was shoved under his infant daughter's neck. He could see the defiant look in Max's eyes. The next few minutes were like a bad dream. The soldiers with their tazers, both Tinga and Max falling unconscious to the floor, leaving all three kids in the hands of the SOB's.  
  
"We're heading back," a nameless soldier communicated in his radio.  
  
The rest of the conversation was lost to Logan. As even with the volume amplified, they began to speak in low monotone, and became too quiet for the hover drone's sound receiver to pick up.  
  
"Headin' downstairs?" Alec's heightened ears picked up the last few words the drone didn't "Yeah, well I would too if I wanted to avoid the cops"  
  
"Do they say anything else?" Logan swiveled in his chair, facing Alec.  
  
Alec listened for a few additional seconds "The brunette's a damn nice piece of ass. Too bad she's knocked out, or I could have some fun" he recited one soldier's words.  
  
"Thanks" Logan said after a second, his voice full of malice. A pencil snapped in his hand, and he threw the shattered pieces to the floor.  
  
"Like to have fun with that weasel's balls," Zack snapped from his position, shooting daggers at the screen.  
  
"Down boys" Alec broke in "Not that I'm certain that on some minute level Maxie would be flattered by this display of testosterone defense of her honor, but then again, you've known her longer then me"  
  
"Feeds ended," Zack announced, his eyes on the images on the screen. "Damn thing honed in on some local prostitutes"  
  
"Niicee," Alec drew in for a closer look at the scantily clad women working the street corner.  
  
Logan noticed something "Wait a sec," he played the last fifteen seconds of the feed before the camera had panned away to the hookers. He froze the image on the soldiers moving Max and Tinga to a black Hummer. He then locked on a smaller section and enhanced it.  
  
"Don't tell me you're lookin' for the license number," Alec said skeptically. "Manticore vehicles aren't that easy to trace Logan. I mean what data base would you be able to cross reference the tag with?"  
  
"It's not that hard," Logan disagreed "Just gotta look in the phone book in the same listings where you would find Black Helicopter Operations" he glanced at Zack out of the corner of his eye. "But that's not what I'm honing in on" he zoomed in on the picture more. "There's a serial number on that magnum the soldier has in his hand, on the underside of the barrel." He brought up the numbers. "Let me get at this upside down, the figure might be easier to see" he talked as he worked. A blurry set of digits now displayed on the monitor. "Now just need to get this sunny side up" he rotated the image back to its original position "and clean it up a bit" he ran an enhancement command to sharpen the numbers "Bingo"  
  
"All there in black in white," Alec stated "I'm impressed. But this will help us HOW?"  
  
"If those number is still on it, the gun isn't lifted" Logan notified. "My guess it was engineered by this outfit. You and I both know that Manticore is obsessed with numbers. Barcodes /Flash to the necks of Manticore children, barcodes are visible as they have no hair/ "designations" /flash to drill sergeant. Sgt. shouts "state your designation!" "X5-656 Sir!" Tinga stated crisply./ "Some of the newer Manticore soldiers had extra digits on the ends of their barcodes /Flash to a young man in fatigues, carrying an assault rifle/ "It signified the artillery they were assigned too /Shot of the serial number on the gun. Cut to: shot of barcode on soldier's neck. Last four numbers of both sequences matched/ "That many soldiers and that many guns, there has to be some kind of record to keep two of them from being given the same firearm."  
  
"This IS the computer age" Zack said "Probably all the records are on some CPU" the cell phone in his pocket rang. He looked annoyed and flipped the silver unit open "Yeah?"  
  
"Just wondering if I shouldn't wait up" came the reply.  
  
"Asha," Zack stated "Can't talk right now, something big is going down"  
  
"It's about Max isn't it?" the blonde sat cross-legged on the sofa in her apartment. She poured some more white wine from the half empty bottle that she and Zack had shared earlier.  
  
"Yeah it is" Zack answered back.  
  
"Give me the phone for a min" Logan held out his hand.  
  
"Zack?" Asha heard Logan's voice in the background.  
  
Zack wordlessly handed him the phone.  
  
"Asha, it's Logan. I need a favor," Logan informed.  
  
"Sure, what is it?" she answered back.  
  
"Are you at your computer?"  
  
"No, but hang on a sec" she pulled the chrome colored Vaio notebook off the coffee table and switched it on. "I'm up"  
  
"I'm gonna run a serial number for what looks like a magnum, by you and-"  
  
"Looks like?" Asha broke in, "You can't tell?"  
  
"Why I'm talking to you" Logan came back "Need you to cross reference it with the artillery check list you and the S1W keep."  
  
"Give'em to me" Asha had logged onto to her secure section dedicated to the S1W.  
  
"240967483" Logan read off the numbers to her one by one.  
  
Asha typed the digits into the database. "Hang on" she stated, clicking a few keys. "Sometimes this takes a while" a few more seconds, and the results of the search were brought up. "The numbers are significant with a newly introduced line of techno magnums- Damn" she drew out the last words "Never seen anything like this"  
  
"Why is that?" Logan asked  
  
"The design of the trigger" she brought up an image of the gun "it has some sort of micro chip attached to the underside. These things are made to propel ammo fast. I've only seen machine guns squeeze off at this kind of speed"  
  
"How fast are we lookin' at?"  
  
"I'm guessin' over forty mph, but I'm not the micro chip expert" Asha replied.  
  
"Do you know who has possession over them?"  
  
"Let me check" Asha did a little digging "They were made in South Africa, some place called Ghanti. Supply and Demand is mainly focused on military outfits. Most of them are just small guerilla units, except for one, a more sophisticated branch, headed by a guy named Peter White"  
  
"Did you say White?" Logan repeated the name  
  
"Yep" Asha responded, looking at a file photo "Thirty-ish lookin' white guy, excuse the pun. Kinda cute, in a sinister sort of way"  
  
"Thanks for the info"  
  
"You're welcome" Asha answered "Tell Zack, I've got an early morning tomorrow, so I won't be up if he decides to drop back here again" she disconnected the call.  
  
Logan hung up as well. "Say's she's not gonna wait up" he tossed Zack his phone.  
  
"Zack, you got a lil sleeper in Seattle?" Alec looked amused "Someone get me a camera to capture this Kodak moment."  
  
Zack placed the phone back inside his jacket, ignoring Alec's remark. "She give you any leads?"  
  
"The guns are from hot off the market artillery originating in South Africa. She traced it down to a few local outfits, one in particular, run by a man named White." Logan practically spat out that name. "I don't know if he has direct connections to Manticore, but so far since we've been aware of him, he's had no problem trying to kill or capture Max whenever he can."  
  
"He's got a personality to die for" Alec threw in. "literally"  
  
"Do you know where he is?" Zack questioned.  
  
"That's actually the sixty-four million dollar question" Logan responded  
  
*****  
  
"Welcome to the luxury sweet" White opened the door to a steel room.  
  
Tinga was shoved inside, Max right behind her. The room was composed of four steel walls, with no windows. Cabinets lined one side of the wall, with trays and syringes. IV bags were stacked there as well. In the center stood three cold exam tables.   
  
Max took all of this in. This room was almost an exact replicate of the ones back at Manticore. Where they would go for their "exams", and also where those under interrogation were subjected to torture to gain information.  
  
Before Max had the chance to do or say anything, she was pounced upon by two of the guards. Normally this would not be a problem, but these soldiers were stronger then anyone she had ever dealt with, including the Red series. She fought back hard, Tinga taking on one to get them off her, but it was useless. Two other guards surrounded Tinga yanking her to an exam table.  
  
"Don't be difficult 452" White stated, as one of the guards held Max down to the exam table while the other secured her in the five point leg and arm restraints. "Just makes these things go slower"   
  
"Comfy sweet thing?" the guard taunted above her.  
  
"Kiss my transgenic ass!" Max growled right back, tugging at her bindings.  
  
"You're being difficult again" White notified.  
  
"Yeah well, what'd you expect? The helpless little girl act?" Max spat back.  
  
"No" White answered back "Just for you to shut up, so we can get on with this"  
  
"With what?" Tinga growled, tugging at the restraints. "If you plan is to try and get anything out of us, you'd have a better chance of convincing me to give head to your guards."  
  
A soldier stepped up to her, one military issued, leather gloved hand tracing her cheek "Wanna play army baby? I'll lay down, and you can blow the hell outta me"  
  
"I always chew before I swallow scuzz ball" Tinga stared him down.  
  
"Whoo, nice" the solider replied  
  
"Jenkins," White broke in angrily, "get the syringes ready" he gazed over at Tinga "What would your husband say if he caught you talking like that to another man 656?" he looked over at his two captives "And neither of you should worry about spilling your guts. I just want to mess with your guts." he smiled cynically.  
  
Jenkins handed him one syringe. White picked up the 500 cc hypodermic needle, pushing the plunger all the way up to release any excess air. "The blood drive is now beginning."  
  
"Funny, I don't remember signing up" Max spat back.  
  
"I don't recall this being a voluntary procedure 452" he pierced her jugular vein with the needle.  
  
Max jerked forcefully at the pressure, trying to knock him off her.  
  
"Suck it up soldier" White mocked "You should know from your training that the arteries in neck hold more blood then those puny things in your arm. Ergo, I just cut out the middle man of having to do this several times to get all the blood I need from you by doing this in a more painful way" he pulled out the plunger, as Max's blood filled the syringe.  
  
Max couldn't even scream; the pressure from the syringe was choking off her words.  
  
"Done" White announced, yanking the needle out of Max's neck "Now that wasn't so bad was it?" he leered at her, the syringe almost completely full in his hand. He handed it off to the soldier that was closest to him "Take this for analysis"  
  
"Yes sir" the man responded crisply, capping off the needle with a tiny orange cover.   
  
The other guard didn't wait for White's instructions; he just capped the blood sample taken from Tinga. He started to follow the other out the door, when White stopped him by gripping his arm  
  
"Bring the offspring of 656 and 452 here." he scanned his eyes over Tinga and Max.  
  
"Is that wise sir?" the solider that White was gripping asked.  
  
"Yeah," Max broke in "With absolutely no respect sir, we might decide to do a disappearing act on ya and the shit ass quartet once those babies come through that door. Is this a well thought out plan?"  
  
"Is that a challenge 452?" White met her sarcasm with hard words "No, this will work because of them" he pointed to the soldiers Max had just dissed. "As I am sure you are now aware of these guys aren't from Manticore like you. They have these little minor details that separates them from you two. They have an amazing resistance to injury, and are basically made up of nothing but adrenaline." he gave a low laugh "Ya think Manticore was so great playing around with their little chemistry sets and DNA splicing? Didn't figure that those little tribes in South Africa had guys like these for hundreds of years, perfecting them on their weekends off from cattle grazing?" a shit eating grin spread across his face "You try anything once they come back, and I'll disgrace every geneticist who created you" he whipped around to the two soldiers "You two have your orders. If your not back here in 10 min, I'm gonna create the first grave site on the planet of your kind right here"  
  
"Sir!" the SIC responded with a salute, turning on his heal, and leaving the room, the other man following in step behind him.  
  
"What should we do to pass the time?" White sneered, stepping in the center of the exam tables.  
  
"Count the number of brain cells you have, but that'd be a piss poor way to pass a second" Tinga glowered at the man.  
  
"Forever a smart alic 656" White came back with "And here I thought that 452 swept that category." he stepped closer to Max, leaning close to her face.  
  
"Didn't you ever learn not to stick your face close to a lion's cage?" Max head butted White.  
  
He reeled back gripping his forehead, but then his surprise quickly turned to anger. One hand wrapped around Max's neck in an incredibly strong hold. "Doesn't matter if you're a lion tamer." he gripped the flesh tighter, sticking her side with a cattle prod. "What?" he held her gaze, "Surprised that I can do this?"  
  
After a few seconds, he pulled back, leaving her chocking from the lack of air and the shock. "Anything to add to that soldier?" he snapped his head over to Tinga, moving away from the exam tables, and heading towards the door "Don't go anywhere now," he taunted, "The party's just getting started"  
  
He exited the room, locking the door. Through the double-sided mirror, White observed them. "You have that phone that was confiscated off 452?"  
  
"Right here sir" the soldier beside him responded, handing it to him.  
  
White flipped open the phone, scanning its speed dial memory. There were some that were off little interest to him. /"Cindy" "Kendra/Walter". "Repair Shop" "Work" "Tinga/Charlie."/ One however made him stop "Logan?" he read the name aloud.  
  
"Most undoubtedly 452's husband Sir" the soldier informed. "There is no last name, so it's a close connection"  
  
"That's probably correct soldier" White agreed "Too bad *I* know the last name of this man." he laughed unsmilingly "All this time I've been trying to establish the connection between a one Logan Cale and X5-452, and I never bothered to think of an simple explanation" another slow smile colored his features.   
  
*****  
  
"Just get them back" Charlie demanded via his cell phone "I've already had to go through this one time too many"  
  
"We will" Logan reassured from his cell, while he drove his Aztec down the dark road. He had made put in a few calls, trying to figure out where White kept his base of operations. One of those calls had been to Zane. The man had major connections to all the underground establishments that existed in world. Through his digging Zane had found out that there had been some major military activity near the boarder of Oregon and Washington State. The center of the mess was at some town that had been built to house the oil workers that were laborers during that Alaska Pipeline re-direction project of '07.  
  
The project failed, the pipes being made too poorly, dumping gallons of oil into the surrounding wilderness. A week after the Pulse rioters stormed the town for food. One miss-thrown cigarette had ignited a store. The blaze quickly swept through the oil-soaked town, creating an inferno that lasted for ten days. The town was never re-built, and abandoned by those that had survived the disaster. But a few years back, trucks had rolled in, erecting a few new buildings, and re-constructing the old auto works factory.  
  
"Quite sure of yourself huh?" Alec commented in the seat beside him. "Not to be a downer Logan, but White isn't exactly a negotiating man. He has exactly what he wants, and I don't think he'll give it up, even with a fair fight"  
  
"I'm not planning to strike any deals with the man" Logan objected. "I want my family back alive, plain and simple"  
  
"Oh yeah, simple" Alec said in sarcasm. He fiddled with the radio dial, skipping over the classical and elevator music. "NSYNC, please," he dissed the pre-Pulse song "There is just something wrong with a bunch of guys spending all that time together writing love songs" he finally stopped on one station "Here we go P.O.D" he sat back listening to the group pound out the tune of their song "Alive" his head turned "So where is it exactly we're going?"  
  
"To see Max's sister Syl," Logan stated, "Zane is skippin' town, but gave us access to his Hummer to use so we can slip under White's radar. Syl is looking in on his dog Millie, so we're swinging by her place first."  
  
"And ya do the hokey pokey and ya shake it all around-" Alec broke in. He looked in the rear view mirror at Zack trailing the Aztec in his Vulcan. The CO of the X5's opted to take his own wheels before he sat in the same car as Alec. His riding glasses were almost identical to the one's Max wore, except the lenses were red. His blonde hair blew in the wind created by the fast speed. "If you back up fast, bet he'd do a cool trick"  
  
Logan just shook his head in annoyance, even though the idea was tempting. After a few minutes Zack pulled ahead of the Aztec. Logan had himself never been to Syl's apartment, so Zack lead the way down the exit ramp.  
  
Soon the three were rounding the hall where Syl established residence.  
  
Logan's hand knocked on the door of apartment 21.  
  
"What's your business?"   
  
Logan turned to see a late teen or twenty something Hispanic man calling out to him from behind his bolted door. "What you want with her?"  
  
"We're family" Logan pointed out  
  
The guy didn't look convinced "That right? I think you'z just lookin' for trouble."  
  
"Yeah kid" Alec leered, "Go on back to your Sears catalogs before you cool off"  
  
"How bout I bleed you out punk?" he sneered.  
  
"Rico, give it up" Syl stood in the now opened doorway. Her blonde hair was damp, so that it rustled against her leather jacket "*I* got more balls then you" she looked over to Logan "One second guys, gotta lock my door"  
  
"Take your time" Alec looked the blonde up and down.  
  
Syl flipped her long hair back from her face to get a better look at Alec "And who the hell are you?"  
  
"This is Alec" Logan introduced, "A "close" friend of Max's" he emphasized the word "close" to get her to pick up the point.  
  
"Aww, I never knew that Maxie thought of me so highly Logan" Alec came back  
  
Syl finished locking her door. She stepped up behind Alec, flipping down the collar of his jacket to reveal his concealed barcode.  
  
"We just met Syl, c'mon in the hall-" Alec said in mock disapproval.  
  
"You sure are charming aren't you?" Syl returned in sarcasm, stepping away from him.  
  
"Sure am" he came back  
  
She rolled her eyes "Let's head out" Rico was still staring at her. "Janice!" she called out "Rico needs a screwdriver out here so he can finally fix that broken bell of yours!"  
  
A woman appeared behind Rico. "Here baby," she slapped the screw driver in his hand "I'm tired of sales people coming and havin' no advanced warning" she looked over to her "Thanks for the heads up Syl"  
  
"No prob gurl" Syl returned with a smile.  
  
Once they were in the elevator, she pulled out a silver Sig "Early Christmas present Zack" she handed him the gun.  
  
Zack immediately checked the clip. "Full, nice work little sister"  
  
"Here it goes again," Alec said  
  
"Hey shut up!" Zack barked back.  
  
Syl ignored the argument, looking towards Logan "So what does this shit want with Tinga and Maxie?"  
  
"Don't know" Logan answered honestly "White's main focus so far has been to simply deplete the existence of X5's. But that doesn't look like the game plan now, or he would've already done it" the elevator dinged to the parking garage. Syl headed over to her purple Corverre.  
  
"You guys leave your rides here, and we'll take mine. Too many cars at Zane's will attract a crowd"  
  
Zack took shotgun, before anyone else called it. Having to be in the same car with Alec, he wanted to keep as much distance between them so there wouldn't be any blood on his hands.  
  
"Slow down there speed racer," Alec quipped at Zack's speed.  
  
"Don't lean on my hood Alec" Syl warned, "If you smudge up my gurl I'll kick your nuts in"  
  
"Yes ma'am-"  
  
"Just get in the car ass," Syl barked.  
  
****  
  
THIRTY MINUTES LATER  
  
"Zane didn't give you the key?" Zack asked.  
  
Syl looked up from her lock picking "He doesn't have one, lost it a while ago. This is how he "unlocks" his door." the door finally came open soundlessly.  
  
Barking echoed in the darkness. Syl flipped on the light "Take it easy Mil, it's just me" she scratched the dog's ears. Millie lapped at her hand, retreating more into the trailer.  
  
"Nice," Alec commented stepping inside "The showroom quality deluxe aluminum trash model."  
  
Syl ignored him "Zane told me to check his answering machine message when I got in here."  
  
"Why?" Alec asked  
  
"Don't know" Syl replied, "But let's find out" she pushed the button on the machine that would play back Zane's outgoing message.  
  
"If you are lisitin' to this-heh, sorry I always wanted to say that. I take it you already met up with Syl if you're here. That base is eighty miles due west north west of here. There ain't much except trees and shit between there and here, so don't let that throw you off. The keys to Mr. Hummer are inside that opened bag of Millie's kibble in the kitchen. Fuel is full, so you should make it there in two hours. My arsenal is in the back, should ya need it. Ok, now the individual props. Syl, don't forget to feed Millie, don't want my dog dead, and help bring our sisters home. Logan, you got skills on the computer, so fiddle with that tracking service in my ride; and for god sakes don't do anything dumb. I don't want Maxie to come hunt me down 'cause something happened to you. Mr. Cop Out" Zane used his nickname for Zack "Drive my wheels, but keep your mind on the road bro. Prove that you're the CO Deck apparently thought you were qualified to be. And whoever the hell that other X5 is, good luck with this group, and guys? lets not put our years of covering our tracks to waste. Alcohol and a match makes a great trash can fire. Oh and whoever does the deed owes me a new tape."   
  
Syl popped the tape out of the machine "How 'bout we make it daddy's Christmas present?" she asked Millie "Or would he like that Metalica CD I already got planned better?" she pulled out the tape from its casing, cutting it into pieces with her switch blade. When the brown film ended, she threw all the pieces and the empty shell in the trash, adding more paper inside to make the fire larger and burn longer.  
  
"1996" Logan read the label off the bottle of Rhone he picked up off the counter "Good vintage" he uncorked the bottle and poured a third of the contents in the trash.   
  
"Probably for his New Years bash." Syl snagged a box of matches "He has the vino, and Krit racks some backwoods Moonshine, it's great" the match light after a single strike and she threw it in the trash. Large orange flames sparked out of the can, singeing the sides and turning the "evidence" to ash.   
  
"Too bad, Jondy couldn't be here to see this" After it burned for a few minutes Syl doused the whole can with a bowlful of water. Smoke now rose in the fire's place.  
  
"What do ya say Mil?" Syl looked at the dog "Chow?" she wagged her tail happily. "Just let me go fishin' first" she unearthed the keys to Zane's Hummer from a mound of Kibbles-N-Bits. "Here girl" she set the dog bowl on the newspapers that were there. Millie pounced on it.  
  
Zack locked the door to trailer before unlocking the driver's side to the Hummer. A hiss was heard. "Fuck!" Zack paused in his task, punching in a set of digits in the keypad under the door handle. A green light switched on. "Not gonna get zapped from this damn security system again" he opened the now deactivated door and climbed in.   
  
Once on the road, Logan began messing with the tracking service, while Syl and Alec checked out the armory in the back.  
  
"Sig P299" Alec pulled the clip from the gun "Haven't seen one of these since Disney World went Pro-Terror"  
  
Syl didn't say anything, re-aligning the sight on the small automatic she was holding.  
  
"Zane must be the last angry man" Alec threw out.  
  
"Can't we just leave him on the side of the road?" Zack stated, his eyes still on the highway.  
  
"For once I think we can agree on something," Logan returned. The screen on the tracker now showed a map of Washington and Seattle. "This place just barely crosses the Washington border." he created a line from the two points. "Countdown time 1:56:32" he red off the readout the tracker gave him for the total amount of time from Point A to Point B.   
  
A ringing broke the silence. Logan looked down at his phone, it hadn't rung all night. He looked at the ID "It's Max's number"  
  
The group went quiet.  
  
Logan punched the "0" placing the phone up to his ear "Max?" he had a feeling it wasn't her. If it were this easy for her to contact him, she would've done so already. But, he still hoped.  
  
"I'm sorry Max is unable to come to the phone right now"  
  
"Who is this?" Logan barked out.  
  
Zack turned to face his brother-in-law, at that remark.  
  
"Just your worst nightmare" White replied "Cale? Why didn't I see this before?" there was humorless laughing on the other end. "Only a man like you would actually have the guts to fuck with these freaks."  
  
"I'm gonna fuck with you freak if you do anything to hurt my wife!" his voice was a low growl.  
  
"Eastwood is dead son," White taunted "So cut the crap. And you're a little too late for prevention. 452 isn't exactly happy with her current situation. And I say, happy, unhappy, who the hell cares? Even a squirmy lab rat still gets messed with."  
  
"What the hell did you do to her?" Logan's anger was livid.  
  
"She's built for this" White objected in mock reassurance "I mean what's a few pints of blood and drug experiments to Manticore genetics? Not like we're doing that to those little babies you and 452 procreated, at least not yet"  
  
"Well your window of opportunity's about to be slammed shut on your fingers you son-of-a-bitch. Mark my words, if anything happens to my family, I will kill you"  
  
"If only that were possible," White stated cryptically. "Oh and if I find out you're tracing this call, which by the way won't help didley squat, I'll start working on that scenario you just mentioned."  
  
Logan slammed the cover down on the phone hard, angrily ending the call.  
  
"Did he mention anything about where they are?" Syl asked from the back seat.  
  
"Like he's just gonna come right out and say "yeah, they're in back, here's the key, lock up when you're done" Alec corrected.  
  
"Just told me the 'fun' he's having" Logan spat back in response. "Some kind of tests he's running on them"  
  
"He said he was performing experiments?" Zack whipped his around to look at him, each word punctuated with venom.  
  
"Didn't come right out and say it, but I still got the point. The sleaze's acting like he's a hunter showing off his prized catch in The Most Dangerous Game."  
  
"When I get a hold of him" Syl locked the clip back into the Sig in her hand with one hard, fluent motion "Shit's gonna hit the fan"  
  
"Might have a tougher time of it then you think Syl" Logan objected  
  
Syl shot him an 'oh please look' "We trained for this kinda crap Logan"  
  
"It's not the same as Manticore" Logan came back "White and his group, they're-advanced. I don't know what the hell they are, the closest connection I could find so far are the Red Series in South Africa, except these guys don't have implants. Max had a run in with some of them once." he now had the X5's attention. "They fight as well as Manticore, but they don't have barcodes"  
  
"Nomalies?" Syl suggested, "Maybe some of them were taken to train with this White character."  
  
"Max said that when she had that run in, White kept throwing her training background in her face. Said that she was stupid if she thought that Manticore and their little chemistry sets were the only ones who could create advanced genetic warriors"  
  
"So what the hell are these guys?" Zack asked the question that no one did.  
  
"That spot for the sixty-four million dollar question still open?" Alec asked.  
  
*****  
  
"See" the iron door opened and White entered the concrete enclosure, an armed solider on his left "Told you they were still alive" the two little boys were at his other side. The soldier's gun was all the while trained on Case and Jess.  
  
Max and Tinga had been relocated to a non descript gray room. There was nothing there except the walls and the floor. Tinga had scanned over the whole area, finding no method of escape, no cracks no nothing. Whoever designed it was through.   
  
"Momma?" Case's voice sounded unsure, the long separation had taken its toll.  
  
"It's me baby" Tinga knelt next to him.  
  
That was all Case needed, he propelled himself in her arms.   
  
"I'm here hun" Max was repeating the same actions with Jess, hugging his little body to her fiercely "It's aiight" she pulled back looking him over with a sharp eye /What did those fuckers do to my child?/ "Are you okay sweetie? You hurt anywhere?" she felt the back of his head, checking for lumps or scrapes.  
  
Jess just started to cry for the sole reason that he was scared.  
  
White wheeled in the gurney with the baby on it "I just love happy endings don't you?" each word reeked of disdain. The steel door slammed shut.  
  
"Sir" Jenkins stopped White out in the hall "With all due respect, putting those kids in with 656 and 452 isn't well thought out. Now there is nothing holding them back from trying to plan an escape."  
  
White didn't seem fazed by his declaration. "There are more then thirty miles of woods between here and anywhere. Now 452 and 656 may know how to track, but this is new territory for them, and traveling with three small children makes it hard to be inconspicuous" he looked over to Jenkins angrily "*Don't* question my authority again soldier. This operation will not suffer with one less genetically freaked shit ass to worry about." he stared hard at him "Is that understood?"  
  
"Yes sir" Jenkins responded.  
  
"I wanna go home," Jess proclaimed, his little body leaning against a wall.  
  
Max reached an arm around her son, shifting Lexi to the other arm "Me too sweetie" her eyes shifted upwards to Tinga sitting in the center of the room, Case in her lap. "Ya think anyone found your marker?"  
  
"That's why I left it baby sister" Tinga answered.   
  
"Yeah, but know one knows where we are" Max argued. "Hell *I* don't even know where we are."  
  
"The temp has changed much, so we're still around Washington."  
  
"Overheard some of the oh-so-fun soldiers mention that this use to be some sort of oil digging boom town. Oh how times have changed."  
  
Tinga didn't say anything, but suddenly noticed something she hadn't before "Look," she pointed a small slit in the floor. "I thought it was just a shadow at first." she gripped her hand in the slit and pulled. Part of the floor lurched forward, but caught on something.  
  
Max stood up "Can you hold your sister for me hun?" she carefully set her daughter into Jess's hand.  
  
The two year old placed both arms around the infant, securing her to him. Lexi was almost the same size as him, but he managed.  
  
Max smiled a bit at the scene, and stepped over to Tinga.   
  
"This thing's got a latch." Tinga tugged on it again "It's gotta be metal or I would've gotten it off by now."  
  
"Place must be built like Manticore, that has to lead to a underground network. White probably used it to haul in equipment when he designed this place"  
  
"Bet your right Maxie" Tinga grunted out "We just need to get Door Number Three opened" she gave a hard wrench, and the door popped open. "Check out the noise level," whispered.  
  
Max stepped over to the door, honing in her hearing. "Don't think anyone noticed" she turned back to Tinga "And I don't give a damn if they did, the accommodations suck, and service is a bitch."  
  
"Time to blow." Tinga agreed. She picked up Case "Hold tight to me baby" she looked down below, before dropping the ten feet to the ground. She landed silently on her feet.  
  
"Follow Aunt Tinga sweetie" Max picked up her son, scooting him over to the edge.   
  
"I got you Jess" Tinga reassured holding out her arms to catch him.  
  
Max carefully pushed him over the side, and heard the gentle "plop" of him landing safely in her sister's arms.  
  
Once he was down Max lifted Lexi in her arms, securing her in a tight grip before making the leap. She landed as lightly as Tinga, jumping up to re-close the hatch.  
  
The place where they now were was a long hallway, dimly lit. Water pipes ran all along the ceiling.  
  
"Jump down hun" Max told Jess who had launched himself in her arms the second she had came from the above ground room. She set him carefully on his feet "But stay close to mommy 'kay?" she grasped his hand through her leather glove.  
  
The headed forward, the hallway ended a few feet later, branching off into a labyrinth of rooms and doorways. "There's light up ahead" Max zoomed in her vision. "North" she pointed ahead of her in the semi-darkness.   
  
After walking about ten yards, the two X5's came to the source of the light. A 5 x 7 ft barred window streamed in moonlight.  
  
"This just keeps getting better," Max remarked.  
  
"Sir!" a soldier was standing in the opened doorway of the empty cell. "The two X5's have escaped."  
  
White shoved the man aside; he looked around the empty room. "Son-of-a-bitch" he noticed the hatch on the floor. He tried to open it, but Max had it re-bolted. "Where does this lead?"   
  
"Underground storage Sir" the soldier responded. "It's a network of halls and rooms around the entire building."  
  
"Any windows?"  
  
"Only one that hasn't been sealed Sir" the soldier answered "But it's barred, about half a mile from the main gate."  
  
"Notify the Unit at that post to be on the lookout." White ordered, "Tell them I want the X5's back alive, I don't care what other kind of things are done to bring them in" he stood back up from his kneeling position.  
  
"Yes Sir" the soldier responded, heading out. He flipped on his wrist unit "Unit in Sector One comeback, message relay-"  
  
"Structure of these bars are weak" Max felt along the edges of the metal, there were several cracks and dings from weather and age. "Guess these aren't built "Manticore tough"  
  
Tinga picked up an old sectioned chunk of dry concrete. "Give me a hand Maxie"  
  
Max grasped the other end. "Stay back guys" she told their kids. "On three. One. Two-" they pulled back the block like a battering ram at ready-"Three-" there was a large cacophony of noise as the cement crumbled the middle two bars. "Someone should really tell White that his builders cut corners."  
  
They slid through the bars. The window lead out to the clearing surrounding the main gate. The moon outlined a large expanse of tree line about five miles away. The glint of a fifteen-foot high barbed wire fence stood between the clearing and the woods. There was no catwalk, but Max could see figures moving near the fence. One of the soldiers who had broken into Tinga's apartment stood on sentry duty along with another soldier Max hadn't had the "privilege" of meeting yet.  
  
The tip off from the soldier with White, plus all the noise had the guards at ready, but they didn't exactly know where Max and Tinga had come out yet. They stood, with their guns cocked in the darkness, prowling up and down the span of the chain-linked fence.   
  
Max and Tinga crept silently through the clearing. Max held the baby close to her chest, only letting her nose hit the air so she could breathe, but to muffle the noise should she start to cry. The made it to a low row of shrubs planted just to the side of the fence.   
  
Tinga untangled Case from her arms, setting him in a small "clearing" between the branches.  
  
"Momma-" Case sounded scared  
  
"Shh, baby" Tinga reassured in a whisper "You hafta stay here with your cousins for a while 'kay?"   
  
Max set her two down beside Case, laying Lexi across the boys' laps. "Hold onto her okay?" they nodded silently. "We'll be right back guys, it'll be okay. Just stay here and be VERY quiet" She moved some branches to block them from sight.  
  
Max remained in a crouch, moving to the end of the hedge. She silently signaled Tinga to left.  
  
Tinga nodded, signaling back to take down the guards. They shifted left to defer any ammo away from the hiding children. There was really nowhere to be secrete once they past the shrubs. This would have to be a direct and lethal ambush.  
  
The soldier caught site of Max once she was about ten yards in front of him "I don't think so 452" he cocked the gun at her. "You're fighting a loosing game"  
  
"Sorry, my rules aren't the same as yours." Max side kicked him in the face.  
  
The soldier caught her foot dropping her to the ground. "You didn't invent the game" he squeezed off his magnum.  
  
Max rolled on the grass, dodging the spray of bullets. She leapt up to her feet, facing her adversary.  
  
"Manticore never prepared you for this soldiers" the guard in front of Max proclaimed. "And there ain't no crash course offered to save your asses either" he dropped his gun to the ground.  
  
"Giving up so soon?" Tinga quipped.  
  
"I prefer hand-to-hand combat" the soldier responded "Gives me more chances to disgrace you." he lunged at Tinga. She avoided him, back flipping four feet in the air, and landed behind him. "Nice 656" the soldier returned. "Too bad I still have to take you down." he flipped, once, landing Tinga on her back.  
  
"Want a break soldier?" he taunted "Too much?"  
  
Tinga corkscrewed in the air, nailing him in the chest with her foot. She landed back on her feet, her body in a fighting stance.  
  
A war broke out between the four soldiers. Max and Tinga managed to get in a few good moves, but the line of soldiers that these two came from had amazing agility. Manticore enhanced moves and fighting skills could not equal them. Max had been pinned under the second soldier more times then she could count, her lip bloody and split in several places.  
  
"Too bad about this 452" the soldier had his gun on her neck, after having slammed her to the grass. "White said all you had to be was "alive", anything else I wanted to do was fine-"  
  
Max leapt back up sending him into the fence. "Yeah, well this isn't about you scum bag"  
  
*****  
  
"I have them" Syl spoke into her mic. "Side of the main gate, and there not alone" she and Zack were crouched in the undergrowth of the woods surrounds the operation.  
  
"Kids with them?" Zack asked, pulling up behind her.  
  
"I wish" Syl answered back "This company's tall and ugly."  
  
Zack honed in his vision, seeing the fight going on through the fence. "Alec, they're around the other side of the warehouse."  
  
"See'em." Alec responded, pressed against the warehouse's outer wall. "No offense Zack, but your sisters' are gettin' their tails kicked. Logan wasn't fooling around with what he said"  
  
"Well stop watching, and get over there" Zack barked back.  
  
"Yes sir oh fearless leader." Alec ended the connection.   
  
"When this is all over-" Zack turned to face Syl "-I'm going to slam Alec into the nearest tree."  
  
"Slam yourself there as well bro" Syl pointed out "'Cause Alec's only crime so far is to be as pig-headed as you" she met his eyes, and before he could say anything she added "C'mon, let's go get our girls." She stalked forward, carefully avoiding the leaves that had fallen to keep from ruining the "surprise"  
  
Alec had started to move, when he caught site of something inside the warehouse. He slid through the unlocked window, coming into a lab. He stopped at a test tube rack of blood samples. There were two large ones that bore the designations "X5-656" and "X5-452" beside that were three smaller tubes, two labeled "gen II-452" and the other marked as "gen II-656"  
  
"Aww, and I didn't make a donation," Alec whispered to himself, picking up all five test tubes in his hands. He dropped them haphazardly into a large sink, the glass cracking on the aluminum basin. "Oops, gotta do something about these-" he looked down at his hands, turning them over once "pure jello" he turned on the water out of the faucet, washing the blood samples down the sink.   
  
After the crimson stains disappeared down the pipes, he snatched Max's cell phone off a counter. "Can't have this here-" he looked through the speed dial-"hey, she doesn't have my name."  
  
"Pity" a gun cocked by his ear. "Turn around"  
  
Alec sighed, spinning around to meet a lab technician locking her semi-automatic on him.  
  
"Just what do you think you're doing?" the gun moved closer to Alec's chest. "Those samples are very important to us, who the hell are you?"  
  
"I'm the official Manticore clean up crew lady." Alec stared down the woman "Those samples weren't properly contained, I merely prevented cross-contamination. Standard procedure."  
  
The tech moved the gun closer still "And why do I find that so hard to believe?"  
  
"I think it's a trust issue" Alec came back, kicking the gun out of her hand. "Too bad I lied" he knocked her into the wall. "Glad you're not that hard to take out" he pocketed the cell and slid back out the window.  
  
"Never give up do you 452?" the soldier taunted, breaking out from under Max, and flipping back in front of her. He grabbed her by the arm slamming her into the fence corner.  
  
Max rebounded again. "Funny, I wasn't taught that in my training"  
  
"Me neither" Zack had made it to the fence, leaping over it in one move. He side kicked the soldier hard with his combats.  
  
"I don't recall this being a public party 452" the man returned, jumping to his feet.   
  
"Well consider this a crash fest" Syl notified behind him, shooting off the magnum in his shoulder. "Ya really shouldn't leave this lying around."   
  
"Nice timing sis" Tinga commented.  
  
"Or bad timing" White's voice called out. He had another magnum and aimed it at the group. "I thought I made my self clear on this whole "escape" issue soldiers."  
  
"Guess we didn't pay attention." Max spat back.  
  
"Yet another Manticore flaw" White taunted. "Taking children and trying to turn them into warriors, what were those geneticists thinking, wasting all that money."  
  
"You didn't wait for me before starting the "pep talk" White" Alec threw out behind the man "How rude"  
  
"Why don't we just jump ahead to the main event 891-" White leered -"that way you won't be left out on anymore."  
  
"I think it's just too little too late." Alec responded. "My feelings are still hurt"  
  
"Funny-" White glared at him -"I don't seem to care about that" the gun went off.  
  
All the X5's ducked the bullets. Max flipped over White's head, moving to collect the hidden children and get the hell outta there.  
  
"The kids are hiding in those shrubs." Tinga whispered to Syl.  
  
Syl nodded "Time to collect the young'uns from day care"  
  
Before Max had landed again, White took aim on her. The XR-05's bullet glanced off her shoulder, dropping her to ground.  
  
"MAX!" Zack was right next to her.  
  
"I'm fine." Max informed, she put her hand to the wound. "It's only flesh" "Go get the kids, I'll catch up" she got to her feet with a hiss.  
  
"I can't leave you here Maxie-"  
  
"DO IT!" Max screamed at him "Get YOUR head in the game Commander, MOVE OUT!"  
  
Zack quickly left after that, looking back at her long enough to check her progress.  
  
"I think your running out of tricks 452" White approached her with the gun.  
"And lives"  
  
Max was now caked in mud from a stagnant puddle she had been thrown in earlier. Her hair was plastered to areas of her face, and chunked off her head like dirty snakes. Her face had several abrasions, and her lip cut had been opened again, trickling blood down her chin. But despite all that, she still had defiance in her eyes "I'm spliced with feline DNA ass, still have more to spare." she circled him like a beast of prey.  
  
"Aundie Syl.."   
  
"Hey baby boy" Syl responded to her nephew. "Ready to go home?"  
  
"Where mommee?" Jess asked  
  
"Mommy's a little tied up." Alec told him   
  
Syl lifted her niece off Jess, holding the baby to her. "Your momma's gonna be here soon sweetie. I want you to go with Alec, he'll take you too her."  
  
Jess looked at the stranger warily.  
  
"I'm not a bad guy to know kid." Alec commented.  
  
Despite his reassurance, Jess still didn't take to the idea, and started to cry.  
  
"He's not going to do anything to-" Tinga's reinforcement was short-lived, when Jess caught sight of Zack approaching.  
  
"Unky!" the little boy propelled himself at him, stopping short as Zack held up his hand. "I'm a little too messy to tangle with right now Jess"  
  
"But he wants to so bad Unky" Alec threw out.  
  
Zack shot him a scowl "Maxie's wounded, we gotta double back and get her out"  
  
"What about them?" Syl spoke of her two nephews and niece. "Someone needs to get them out"  
  
"You and Tinga take them Syl, I'm going back for Maxie"  
  
"Alone?" Alec asked, "Not to de-grade this whole "CO-Big Brother" aspect you got going Zack, but I've already had rumbles with White and his lackeys, and I've never had my ass handed to me by the same guys so many times before."  
  
*****  
  
Logan threw off his headset and quickly climbed out of the Hummer when he saw the two figures emerging from the woods. "Where's Max?" was his first question when he didn't see her among the group.   
  
"White got to her" Syl passed him the baby "Zack and Alec doubled back to bring her in"  
  
"Mommee not here" Jess piped up once Tinga set him in the back seat of the Hummer.   
  
"Don't worry sweet baby" Tinga stroked her nephew's head "She'll come"  
  
****  
  
Max had never fought so hard in her life. White looked no worse for wear then when the match had started.   
  
"What the hell are you people?" she circled him, mud squishing beneath her feet, and her flesh wound bleeding into the dirt caked on her shoulder. "Thought that all this time we were just "special" she spat out the last word.  
  
"Manticore was just some little side freak show on the edge of tradition" White informed, knocking her off her feet "We didn't need any DNA sequencing, black market funding, or some shit ass barcodes for cataloging. This is what we always were, not some whacked out scientific mutations." the gun was back at her face "I'm sure that you've met our friend here already."  
  
"Now THAT'S a waste of funding" Max growled.  
  
White jammed the maw in her neck -"I know-" cynicism dripped from his voice "I have to waste it on you. Not that it hasn't been a blast, but you've out lived your usefulness to me-" the gun cocked "-Think this is your last life 452-"  
  
A blast exploded behind White's ear. "Nice equipment White, thanks for lettin' me borrow it"  
  
White turned to stare down Alec, who had the still smoking XR-05 in his hand. Though his chest was bleeding, White remained on his feet. "Was that a tact maneuver 891?" he grabbed at the wound, finally starting to stumble in his stride  
  
"Figured since these baby's are designed to kill X5's in quick time, it'll delay your ass from commin' after us for a while"  
  
*****  
  
To Logan, there was never a more wonderful sight then his dark angel stepping out of the trees, towards the clearing where the Hummer stood.  
  
"I'm not going to that spa again-" Max joked quietly, wiping mud from her face. She headed towards her husband "The payment plan sucks"  
  
Logan drew her into a long kiss, pulling her mud-slicked body close to him.  
  
"Could you do that AFTER we get outta here? Just to save some time?"  
  
Alec's remark made Logan pull back "I can't remember why I called him."  
  
*****  
  
Zack crouched on the hearth near the fire. His hand grasped the wooden handle of a hunter's knife. The metal end was submerged in the flame heating up the blade.  
  
"Ya think no one would notice that Hummer hidden under a tarp?" Alec had just come through the door to Logan's parents cabin. "Not very discrete"  
  
Logan had suggested that they stop off at his uncle's cabin for the night, the kids were tired, and it would be best to stay off the main roads at least for one night.  
  
"Yeah well neither is your face" Max threw out. She sat cross-legged on the stone with her back facing Zack. Her shoulder wound was exposed by the cut of her gray tank top. "Anyway, this place is tucked away enough so I don't think anyone will notice"  
  
Zack lifted the blade from the flames, the metal glowing from the heat, hissing when he dropped a small amount of water on it. "This is gonna burn like hell-" he lifted the stray strands of hair off Max's back.  
  
"Just get it over with Zack" Max informed, readying herself for the "assault" The blade let out a hiss when it came in contact with the injury. She let out a strangled cry, while the heat did its work to help stop the bleeding.   
  
"Sorry Maxie" Zack held the heated blade to her skin for about a minute before removing it. "You still alive?" he placed the knife down, dabbing at the wound with a sterile cloth.  
  
She cringed slightly at the new sensation "Just got my sense heightened" she remarked.  
  
After Zack had finished, Max headed off into the bathroom for a shower. She had years of dirt to wash off of her.  
  
The hot spray eased the tension in her muscles, though it did make her wound sting like hell. But that couldn't be avoided. She just gritted her teeth, and kept the injury under the water for a little longer to flush out the dirt.  
  
Mud washed off her in rivers, flowing down the drain. After all the dirt was gone, she cut off the water. Wrapping a towel around her damp body, she surveyed the damage in the mirror. Her neck bore a bruise from the pressure of the syringe White had used on her. Cuts adorned both cheeks. She was sore from the countless times she had been zapped with prods and tazers. /Hey at least I didn't bite the dust/ She ran a brush hastily through her hair.  
  
She was lost in thought, so when the bathroom door opened, she almost jumped ten feet in the air.  
  
"It's just me" Syl stepped into the steamed up room. "Logan told me to give these to ya." she set a pile of clean clothes on the counter.   
  
"Thanks" was all Max said, "Where is he?"  
  
"Nourishing the little bottomless pits you two have" Syl answered.  
  
Max smiled slightly. Thankfully, there was a clean set of underwear on top of the pile. /Thank God, I REALLY didn't want to wear my old stuff again/  
  
"Feeding them wasn't exactly on the top of White's priority list" Max zipped up the pair of worn jeans.  
  
"Figures" was all Syl said. "Before you put a top on, let me dress that." she opened a package of gauze. Pushing her sister's long hair off of her shoulders, she dabbed at Max's back with disinfectant, making her hiss.  
  
"Forgot how much it hurts to get shot at" she jumped again at a second wipe with the cotton ball.  
  
"Don't get any better know matter how many times ya kiss the metal." Syl placed a second layer of gauze over the first, and the applied white First Aid tape to the edges of both to hold them down.  
  
"Did they look okay?" Max was asking about the kids. Physically, they had suffered very little from the ordeal, but emotionally might be another story.  
  
"They're too relieved right now to be back with both you guys, I don't think it's really clicking yet-" she closed off the final corner-"Done"  
  
Max pulled the green turtleneck over her head. "What must be going through their heads?" she looked over at Syl "How can I make this right for them?"  
  
Syl put a hand on her baby sister's shoulder "Just be there when they need you" she hugged her.  
  
Max returned the gesture "Thanks for bustin' us out"  
  
"Hey no prob. I could've don't without Alec crunching on me all night, but other then that I was glad to tag along"  
  
"Sorry no one warned you about him" Max apologized.   
  
"Better get out there Maxie" Syl killed the lights "I haven't left the Boy Wonder and Zack alone in the same room all night, blood's a bitch to clean up."  
  
*****  
  
"..No honey, I'm fine, really." Tinga held the cell up to her ear, speaking to her relieved and concerned husband on the other line. "Case is okay too. I looked him over, that shit ass didn't hurt him. There were-tests" she spat out the last word like it was poison-"but I don't see any injuries on him."  
  
Whatever Charlie said next caused Tinga's eyes to tear up. "I'm still here love, you haven't lost us. We stopped over at Logan's cabin for the night. The old soldier genes kicked in for laying low after the "attack" Your niece and nephew are okay too, tired and hungry-"but okay." a pause "Max got a little nicked out there, but it's nothing major, just a flesh wound."  
  
"Put Case on honey" Charlie's voice came through the receiver.  
  
"Okay Charlie. I'll see you in the morning, wait for me?"  
  
"Till eternity Tinga" Charlie answered, the emotion palpable in his tone "I love you"  
  
"Love ya too, here's Case-" Tinga removed the phone from her ear, carefully passing it to her son "Daddy wants to talk to you sweetie" she helped the little boy steady the cell to his ear.  
  
Max and Syl emerged from the bathroom. Syl headed over the hardwood floor to the kitchen to claim what was left of the coffee in the brewer. "Java Maxie?"  
  
"Sounds great" Max slid into the unoccupied kitchen chair across from Logan.  
  
"You feeling better?" Logan spooned some more pureed fruit into Lexi's mouth. The little girl in his lap tried to take the spoon away from her daddy with her little hands.  
  
"I'm okay" Max remarked "Just a little worn out." she smiled at the baby making a mess, dribbling her dinner down her chin. She took a napkin and wiped off Lexi's mouth. "You're gonna need a new shirt soon baby"  
  
"She could be just expressing her zest for modern art angel" Logan replied "Can't stand in the way of a budding artist." his kissed the top of his daughter's head.  
  
Max took the spoon out of his hand, spoon-feeding the baby while Logan held her securely in his lap. "What is this?" she asked, looking at the jar.  
  
"Pureed pears" Logan answered "My mom use to make this for me when I was a baby. Gave me the recipe a few months before her and dad died. She said I could make it for my kids one day."  
  
"She likes it," Max held out the spoon in front of the baby, who watched her mommy intently, waiting for it to land in her mouth. "Seems that all the women in your life can't get enough of your cooking" Max commented, popping another mouthful into Lexi's mouth.  
  
"Seems so" Logan responded. He looked up, noticing something he hadn't before. Ugly purple and blue bruises, the size of finger marks wrung Max's entire neck, like some one had tried to strangle her.  
  
Logan's hand brushed against the discoloration. He could feel the roughness of injured skin, underneath his fingertips. His blood boiled /Who the hell did something like this to MY baby?/  
  
Max stopped what she was doing at his probing "White's version of "modern art" she stated sadly. "For a spineless dick, he knocked it down hard." she gave a hard smile "Actually makes me miss Deck. At least with him I had my kick ass genes to my advantage."  
  
"Speaking of genes Max-" Alec approached the table where the two sat. "While we got the pleasure to be VIP's in White secret lair, I found a couple of blood samples of you and Tinga here, and I chucked them. So sorry, no donor privileges. And-" he slid her cell phone to her "You really need to remember where you leave this." he looked at her in mock stern "What was all that training for anyway if not to be careful?"  
  
"Here's some philosophy for ya. What's the sound of my foot breaking off in your ass? But thanks for doin' all that" she added at the end.  
  
"You'd actually cheat on whiz boy here Max?" Alec raised an eyebrow.   
  
"Save it for the street life Alec" Logan warned, playing with the baby's fingers.  
  
Syl set a black coffee mug in front of Max.  
  
"What is up with all these negative vibes guys?" Alec asked, glancing back from Logan to Syl to Max.  
  
"I think it has something to do with your personality" Syl noted, sipping from her own mug.  
  
"Nothing wrong with being an individual." Alec complained. "See if I save your ass next time Maxie-" he looked at her-"after all this bashing being dished out on me."  
  
"I will" Max came back.  
  
Tinga had gotten off the phone, now stopped in front of the group with Case tucked up in her arms. "Think he's finally worn out." she brushed his fingers through his chestnut hair. "Going to put him down in the master bedroom."  
  
"These guys have just about had it as well." Max looked over at her son, half asleep on his folded arms on the couch. "We'll come with you."  
  
"I'll go get Riff Van Winkle over there." Max said to Logan, standing up. She collected her tired son, who wrapped his arms around her sleepily.  
  
Tinga laid Case down next to Jess in the queen size bed, getting him settled.  
  
"Sweet dreams baby" Max kissed her sleepy son on his head, tucking the sheets around him.  
  
"Mommee?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Did we get hurtee cause we was bad?" he looked at her with big questioning eyes.  
  
Max placed a gentle hand on his forehead "No sweetie, you weren't bad." she reassured him. "You were never bad." a pause "This wasn't your fault. Those people and that place were bad, they should never have hurt you. You understand that baby? You are a good boy, and Lexi and Case are good too"  
  
"But why de hurt us momma?"  
  
That simple question was the hardest to answer. How did you tell your son that there were people in this world that wanted nothing better then to lock him in a cage like an animal, and experiment on him, because they thought of him as a created project, and because they could? "They hurt you because they're bad Jess." she spoke honestly. Lying to him, even at this tender age wouldn't help him. He deserved to know the truth. "There are bad people in the world honey, not a lot, but they exist. They hurt you, even if you did nothing wrong. They just can't see what a beautiful boy you are, they don't want to." she stroked his hair "But I do, and so does daddy. We love you and your sister so much. You are always right here-" she placed his small hand on her chest, right over her beating heart-"in me, and I love you more then anything. Bad men can never take that away from us."  
  
"Love you too mommee.." Jess kissed her on the nose.  
  
Max returned the gesture, pulling the covers over him "Sleep tight sweetie"  
  
Logan laid the baby in the center of the bed, turning her little body on her stomach, and draping an afghan over her. "Good night princess."  
  
"We'll go home and see daddy tomorrow baby." Tinga knelt next to Case's head.  
  
"He'll give us lots of hugs huh?" Case asked through a yawn.  
  
Tinga smiled "Lots" she kissed him as his eyes closed.  
  
Tinga flipped off the light switch, leaving the door ajar for Logan to be able to see since he didn't have her or Max's night vision.  
  
Max wrapped her arms around Logan in the darkness.  
  
"God, I'm glad you're all okay. I was in hell." he hugged her tighter, keeping his hands from grazing her wound.   
  
She kissed him without a word, a deep passionate kiss, even more intense then they shared in the woods. It was a gesture of pure, undadultared love, to reassure each of the other's presence after the day's events. Their tongues barely danced, but it was still an intense moment.  
  
Max was the first to pull back, her lower lip swollen She grasped his hand, pulling him to the door.   
  
Logan shut the door to the bedroom quietly, to not disturb the kids sleeping there.  
  
"Burgundy," Alec read the bottle of wine in his hand "Good choice to have Logan."  
  
"Alec, I appreciate you "saving my life-" Max raised her hands, making quotes with her fingers-"but if you don't turn it down and you wake up my children, YOUR best choice will be to run." she pulled Logan to one of the two long couches in front of the fire place, plopping down in the well worm heather gray leather.   
  
Logan sat down next to her, and she laid her head in his lap, stretching out sideways to keep from rolling around on her wound. His fingers ran through her hair.  
  
Zack poked at few logs in the fireplace with a stick of green wood. "We need to head out before it gets too light out." he was still ever the CO.  
  
"Dawn is only in three hours Commander" Max complained "That's not enough sleep for me"  
  
"You don't sleep remember Maxie?" Zack responded, pitching the stick in the fire  
  
"No touché there bro-" Max argued, "all the shark DNA in the world can't compete with keepin' up wid two little kids." She moved a little, to allow Logan easier access to her brown locks.  
  
"Zane's gonna need a new paint job on his ride" Syl pulled her feet under her on the other couch. "After tonight, it's gonna be nothin' but patches"  
  
"At least it'll go well with his trailer" Alec argued.  
  
"There's the touché" Syl agreed, "Guess you're not all bad, for a prick that is."  
  
"I'm a well rounded guy" Alec replied, uncapping the bottle to the wine.  
  
"Didn't we have this same kinda convo before?" Max looked over at Zack "Wonder who that was with?"  
  
Zack didn't take offense, "Zane'll be worse when he sees "Chip-ville" camped out on his ride."  
  
"It was for a good cause," Syl argued "And next time he'll by more weather resistant car paint." she stole the bottle from Alec, taking a swig of the alcohol, licking the excess off her lips. She looked over at Max. "You can crash baby sister, We'll take first watch." she smacked Zack on the back of the "Let's go Commander, you can tell me 'bout this sugar Zane's seen you with while we man the posts."  
  
"Think I'm gonna sit with Case" Tinga suggested, heading towards the bedroom door.  
  
Alec stood near the "un-manned" window. The night was still and calm. "What a great way to spend an evening." he sighed "But there's always three for all Wednesday"  
  
Max and Logan now were lying together on the couch, Max's head against his shoulder. "One day that sap isn't gonna work on them anymore, and I'll have to tell them the whole truth."  
  
"They'll cope" Logan said, "You did, and you're their mom. Just teach them how to be strong."  
  
"I'd rather show them where White could get branded with a barcode" she yawned. "But that's just me" she closed her eyes. "Night baby"  
  
"Goodnight sweetheart" he pulled her closer to him.  
  
They slept.  
  
*****  
  
WASHINGTON BORDER  
HALF DEMOLISHED BRIDGE OVERLOOKING PACIFIC OCEAN  
  
"Sir, there's no sign of them" Jenkins approached White. "And our blood samples have been destroyed. We have to start back at square one"  
  
"Jenkins?" White starred down the Private. The wound he had sustained earlier was almost non existant. The only remaining evidence of it being there were faint traces of blood on the button's of his leather jacker.  
  
"Yes sir?"  
  
"Get started then"   
  
*****  
  
END  
  
I played with some new "paints" when I got into Alec; hopefully he's portrayed well. He's not a bad guy, just a little on the smart-ass side. Sorry if you all didn't like that ending, but White isn't going to go away in a magical "poof" that would be too easy.  
  
FOR ALL NYSNC FANS MAD AT MY DISS: I had to keep Alec in context to where I feel the show goes with him. I personally don't have any prob. with the group, but honestly don't think Alec is into that type of music, not unless I missed something. So no Mystic hate mail and/or "Justin Timberlake is God" letters 'kay?  
  
If I made any technical errors, sorry, I do the best I can. This was a job writing this. Had to play up a lot of angles, and do some research. Grammatical and spelling errors will go away if you squint your eyes..heh..anyway, hope you liked. R/R please. 


	9. Mirada a Mi Madre (Looking at My Mother)

TITLE: Choices-10 "Mirada a Mi Madre" (Looking at My Mother)   
AUTHOR: Mystic25  
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31hotmail.com  
  
RATING: PG14   
  
SUMMARY: Max has longed to find out what happened to her mother after "That Night". And  
now, after she has become a mother herself, she is about to find out.  
  
DISCLAIMER: *sigh* after writing umpteenth fics, I'm gettin' tired of doin' this, but here it  
goes again. Mr. "I-raised-the-Titanic-and-created-a-fascinating-show-set-in-a-futeristic-world"  
(aka: James Cameron) and his lil sidekick Eglee created Dark Angel. I merely got his two lead characters to tie the knot, and have two children, who DO belong to me. Also Lucia is mine as well. Long story longer, don't sue, it's a waste of money.  
  
A/N: My Choices fics have officially turned "10" Wow, never thought I would keep this up that  
long. My writing has come a long way since I've first started. I'm pretty proud of myself..heh..But don't worry guyz; this is FAR from the end of this series.  
  
A/N #2: As I celebrate this milestone (even if I'm the only one who does:) ) I want to give props out to everyone whose helped me along the way. bb, you've been a real great up beater, Karina, appreciate every one of the comments you gave me. Helped me out when my ideas were   
running on empty. Ciderbreak, thanks for all the critiques, helped me weed out the crap.   
And to all the rest, thankx guys, don't know what it means to me..but enough of this, go read..  
  
*****  
  
"Who's this one?"  
  
"She's the surrogate for one of the X5 series," a guard answered to his superior officer as they dragged the woman across the concrete floor by her arms.  
  
Lucia tried very hard to break away from the men who were griping her arms in such a strong hold that she could feel the bruising already starting to form. But it was useless, she was no match for the three men that surrounded her. Her nine-month pregnant stomach was coated with sweat under her peach cotton shirt.  
  
She didn't know what prompted her to try and escape on this night. She had endured grueling fitness programs for a woman in her condition, and all the drugs she had been given daily so far hadn't killed her-yet.  
  
But yesterday, when the guards came for one of the other women in the infirmary-she was two  
weeks past her due date. They forced her on her feet, and delivered her baby, taking him away from her as soon as he was born.   
  
The woman's roommate's name was Miranda; she had been here for five years. First she had wanted to be in it for the money they offered, but soon she was forced to stay in the program. The director, a particularly sadistic blonde in a power suit, would not allow her to leave. Her first child, also a boy, had been taken from her as well. Her little one was four years old when the second one came. Lucia had seen him only, once, a small little boy, would've been blonde, if he had more hair. Carrying a loaded Ak-47 in his small hands. Wearing camos, and looking for all the world like a SEAL, except for his size.  
  
That is why she tried to escape. This child may not be tied to her in a biological way, but it was HERS. She didn't want her baby to live this kind of life.  
  
No one cared about what she wanted, though. They strapped her down, and injected her with  
a powerful sedative. She lashed out even in her drugged state. She was numb, but still felt  
the hands pulling at her, wanting what she didn't want to give them.  
  
Someone raised her baby in the air. Lucia was hazy, but heard one of the nameless ones.  
  
"A girl Col. Lydecker"  
  
"Suction her out, and run the regular neuro checks. Start her on the cocktails tomorrow"  
  
"Yes Sir"  
  
===  
  
Lucia woke with a gasp. She had dreams like this too much. One hand moved hastily through her  
long brown hair. A soft breeze wafted through her window, the first rays of sunlight peaking out of the lace curtains.   
  
All these years- Lucia looked over at Rick sleeping beside her. He'd be up and heading out  
to work soon. She never told him about what happened in Gillette, didn't know how.  
  
She tiptoed to the master bath, careful not to wake him, man was out late delivering a  
load of lumber to a project site.  
  
The mirror greeted her. She went through the normal routine of washing her face, brushing  
her hair with long, sweeping strokes.   
  
She thought back to her dream. A girl, she had a girl. Her and Rick had no children, well  
besides their "babies" the two Siberian Huskies, Kira and Abby. But no HUMAN babies.  
She never saw her baby's face for more then three seconds. When she woke up, she was  
back with Miranda in her room, empty. No baby to hold, no "it's a girl" balloons, nothing  
but empty arms and an ache.   
  
Her little child grew up in that hell, never knowing of love, or family, or even a name.  
  
Lucia wiped a tear that had fallen down her face without her knowing it. She didn't even  
get to give her a name.  
  
*****  
  
"Max, you sure you wanna do this?"  
  
Max stared at her "competitor" wiping some sweat out of her eyes "Well, there was a time  
when I didn't even LIKE this sport" she dribbled the ball in her hand. "And today I learn  
that "Mr. Phony Sentimentality" wants to challenge me" she brushed past her brother,   
making a shot at the three-point line. "So I say it's more of a "gonna"  
  
Zack caught the ball in his left hand "Really?" He checked it to her, and she returned-"You  
might have to be taken down from your high horse solider. And as your CO, it's my job to  
see so-"  
  
She got up near him to intercept. "Bring it on Commander"   
  
Zack dodged Max's interception moves making a shot from center court. "S" he drew out  
the letter like a snake's hiss.  
  
"Filly won't neigh 'till you spell out his entiya name" Max checked.  
  
"Which will be soon" Zack threw it back to her, taking a moment to wipe the sweat off his  
face with the hem of his shirt, and tucked the right sleeve more under itself.  
  
"Bout to KNOCK ya off your high horse boy" The blue bandanna in her hair moved from the  
slight wind in the air. She moved left, Zack on her all the way.  
  
Max dodged him again "Ladies and gentlemen" she was about three feet from the goal. The  
ball bounced off the rim for a second, before flowing smoothly into the chain net "Girl just  
got her "E" she turned to Zack "Gammeee" her gray tank top moved under her breath.  
  
She pulled the sun glasses off of Zack's head "You sure you don't need a stronger prescription  
then this?"  
  
"Cut the BS Maxie" Zack's breathing was hard as well "Gloating doesn't make for a strong  
second-in-command" he took his aviation glasses back from her.  
  
"Bout a happy one?" Max threw back, scanning the court "watchers" The ones who didn't  
play, but came out here to well, watch, but mainly to scope out the players. One pack of  
guys had run through every "You're so hot baby" lines in existence with Max. She had even  
"accidentally" fouled the ball into the row of benches to get them to shut up.  
  
But it wasn't just her; there were about three women with evident drool tracks each time  
Zack maneuvered down the left side court.   
  
"Guess you've got fans" Max said, looking at the women all sitting front and center at  
the bottom bleacher.  
  
"Renfro would be so pissed if she saw us now" Zack picked up the ball, heading over to  
where he left his pack.   
  
Max took a generous sip of her water. "Yeah, I know, me beating the CO"  
she teased.  
  
Zack slipped jeans back on over the navy boxers he had on. When he removed his shirt  
to put on the one he had on originally, Max swore she could count the amount of oxygen  
each of the women took in.  
  
"Well unlike you Zack-" Max said around all the fawning. "I can't just change out in the  
open-think the ladies room is a safer route"  
  
"Who needs safe baby? Danger is my middle name," she was leered at by an anonymous "admirer"  
  
"If ya don't back off pal, you won't be able to pronounce your name" she grabbed her bag and  
retreated towards the restroom.  
  
"Nice game," a red headed woman looked up at Zack as he was sliding his leather jacket  
back on his body. "You shoot well-"  
  
"Funny, all other women seem to tell him the opposite" Jondy's voice was heard to say as she  
rounded the chained linked fence surrounding the court. She looked at the crowd of women.  
/Luv machine? Zack, my God it must be the Apocalypse/  
  
"All the ops on base also seemed to tell you that 'bout your artillery handling Jondy" Zack  
returned.   
  
"Least I know how to get on top of things-" she threw back   
  
"Why are you here?" was Zack's next statement.  
  
"Geez, I don't know bro" Jondy lied "Let's see, Tinga lives here, Maxie lives here. Yeah you're  
right what a dumb thing to want to see our sisiters"  
  
"Jondy-" Zack had that warning tone in his voice.  
  
"Maxie called me up here COMMANDER-" Jondy informed, "She wanted the "guys" to get together for  
a pre-reunion reunion"  
  
"Guys?" now Zack sounded really on edge "Who else is here?"  
  
"Millie's daddy-"  
  
"ZANE?"  
  
"Yep" Jondy responded "Plus we got Tinga of course, and Cat-Man and Syl"  
  
"I don't wanna hear anymore-"  
  
"Relax boy" Jondy knocked him upside the head "It pisses me off the way you think we don't  
have any experience at handling ourselves"  
  
"The records speak for themselves-"  
  
"Which records are those?" Max now stood beside the two in hip hugger dark denim jeans, with  
her jean jacket over a white tank top.  
  
"The non-existent crap kind Maxie" Jondy informed  
  
"Zack's best work" Max agreed, she turned to face her sister completely. "You pealed it all the way up here in one night?"  
  
"Not sleeping helps sis" Jondy shot Max a 'you know how that goes' look. "Made it into Seattle just as the sun was coming up over the Needle." she faced Zack "Speaking of "coming up over things-"you and Colt chick, guys a "thing" now?"  
  
"Is that really any of your business Jondy?" Zack answered her question with a question.  
  
"Makin' it that way, yeah," she responded. "Ya know the expression "only once in a blue moon"  
  
Zack didn't respond to that. "If we're going to do this REUNION," he changed the subject, "then, we'd better head out"  
  
"Talk about gettin' your "head" in the game-" Jondy broke in  
  
"Jonnie D"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Run"  
  
*****  
  
Crash  
7:30 PM  
  
"Luc, would you RELAX!" Madeline sipped her margarita, "The whole point of coming here was to  
loosen up after the work week"  
  
Lucia took a sip of her San Francisco. Her co-workers had taken it upon themselves to bring her  
to this bar to try and put some "fun" back in her life. But, she really wasn't in the party mood at the moment. Ever since she had that dream this morning, she couldn't stop thinking about that place-"Manticore" Why did she go to Wyoming? She was so naïve at 19, "paid medical research" her ass.  
  
She turned back to Madels and Rhonda, their other friend from the insurance company. "I appreciate this guys, I do-" she played with the little red straw in her glass. "Guess I'm   
just not in a fun mood tonight"   
  
"Things okay between you and Rick?" good ol' Madels, always concerned.  
  
"We're fine" Lucia set her mind at ease "Just worn out from work"  
  
"Well that's what this is for" Rhoda informed "Everyone deserves to go a little nuts once in a while"  
  
As if on cue, one of the "regulars" fell off the bike he was trying to stunt with on the bar, landing on the floor unceremoniously.  
  
"Dude take it easy 'for you break something that won't grow back" a young woman announced to her friend.  
  
Sketchy picked himself up off the bar floor "Just slipped" he announced, straightening out his crooked glasses.  
  
"Uh huh-" Cindy began "And Original Cindy's gonna jump your bones tonight"  
  
"Hey if the shoe fits"  
  
Cindy knocked him upside the head, "Bout to fit up your ass Sketch"  
  
"Well maybe not THAT wild" Rhoda observed the scene.  
  
"We're we ever that young once?" Lucia asked.  
  
"Was a time when all I needed-" Madels began "Was a guy and an El Camino with a lot of head room-" she laughed, remembering her wild youth.  
  
"Ooo, gurl you was a lil hoe" Lucia teased.   
  
Whistling noises made the women look up.  
  
"Can I have some suga for my drink?"  
  
"Like to take THAT model for a ride-"  
  
"Shwing-"  
  
"What's up with these trash talkers?" Rhonda asked, watching a young woman enter the bar.  
"So she's good looking, why do the act like dogs?"  
  
"Because they ARE dogs" Lucia pointed out "They're young, got testosterone coming out of their ears."  
  
Lucia watched as the woman dumped an entire pitcher of beer into one "leerers" lap. "Ya know if you can't hold it 'till ya get to the can, you shouldn't drink so much"  
  
"She certainly can handle herself," Rhonda said to her friends. "That child's got fire. Oughta introduce her to my son, might straighten him out"  
  
"MOMMEEE!" the squeal of a little boy broke the conversation.  
  
Max turned to see Jess making a b-line directly for her. She held out her arms to catch him. He launched himself at her, and she picked him up.  
  
"What baby?" Max mused his hair "What's yo' dealio?"  
  
"Lexi walked!" Jesse announced in a proud big brother voice.  
  
Max was taken aback by his remark "She did?"  
  
"Hey you finally made it"  
  
Max turned to see Logan standing behind her, with their daughter tucked up against his chest,   
the baby grabbing at his black sweater. "We wanted to show you our surprise."  
  
"Jess already spilled" Max informed "But show me anyway" she set her son down, who scrambled over to where Logan was standing.  
  
Her husband carefully set the little girl on her feet, grasping both her hands in his larger ones. "Look honey, there's mommy-" he held her arms as she took two assisted steps. Once she seemed to have her balance, he let her go.  
  
Max was amazed to see her ten month old wobbling on her feet, a huge grin on her tiny face "C'mon babe," she knelt down "You're doin' great"  
  
Jess stood beside his sister, not helping, but holding out his arms to catch her if she fell.  
  
Lexi finally made it over to Max, who scooped her up immediately "Aiight girl" she kissed her "You did it!" she stood back up.   
  
Logan stepped over to her. "Better watch out now baby-" he kissed her "She's gonna start making a move on your pan handling territory"  
  
"Hey she might me some man the same way I did, and have a happy ending" Max corrected.  
  
"Sap" Jondy gave a fake cough in her hand.  
  
Max ignored her remark "Guess who just took to steppin'?" she kissed Lexi on the cheek.  
  
"Yeah!" Jondy proclaimed in excitement. She looked up at her niece "Won't be long 'till  
I get you kick boxing gloves sweetie" she kissed her niece.  
  
"Hark! I hear the loud mouth of Jondy.." Zane came out of the woodwork, his hair tucked   
under a black baseball cap. "Hey Maxie too! Bout damn time you showed up!"  
  
"Yeah, well when you beat the CO's ass in b-ball, you have to celebrate" Max told him  
  
Zane looked happy "Score again for little sis" he hugged her around the baby in her arms.  
  
"Jondy" Zane turned to her "how the hell's it been?"  
  
"S'good bro" she responded. "Cat-Man here?"  
  
Zane nodded "Knocking back a few, beat out the brother-in-law here" he slapped Logan on the  
shoulder.  
  
"Yeah well, I'd rather not make an ass of myself" Logan responded "I act like chicken-shit when  
I'm drunk"  
  
"Chicken, chicken!" Jess chanted by Zane's feet.  
  
Zane wrestled with the little boy "You like that huh kid?" he tickled him "huh?"  
  
"Don't you know to come to attention when a superior officer enters the room?"  
  
Zane let go of Jess "Mr. Cop Out!" he ran up to Zack " KRIT, get over here! Battle Royal on the CO!"  
  
The younger brother soon came out to where they were. "I call the neck!" he leapt at Zack, standing near the door, who dodged him in one maneuver.  
  
"Little sloppy boy" Zack taunted "pitiful sight"  
  
"Down here too" Krit joked from his position on the floor. He flipped himself up on his feet. "How do you expect Asha to get any?"  
  
Max looked at Lexi "Got dorks for uncles huh?"  
  
Lexi just smiled her outrageously cute smile  
  
"Hope that doesn't mean all of us"  
  
Max turned to her brother-in-law, who had come up behind her "Nah, not you Charlie" she agreed  
"I only mean MY genetics" she saw Tinga approaching behind him.   
  
"Hey baby sister," she greeted Max "Hope ya don't mind, we're a lil short on seats, so you'll  
have to-" she glanced over at Logan "improvise"  
  
"Don't see that as a prob" Max smiled at her husband "It'll give me the best seat in the house"  
  
Logan looked at her for a second "You didn't break anything at home did you?"  
  
Max shot him a look "This ain't a "forgive me" fest boy"  
  
"Just kidding-" he broke off with a slight grunt as Jess locked himself around his leg. "Far be  
it for me to say that you ever have ANY accidents" he lifted their son in his arms.  
  
"Shut up" Max barked, but there was a slight smile on her face. "Let's go grab a seat, before  
the "squad" reassembles"  
  
When Max walked past the table with Lucia and her friends, she could feel three sets of eyes on her. She glanced at all three women briefly, feeling Lucia's eyes more on her then anyone else.   
  
*****  
  
"Guess she can't meet Steven" Rhonda said out of the blue once Max passed their table. "She  
looks so young, got a husband and two babies already"  
  
"People like starting early" Madels finished for her "Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like if I had Alyssa at 22 instead of *32*, but motherhood is motherhood, I say good for her for finding someone to love that young"  
  
/FLASH: "But papa, I LOVE him" Lucia looked at her father "We want to be together"  
  
"NO!" the older man reprimanded his daughter. "Do you realize what has happened?"  
his words were harsh and incredibly angry. "You are a slut!" he spat this at her with venom  
"You will bare illegitimates-"   
  
"I didn't get pregnant papa" Lucia broke in "we used protection-"  
  
"What kind of PROTECTION will keep you from having little bastard babies? I'll tell you which-  
NONE! You will keep this up until the day you die, whore-"   
  
"Please pappy don't call me that"/  
  
"You really want to tackle me Krit?" Max looked at her older brother with raised eyebrows "Cause I'm kinda on a role today"  
  
"Feelin' lucky tonight Maxie" Krit wagged his eyebrows at her in a mock come on. He picked up a   
pool cue in his right hand.  
  
Max took another sip of her beer, looking at Logan, whose lap she was sitting in "Be back in a few" she gave him a quick three second kiss "Save my seat"  
  
"Don't think anyone is jumping at the chance to sit there Max" a voice came out of the woodwork, as a familiar figure approached the group.  
  
"Same goes for you boy" Max returned Alec's quip.  
  
"Okay, enough male bashing Maxie," Alec informed. When she didn't say anything else he added,  
"Aren't you going to be somewhat decent and introduce your fellow work partner to this squad  
you got assembled? Or did you all escape before they taught all X series how to engage people in conversation?"   
  
Max sighed, she couldn't think of a really good comeback for his remark "Everyone, this is Alec-"  
  
"I will set the records straight now, in stating that I DO know Maxie's little military history."  
  
"You're an X5?" Jondy asked, observing the new comer.  
  
"X5-494" Alec confirmed "Highly constructed, well built-"  
  
"Loud mouth" Max broke in  
  
"Who did get you and your sister-" he looked over at Tinga-"out of that shit-crap Maxie"   
he reminded her. "So I'd appreciate a little more respect"  
  
Max looked at him seriously. Ever since that incident with Barrisford, she tried not to enjoy  
putting Alec down as much as she use too. Pain in the ass or not, there was one woman who  
enjoyed his company enough to love him; and she knew that it hurt him to lose Rachel, even  
if he didn't want to admit it. "Fine" she finally broke the silence "Why don't you rack up with me and Krit-" she tilted her head slightly to acknowledge Krit behind her. "Any one who can kick Cat-Man's ass in pool deserves all the respect the world can dish out"  
  
"Famous last words Maxie" Krit notified, throwing her a cue.  
  
Max caught it expertly "When I get done wid you boy, yours will be "Damn, and here I thought I was a man"  
  
"Hey Zack," Krit smiled, not minding Max's smart alic-ism, because he was about to turn it around "We have the same slogan"  
  
"Hey Krit" Zack called back "How 'bout I add some new balls on the table?"  
  
"We playin' sometime today?" Max broke in before Krit could get another remark in.  
  
"I break" Alec announced. He positioned himself to take his shot "Go on Max, get it out-"  
  
"Don't know what you're talkin' about" Max informed, grasping her cue with one hand.  
  
Alec set the aim of his cue stick "The quip question Maxie. "Makes you feel like a big man to break?" he made the shot knocking the eight ball, six ball, and five ball in the right corner pocket  
  
"Hey I didn't say nothin' " Max defended "I mean, if you hafta get your ya ya's out this way then it's coo'"  
  
"There it is" Alec moved to get his second shot, which was a little off center and became a scratch.  
  
"Oooo" Krit did a good impression of a sports caster "Guess that means you get to see skill-"  
  
"Nope, just means we get to see you bro" Max knocked her brother of his high horse, as he lined up his shot.  
  
He landed the four and three in the left center pocket. "Like I said, skill"  
  
The rest of the game progressed rapidly, with Krit naturally winning. "What were those last words again Maxie?" Krit gazed at his little sister.  
  
Max just sighed, slapping a five in his hand   
  
"Thank you" Krit pocketed the money, turning to Alec "Convo, I slept through. Physics sessions I didn't"  
  
After Alec paid up to Krit they re-joined the group that had taken up residency at three tables.  
  
Max re-claimed her "chair"   
  
"Good game?" Logan looked at her mischievously, one hand resting on her right thigh.  
  
Max knocked him upside the head "Did the Pulse suddenly lift?"  
  
"Never mind then" Logan caught her in a kiss before she moved her head.  
  
"Ah, guys c'mon, some of us are trying to keep our drinks down" Alec complained   
  
*****  
  
Lucia had another dream that night. She was back at Manticore, right after the operation.  
  
"Where, where's my baby?" she sat up, her hand instinctively moving to her abdomen. There  
was a three-inch long closed surgical incision across her chest, and her baby was gone.  
  
"What the hell is going on!" she screamed, as two ops suddenly entered the room, dressed  
in fatigues.   
  
They didn't answer her, arms trained behind their backs, grasping black magnums.  
  
"It's okay" one of them stated, a woman. Her voice was strong, hard, but with an underlying tone of softness. "She's okay."  
  
The op lifted her head, revealing her face from under the black beret. It was the woman she had seen that night at the bar, the young mother. "You shouldn't worry about her ma'am"  
  
"But she's MINE!" Lucia was in hysterics "You took her from me! What the hell do you bastards  
want with a defenseless baby!"  
  
"That baby will learn to do great things," the other op informed, breaking his earlier silence. "Things you never could fathom"  
  
He approached Lucia with a sedative.  
  
"No!" Lucia, held her hands out defensively "Get away from me!"  
  
She gasped as she woke up, Rick coming awake beside her "Luc, honey are you okay?"  
  
Lucia tried to calm her racing heart. "Yeah" she took a few shaky breaths "fine, just a bad dream"  
  
"Lie back down Luc" Rick ordered gently "It wasn't real" he coaxed her back down. "It's okay"  
  
*****  
  
"Who is she?" X5-452, Max stood beside her CO X5-599, Zack, and third in command X5-656, Tinga.  
  
"A donor" Tinga answered, watching the struggle through the mirrored glass. "She was fertilized  
to produce more soldiers" the bulge of the woman's stomach stuck out through the hospital gown.  
  
Max looked at the woman, struggling as doctors restrained her. "Is that how all of them are?"  
  
"Most of them came here voluntarily" Zack spoke out "They were brought in from the outside,  
for the money, but I overheard many say they weren't aware of all the procedures involved"  
  
==  
  
"Stay flat 452!" the tech in the lab coat spoke at the base of the exam bench "I will not have  
this project fail because of one soldier's mess up" he lifted the blue paper blanket from  
off Max's legs.  
  
"Is this how it was with our mothers Sir?" Max suddenly asked  
  
The tech looked up "You and the others were created X5-452" his words were clipped "You  
are merely nothing but a string of different species genes strung together. You have no mothers."  
  
"Then what will I be after this Sir?"  
  
"A donor" he moved his instrument inside her, making fire rip through her body.  
  
*****  
  
Max came back into darkness, choking on her own breath.  
  
"Max?" Logan flipped on the lamp on the nightstand. He could feel her fast paced heart beating against his chest "Baby-" before he could ask her what was wrong, she bolted out of the bed, moving straight into the bathroom.  
  
He watched her throw up in the sink, since in her haste she didn't bother to close the door that connected the master bath to their bedroom.  
  
"What's wrong?" he came up behind her, supporting her as she vomited "Was it a seizure?"  
  
Max heaved once more, before all that she had left was saliva. She spat once before turning on the faucet to rinse the mess out of the basin. "No" she said finally. "Just, bad dream" she splashed some water on her face.  
  
He kissed her gently "C'mon back and lie down" he wrapped her up in his arms and supported to the bed.  
  
She climbed back in on "her side" on her own, sitting with her back against the headboard.  
  
He sat beside her, pulling her to him "Must've been some dream to work you up so much" he cascaded his fingers through her hair "Wanna talk about it?"  
  
"Just a run of the mill memory from hell that manifested itself in my dreams" she said this all in one breath, not looking at him while she talked. She gave a small sigh, before speaking again "Do you think my mother really wanted me?"  
  
Her question was out of the blue, so Logan took a moment to react "You told me she tried to escape-"  
  
"Yeah, but she might have only been trying to save herself, and I just tagged along for the ride"  
  
"You believe that?" Logan asked "Even after everything Hanna told you?"  
  
A second of silence, then "I've been lied to before Logan" there was a rustle on the sheets as she shifted to face him more "How do I know that this is any different?" she looked down at her hands, twirling her wedding band on her hand with her thumb and forefinger "I'm sick of playing these damn games with my life"  
  
One of his hands covered her left one "Can't answer that question Max, but I believe that she must've wanted to do something decent with her life to try and escape that place-" he rubbed her palm with his thumb "like you"  
  
"Sometimes wish I could find her" she looked him full in the face, her chocolate eyes looking into his blue ones "Just to ask her why"  
  
Logan shifted down onto the pillow with a yawn "It's late baby" he looked at the glowing "2:35" on the digital clock "and we both have work in the morning" he rubbed her bare arm with his hand "You gonna be able to go back to sleep?"  
  
"I'm good" was all she said, sliding down to his level. She took her favorite position, pressed up against his back.  
  
Logan switched off the lamp, bathing the room in darkness. Max's cotton tank rustled against his own white tee as he shifted to get more comfortable with his wife. He kissed the barcode on the back of her neck, feeling her shiver slightly at the contact.  
  
Max stared out through the blackness with her night vision. Logan's arm around her waist rose and fell with her breathing pattern, as she still thought about her mother.  
  
*****  
  
Jam Pony  
The Next Morning  
  
"Late" Normal called out seeing Alec just enter the building "The world is going freaky. Max actually came in before you"  
  
"Just call me Super Freak Normal" Alec headed over to the bike rack, dropping the first one to  
the ground, almost smacking into Max, who was right behind him with her wheels.  
  
"Little uncoordinated there Maxie?" Alec gripped the handles of his bike. "Kept the party goin'  
with Logan after Crash?"  
  
Max sighed, but didn't answer, pulling on the bill of her baseball cap.  
  
"You okay Max? You're a little slow on the uptake this morning" he'd never seen the woman keep  
silent this long.  
  
"Just a long night" was all she was willing to give him.  
  
"Best kind" Alec came back  
  
Max brushed by him with her bike "It was a bad dream Alec, and why the hell do ya care what I do with my husband?"  
  
"Must be the fact that all the woman I've known have either told me to kiss off, or got their asses blown" he spoke lightly about Rachel, but there was a twinge of bitterness in his tone.  
  
Max acknowledged him then "It's coo'"  
  
"If you say so Maxie" Alec responded, rolling his bike past her.  
  
"Socialize on your own time people!" Normal called out "This is a place of business, we DELIVER stuff here, in case you forgot"  
  
Max blew him off "With that loud mouth?" she caught the package that Normal threw at her   
  
"For Winchester smart mouth, bip, bip-"  
  
"Yeah, I got it" Max announced  
  
*****  
  
305 Winchester Rd.  
  
"Hey Max-" Alec rounded the corner of the front porch she was standing on. His shoes creaked on the wooden beams of the steps.  
  
"What are you doin' here?" she snapped back   
  
"Chill gurl," Alec jumped onto the porch "I had a delivery a couple houses down, and saw your  
bike" he peaked through the window by the door "Not too bad either" The house was one story,  
oak wood sided, older then some of the others on the street, nothing luxurious, but still comfortable.  
  
Max slapped him on the back of the head "We're not here to case the joint" she rang the bell.  
  
After about a minute the door opened, a figure now stood behind the screen door. It was a woman  
with one earring in her hand "Yes?"  
  
Max held up the manila envelope in her hand "Jam Pony messenger"   
  
The woman took the package, reading the label "How much do I owe yo-" she broke off when she  
realized who it was "You're the one I saw at that bar last night"  
  
"Crash?" Max questioned  
  
Lucia nodded "Yeah, my colleagues talked me into going there to vent off some steam. You have  
the cutest kids"  
  
Max smiled at the remark "Thanks"  
  
"Damn" Lucia checked her watch, "Here I am going on, and I'm gonna be late for work, and I'm keeping both of you" she opened the screen door all the way "You can wait in the foyer while I get my purse. How much is COD?"  
  
"Five" Max announced, stepping through the door, Alec right behind her.  
  
Lucia cursed something under her breath in Spanish "Sorry, but the cost of things today is  
outrageous" she kept talking as she headed down the hall to the living room to retrieve her purse.  
  
"How old are your little ones?" she dug through her knock off Vera Wang handbag for the money  
  
"Two years and ten months" Max answered back, looking at the photos that lined the walls. Family portraits, and pictures of two Siberian Huskies.  
  
"Must be a handful" Lucia's voice was slightly louder as she started coming out of the living room.  
  
"Can we get this done before you start swapping baby pictures?" Alec suggested  
  
Max knocked him upside the head again as Lucia re-emerged, money in hand. "Sorry that took so  
long" she placed the five in Max's hand, along with three extra dollars "Judging by how sweaty you both look, Jam Pony must be a ways away from here, so I don't want you to leave empty handed."  
  
Max took the money from her, staring for a minute at her face, there was something familiar about her eyes. "Thanks"  
  
"Take care of your children" Lucia suddenly spoke up, her eyes serious "Make loving them a higher priority above the great things you want them to do"  
  
Max looked up more at her remark /FLASH: "This race will accomplish great things 452" the base OB/GYN handed her more cocktail drugs "A interconception of Manticore's best" he watched the girl soldier take the meds./  
  
Max stepped back out on the street, climbing back on her bike.  
  
"That woman needs to get out more" Alec yanked his bike from the fence it rested on  
  
"Think she sounds sad," Max argued "Like she's missing something"  
  
"How about a life?" Alec suggested, climbing back on his bike  
  
Max rolled her eyes at him, and pedaled down the road.  
  
*****  
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
"Honey, I'm home!" Max's call echoed off the walls, mimicking that of a 1950's tie-wearing businessman returning from the office. She walked into the living room to find Logan watching Jess color pictured hunched over the coffee table. Lexi sat a few inches away from them scooting across the hardwood floor in her walker.  
  
Either Logan didn't hear her proclamation, or he was just messing with her, because he didn't look up to acknowledge her.  
  
Max snuck up behind him, her feet soundless on the floor, she saw Jess look at her, and she placed a hand to her lips.  
  
She placed her hands over Logan's eyes, under his eyeglasses "Sorry, guess there's another brownout"  
  
"Yeah but I know how to make this one stop" he pulled her hands off his eyes, and kissed her open palms "See how well that works?"  
  
"Guess so" Max smirked, bending down to give him a full kiss "What are these guys doin'?" she asked after breaking apart.  
  
"Jess is just wowing me with his abstract art" he answered as she rounded the couch and   
sat on the edge of the coffee table.  
  
"That looks really killer" Max complimented her son, admiring his drawing, which was surprisingly good for a two year old. "What's this one hun?" she pointed to a string of   
numbers above a red and orange crayoned sun.  
  
"Numbers" Jess gave an exact answer, adding a tree to the paper.  
  
Now Jess was two, and most children recognized what single numbers were at this age, but she could tell by his voice he knew more then that. "Honey, let's play a game for a second, aiight?"  
  
Jess bobbed his head up and down, still focused on his drawing.  
  
"Kay," Max shielded the numbers written in blue crayon with her hand so he couldn't see them  
anymore "Tell me the numbers you wrote on the picture baby"  
  
"2247394630" Jess rattled them of in his two year old voice without hesitance.  
  
He was right on with each one. "How many "4"'s did you write down?"  
  
"Two" her son responded "Tree after 2's and tree after da zero, look mama, a birdee" he  
pointed to the blue bird on the paper.  
  
Max and Logan shared glances at Jess's answers. His intelligence was progressing at an  
above average level. Not as fast as Max's did when she was young since he wasn't 100   
percent Manticore genetics, but still faster then a common two year old.   
  
"I see Jess" Max smiled "It's coo'" she kissed the top of his head "And thanks for playin'  
that game with mommy" she stroked his dark brown hair "You draw for a lil longer, and  
I'll get you when it's time to eat"  
  
She stood back up, motioning with a nod for Logan to follow her.  
  
"Hang tight guys," Logan stood up as well "Me and mommy will be right in the other room" he  
followed his wife to the office.  
  
"He's starting the way Case did" Max spoke out once they were in the computer room.  
  
"Children at this age go through physical and emotional changes normally" Logan  
leaned against his desk "probably triggered your half of the gene pool, like it did with Tinga.  
How old were you when you started remembering sequential orders?"  
  
"About Jess's age" Max answered "Maybe a lil younger, one-and-a-half"  
  
"You remember that far?" Logan sounded a little amazed.  
  
"Around 11 months is when everyone started recalling things, we had stimuli tests and stuff  
to build up our endurance." she met his eyes again.  
  
Logan didn't press her about these "tests" He knew that some things were still hard to talk  
about, even at this point in their marriage. "So when will Cindy be dropping in?"  
  
"She's got to stop by her crib to change, and she said she's swingin' in at six" Max answered,  
"Speaking of changin' I need a shower, had a long run across town"  
  
"Normal pushing you?"  
  
"No more then usual" she responded, "Sides the lady of the house gave me a good tip. She was  
at Crash yesterday, said she saw me, and that we have cute kids"  
  
"Can't argue on that," Logan agreed.  
  
"Also told me to love them even if they don't do great things" she paused "which seemed weird  
since I usually don't get free advice from customers."  
  
"Really deep advice from someone you just met"  
  
"I know," Max agreed, "Almost sounded like a spin on a Manticore mantra "Great things must take place over false sentiment Never heard anyone say anything like that after we got out"  
  
"Do you think it's anything to worry about?" Logan asked "I mean that she saw you at Crash  
and that you delivered a package to her house?"  
  
"Don't think so," Max informed, "She didn't try to put the drop on me or anything" she shrugged  
out of her jacket "I'm goin' to clean up."  
  
"Need any help?" Logan looked at her suggestively.  
  
She matched his sly look with one of her own "I want to take a QUICK shower baby" she slung her  
jean jacket over one shoulder. "Be back in a few" she stopped to give Lexi a kiss on the top of her head as she came wheeling in the office in her walker.  
  
The shower was just cutting off as Logan transferred the chicken quesidillas to a serving platter. He set them on the table along with a citrus fruit salad.  
  
"Don't even think about it," he warned to Kaja, who was eyeing the food like a beast of prey.  
She wined in the back of her throat, making her dog tag jingle, and pricking her ears up more.  
  
"You're worse then Max at times you know that?" the wine cabinet door squeaked slightly when he  
opened it.  
  
"Worse then who?" Max emerged from the hallway, dressed casually in sandblasted jeans, and a   
and a black, spaghetti strapped tank top. She stepped over to him in bare feet.   
  
"I was saying how the dog acts as bad as you do when she wants something Max" Logan went for  
honest, searching his racks for an appropriate vintage. He finally settled on a bottle of raspberry zinfandel.  
  
"You just tryin' to get in your wife's good graces tonight huh?" Max asked him a one-way question. she took the bottle from him, setting it in the center of the table, before heading into the kitchen to get the plates. One thing Max was good at in the kitchen, was dressing up the table, which was good since she was shortchanged on the cooking side of things.  
  
"I made a salsa to go with the quesalidias" Logan pulled the bowl from the fridge, taking off the saran wrap. He scooped a little into a spoon, and held it up "Think it tastes okay?"  
  
Max tasted the creation on the spoon, testing the flavor in her mouth "S'good" she wiped a bit of tomato off her lip with her tongue.   
  
"So are you" Logan commented, looking her up and down "Those clothes-"  
  
"Nice huh?" she smiled slightly  
  
"Hot" he corrected, setting the bowl on the counter before kissing her.  
  
Max moved slightly away from the bowl so she wouldn't knock it over, when her back dipped ever  
so slightly onto the counter.   
  
"So was that" she informed when they finally came up for air.  
  
There was a knock on the door, followed by a voice proclaiming, "Guys, I know what you're doin'  
in there, but take a break to let a woman inside"  
  
"I'll get the kids to the table" Max announced, sliding away from Logan's body.  
  
"And I'll get the door" he could still taste the salsa that was on Max's tongue.  
  
"Hey boo" Cindy steeped into the penthouse, in a deep scarlet halter top and leather pants.  
"Appreciate you givin' an invite for me" She slid of her leather jacket, dropping it on a chair.  
  
"It's no problem" Logan informed "Always have time for a friend"  
  
Cindy smiled a bit at that statement. Ever since Max had married him, she and Logan had become  
friends, as opposed to their casual relationship beforehand.   
  
"There's the woman of the hour" Max entered the living room, both kids resting in each arm.  
"Look whose here guys" she looked down at the pair she was holding. "Auntie Cindy"  
  
Cindy didn't waste anytime stepping over to her surrogate niece and nephew, who were just  
as happy to see her as she was them. "Get to play over at your house tonight babies, sound good?"  
  
"Yeah!" Jess bobbed his head up and down.  
  
"Oh yeah," Cindy agreed, "Come with me my man" she slid Jess out of Max's arms, "So you don't  
break mama's arms"  
  
Jess laughed at the notion "Can't"  
  
"Got that right," Cindy agreed, looking up at Max "This boy's gettin' smarter every day suga"  
  
After Max and Cindy got the kids settled in the table, Jess in his booster seat, and Lexi in her high chair, they all sat down.  
  
"So your sibs still in town suga?" Cindy asked after swallowing a mouthful of salad.  
  
"Well Zane had to get back home, didn't want to leave Millie by herself" Max tore up Jess's  
food into smaller pieces for him so he could chew it easier. "Syl said something about droppin'  
in on Craig, Jondy's crashing with Tinga. Don't know what the hell's Krit's doin' said he would  
"wing it" and think Zack's doin' somethin' with Asha"  
  
"Damn" Cindy stated about Max's last remark "That chick's got deep hooks in your boy"  
  
Max poured some more wine in her glass, tossing a piece of chicken at Kaja, who leapt two  
feet in the air to catch the morsel. "Guess this makes him happy-"  
  
"Which is a feat in itself" Logan broke in about his brother-in-law, sipping his zinfandel.   
  
"Just the way in-laws act boo." Cindy informed "Mean, can you imagine what a MOTHER-in-law might be like-" she stopped abruptly when she realized what she was saying. "Didn't mean it like that suga-" she looked at Max apologetically.  
  
Max shrugged it off "Never knew what having a mother was like, so I can't really miss it" she played with the food on her plate with her fork "Sometimes, when I was 13 I use to imagine myself with a mom like everyone else, guess I wanted to belong. I was lonely then, Zack told us it was best to not contact any of the others, too risky." She looked up to her husband and friend's concerned looks "But hey, turned out pretty well in spite, wouldn't ya say?"  
  
****  
  
305 Winchester  
  
Lucia stared at the package in her hands, turning it over a few times. The seal seamed to taunt her. She took a deep breath, finally pulling the flap open and sliding the contents out.  
  
Two photos fell out along with a note.  
  
*Mrs. Weston,  
  
I've managed to track these down from what use to be formally known as "Project Manticore"  
As you are well aware of, you were from a long list of surrogates brought in to bring about this hybrid race. If you wish to continue this search for your "daughter", you must be aware that actions come with consequences, and your safety is now not a constant, but a variable.*  
  
The letter was at best, unnerving for her. With one shaking hand, she flipped over one of the photos, A girl with a shaved head stared out at one of the photos. She looked to be about nine, with deep mocha eyes, and dark skin. She stared out from the picture in a "face-off" position, not baring the innocent look of childhood, but of a hard soldier.  
  
The second picture had a small memo clipped to it,  
  
*This is the most recent image of one of the soldiers who escape during the breakout of '09,   
designation X5-452. She was "born" November 17, 2000.*  
  
Lucia gasped at the picture before her. Brown eyes, long dark hair, she looked like her, even  
with all the gene splicing. November, the memo said. Lucia didn't have access to a calendar  
when she was at that base, but she could tell by the sunrises, that it was around late-fall  
when the baby had been taken from her.  
  
She touched the image before her. (close up of a headshot of Max)  
  
*****  
  
"Whatcha doin'?" Max approached Logan, whose face was illuminated by the glow of the  
computer screen.   
  
Cindy had left an hour ago, saying she had to call an interest she had met at Crash. The kids  
had both been tucked in, leaving the two of them alone.  
  
"Just getting some information," Logan answered, his fingers gliding over the keys.  
  
Max sat on the edge of the desk "That's kinda vague Sherlock" she ruffed up the fur on  
Kaja's head, who was sitting at her feet "Might have just said, "I'm typin'"  
  
"I'm hacking into Manticore's old infrastructure Max" Logan finally answered her "Trying to find the files the geneticists kept on the surrogates, might be something on your mom"  
  
"Think any files are still there?" Max didn't even acknowledge the part about "finding her mother" "Manticore was always good at covering their tracks"  
  
"I'm sure with a program this large no one simply deleted any records, especially after the recent escape. They still need viable files"  
  
"Why my mom Logan?" Max suddenly asked, "Why do you suddenly want to look for her?"  
  
"You've been searching for her for eleven years baby" Logan responded, "I'm doing this because  
you deserve to know who she is"  
  
"She was just a donor" Max tried to convince Logan of that as well as herself, but it wasn't working. This was something she had been looking for all her life, even longer then the hunt for her siblings.  
  
Logan glanced at her at that statement for a moment before continuing his work. "Miranda Lewis  
21 Miscarriages: 4 live births: 2 Sex: Male/Male Designations: X5-219, X5-599. " Logan's tone changed as he read the designation of his brother-in-law off the report.  
  
"Zack's-" Max didn't really know what to call her, the woman who had given birth to her oldest brother and CO. She certainly wasn't his mother.  
  
"Here's another-" Logan broke in her chain of thoughts "Lucia Rodriguez, 19. Miscarriages: 0   
Live births: 1 Sex: Female Designation: X5-45-"  
  
"Is there a file photo?" Max broke in before he finished, staring at the numbers that made up her designation on the screen.  
  
Logan typed for a second; coming up empty "It's been deleted off the record," the words "file  
has been aborted," flashed across the monitor in red letters. "Manticore took precautions about  
what they didn't want to be seen" he looked at his wife "I'm sorry sweetheart, but now you have  
a name to work with"  
  
*****  
  
JAM PONY  
The Next Day  
  
"Lucia huh?" Cindy leaned against her locker, waiting for Max to finished getting dressed "My   
girl's momma finally gots a name"  
  
"She isn't my mother" Max argued, shutting the door to her locker "She didn't read me stories  
or sit up with me when I was sick, I do that with my kids. I am a mother, she was just, a donor"   
  
Cindy did a "step back" stance at her girl's bitterness "Original Cindy can see right through that lie boo. I know it's a ride to get the name of her after all this time, but she IS your moms suga, she tried to get you outta there. She did things right with the time she had. She is more then a "donor" to you okay?"  
  
Max didn't respond to that, as she and Cindy walked out of the locker area.  
  
"Max-"  
  
Max turned at the sound of her name "Hey" she approached Zack who stood in the center of  
the building. "Why you still hangin' around?"  
  
"Think he's got the hots for ya Maxie" Alec notified, coming up behind Zack "Wants to be more  
then-"  
  
"Shut up!" Zack barked, shoving Alec defensively.  
  
"Whoa there Zackie, don't start anything you can't finish" Alec informed, stepping closer.  
  
"Who says I'm not?" Zack was now up in Alec's personal space.  
  
"Guys-" Max stepped in-between her brother and Alec "back off" she pushed them apart  
from each other. "Don't want to give these guys an up close and personal show of Manticore  
fighting ability do you?" she stepped away.  
  
"How about we ceasefire?" Alec suggested after Max left. "Cause you obviously want to kick  
the shit out of me right now, and I obviously want to kick it out of you. But that's a lot of  
shit to clean up one we're done there commander." he paused "And I hate grunt work."  
  
"Yes" Normal called out "that's why you do your job so half-assed, get moving before I forget  
why I hired you"  
  
"Now I remember why I quit here," Zack stated  
  
"Hey we can at least agree on one thing," Alec returned, wheeling his bike past Zack.  
  
"You too miss smart mouth" Normal informed Max, "Work pays, not sitting around" he shoved  
an envelope at her "Gonna need a signature Mrs. Cale"  
  
"I got something?" Max had been a little confused the way Normal had just addressed her.  
  
"No I just want your autograph" Normal returned  
  
Max glared at him while she sighed her name, snatching the envelope from him. Across  
the bottom was the postal barcode, but it was also hers.  
  
She ripped it open, unfolding the white piece of paper.   
  
*Happy Early Mother's Day 452*  
  
"Normal" Max showed him the envelope "Who sent this?"  
  
"Does this look like a postal service Max?" Normal answered, "Because you seem to have  
that misguided notion that I'm here to serve you"  
  
"Who the hell sent this?" Max was getting angry.  
  
"How about I answer that?"  
  
Max turned at the hand on her shoulder, right into the face of Ames White  
  
*****   
  
"Don't look so shocked to see me Max" White followed her when she backed away. "I mean,  
who did you think sent that to you?" he stepped up to her but she backed away again.  
  
"Stay the hell away from me!" Max growled   
  
"Personal matter outside" Normal called out "This is a place of business.  
  
Max ignored him "US government could de-contaminate Anthrax letters after those terrorist  
attacks, but they can't detect stuff written by shits"  
  
"What a world huh?" White voice took on a slight whimsical tone   
  
"You got three seconds to tell me why you're here before I make you eat your ass"  
Max glared at him, circling him.  
  
"Still difficult I see 452" he pulled out a revolver "But I can fix that" he cocked the gun  
at her "I didn't come here to kill you, but I'm a versatile guy. I'm open to change"  
  
Max faced down the gun, but didn't have the chance to knock him down before Zack  
jumped White, the gun clattering to the floor.  
  
Max snatched it up before White got to his feet, which happened three seconds later. "I  
believe that's mine" he kicked her hard into a wall.  
  
By now this scene had attracted a crowd. White aimed the gun at Max again, after he threw Zack off of him "Like I said I didn't come here to kill you"  
  
"There are other reasons?" Max spat back, tasting blood on her lip.  
  
"For now" White answered "Give up this search, and I'll disappear like a dream. Don't, and  
remember what happened last time? It'll pale in comparison." He kicked her square in the ribs,  
"At ease solider" he left then.  
  
Alec was passing through the door just as White was leaving, they barely missed each other.  
Alec ducked out of his line of sight stepping into the building. "Was that just-?" he got his  
answer when he found Zack yanking Max to her feet. "Let me guess, someone pissed him  
off"  
  
"Alec, shut up" Max touched the soft areas, grimacing.  
  
"Would somebody please tell me what the hell that was about?" Normal came out from behind his  
desk, "Like I need more violence in my service. Why is this guy so pissed at you Max?"  
  
"He didn't like the COD charge" Max made a joke of it, cursing when Zack touched her stomach  
"Nothing broken Maxie," he touched an area that was already beginning to get discolored.  
  
"How did he know where I worked?" Max hissed again, pulling her shirt down completely  
  
"Questions later suga, you should go home and ice those" Cindy stated  
  
"Shit-" Max cursed again. She yanked out her cell, hitting speed dial one "come on, pick up  
pick up-dammit," her voice was frantic "You guys okay?"  
  
"Max what's going on?" Logan could here the edginess in her voice  
  
"Nothing," she lied "just are the kids okay?"  
  
"They're fine sweetheart, are you okay?" he sounded worried at her sudden need to call  
home in the middle of the afternoon.  
  
"Tell you about it later" Max cursed again at the bruises begining to form on her ribs.  
  
"Sweetheart" Logan's voice took on a serious tone "I just found out something you need  
to know"  
  
*****  
  
METRO   
ER  
  
"How did it happen?" Max stared a woman getting lacerations on her face sewn up.  
  
She was standing outside of an ER exam room watching nurses patch up her injuries.  
She had just gotten her own ribs taped up by Sam. None were broken, but several were  
bruised. Normal had given her the day off after what had happened at Jam Pony, muttering  
something about her seeming to have shitty luck. Zack had tailed her all the way,  
making sure that White wasn't following her. She finally told him to go, saying   
that she appreciated it but she could handle herself.  
  
But Zack still said he'd check in on her after he left Asha's that night,  
he still was ever cautious of his little sister.  
  
"She was jumped by three men" Sam stood beside her, shaking her out of her musings "They asked her about some pictures she had in her possession" he showed the matte finished photos to her.  
  
Max gazed surprised at the images of herself, one at nine years old, and a more recent   
photo, undoubtably taken in the last year.  
  
"I would assume they are with the same group of the man that paid you a visit today." He indicated her taped ribs.   
  
Max looked at the woman she had saw at Crash, that she had talked to yesterday afternoon.  
"Is there a chance that I could talk to her?"  
  
"Well her husband's on his way, but I don't think she'd mind" he handed her a prescription  
bottle "Ibuprofen, for the pain. Don't argue, bruised ribs hurt like a bitch, no matter  
what your DNA composition is made up of."  
  
Max took the bottle from him "Thanks" she gazed at the woman in the other room.  
  
*****   
  
Lucia watched Max enter the exam room, taking in her features again. /She is so beautiful./  
  
"Is it okay if I come in?" Max entered cautiously. She stood a few feet away from the  
gurney where Lucia was seated.   
  
Lucia nodded as the nurse left, after telling her to take it easy.   
  
Max took in the stitches on two cheek lacerations, bruises on her face, and the dried blood under Lucia's nose.   
  
"Ouch huh?" Lucia could sense what Max was thinking "Don't worry, I've had worse"  
  
Max set the pictures on the gurney without a word. "I'm sure you have"  
  
Lucia fingered them. She glanced around the room to see that they were "safe" before  
talking again "On my nineteenth birthday my father caught me having sex with my boyfriend.  
We were Catholic, so in his eyes I had committed a horrible sin. He kicked me out. I was on  
my own with no money, until I heard through the grapevine about this surrogacy place in  
Gillette, Wyoming" she saw Max's interest become more rapt "I was in need of money so I  
went to this place, called "Manticore Special Operations."   
  
They told me I would be paid for my duties to carry children for "infertile couples" she laughed a bit at this. "I didn't think anything was going on. I was cared for well, allowed to go out on the grounds. But towards my second trimester, I was kept on a strict diet, and given a lot of cocktail drugs.   
  
I asked why, but all I ever got for an answer was silence. There were a lot of children  
running around, but they all had shaved heads and camouflage. Where were these "couples"  
who wanted to adopt them? In my last trimester the director finally told us what we  
were really there for. /"You ladies are carrying with you a genetically enhanced race of super  
soldiers, and mark my words, they are worth more to me then all of you're pathetic lives"/  
"After a woman gave birth the baby was taken from her and subjected to all these cruel experiments."  
  
/"Break below the patella, and once more in the femur" an op ordered the doctor "Make one  
compound to see how fast it heals"  
  
The doctor nodded, squeezing the clamps on 452's leg/  
  
"I tried to escape with you-" Lucia addressed Max as hers for the first time "But the guards  
were on us so fast. I gave'em hell all the way to the OR. I had made up my mind that living  
in a sewer with a baby that would be better then there. I was eventually sedated" her voice got  
emotional "but I could still hear what was going on. All I found out was that I had a girl, and then, nothing. I woke up back in my room." she looked at Max again, a long stare "I'm so sorry I left you, I can't imagine what it must have been like. I was lucky, I bribed some guard to get me out of there. They didn't even let me see you. Or even give you a name"  
  
"My name's Max" Max looked at Lucia, matching her intense gaze. "We named each other, my sibs  
and me" she really didn't know what to say anymore. Eleven years of looking, wanting this, and she was tongue tied at the finish line. "You shouldn't have tried to find me. You won't be left alone anymore-"  
  
"That's why I did it Max" there was something in Lucia's tone that could only be described as a   
"mother's voice" "I didn't want to be alone anymore. All my life I've missed something, that not even my husband, my best friend Rick could give me back." she sighed slightly "I can't take away your past Max. You're not the newborn I saw them raise in the air before I passed out. You're a woman, with a family of your own, all I can do is say I'm sorry for what you had to go through"  
  
"Maybe it was meant to be this way" Max spoke out to Lucia's confusion "If you had gotten out that first night I wouldn't have met my sibs, which is something I would NEVER give up if I had a chance to do it all over again. Or Logan-" she smiled a bit "my husband. It was because of my life at Manticore that we met. If I wasn't a "super freak" we wouldn't have crossed paths, or gotten married."  
  
"Maybe it was meant to be" like mother, like daughter, Lucia had quick wit. "I don't know if you want me to be your mom Max-but I would like to be your friend"  
  
"Luc" the door opened again  
  
"Rick hey"  
  
The tall blonde man stepped into the room "I was so worried about you" he sat next to her, giving her a kiss "Are you okay?" he took in her injuries "Who did this to you?"  
  
"I'm tough Rick" Lucia joked, "I can handle a lot" she looked to the other woman in the room "Sweetie this is Max," she looked her husband full in the face "she's my daughter"  
  
Rick look completely bewildered "What?" he stared at the younger woman "What-I mean, how?"  
  
"There's a couple of things I need to tell you" she maintained her cool, even after  
dropping that bombshell on her husband.  
  
"Maybe I should go" Max announced quietly. She started to leave, but Lucia's voice halted her.  
  
"Max, if I had a chance to have had say in your life and how you came out, I would want you to turn out exactly the same"  
  
Max hesitated for a moment, absorbing what she heard, before coming around to the other end of the gurney.   
  
Lucia returned the hug she received, she gazed into Max's mocha eyes, framing her face with her  
hands "You are so beautiful"  
  
*****  
  
Max closed the door to the exam room, resting her head against it for a brief moment.  
  
"Max" Logan's hands were on her shoulders "Did it pan out?"  
  
She turned, looking him in the eye "Yeah, she-" she pushed her hair behind her ears with one  
hand "I mean, she was the one, the surrogate" her words were tripping on themselves.  
  
Logan tried to gauge his wife's reaction, but her eyes were impassive "How are you with all  
of this?"  
  
She tilted her head upwards to him "Glad to know that she didn't think of me as a money   
investment" her words cracked near the end. She stepped closer to him, looping her arms  
around his neck.  
  
"Glad that it's all over?" he rubbed her back with one hand.  
  
"Nothing's ever over with us" she stated cryptically. She could feel the tears sting in her eyes.  
  
"Then how about: glad that you finally met your mother?" her statement was true. Nothing ever  
ended with them.  
  
"Yeah" she started to cry then. Eleven years of pent up emotions over this finally releasing   
themselves.  
  
Logan hugged her harder then, feeling his wife tremble in his embrace. He kissed the side of her head. "It's okay sweetheart" those were the only words he could offer to his love, and even they sounded stupid to him.  
  
"Love you" Max proclaimed suddenly   
  
"I love you too baby" he kissed her again  
  
*****  
  
UNKNOWN LOCATION  
  
*Mrs. Weston*  
  
Keys clicked as the man in black typed in the room lit solely by the glow of his laptop.  
  
*The search for your daughter has now placed your name on the worst possible blacklist.  
She is in their eyes, a created prototype, and you are now viewed as a hindrance to them  
bringing her in.*  
  
A crackle was heard as the man lit a solitary match, tossing it in the waste basket, where  
he had thrown in papers  
  
(close up of a file marked "Manticore Designation: X5-452, underneath is a file marked   
"Rodriguez, Lucia D. Surrogate #245324) The flames danced around the files, singeing the papers  
inside.  
  
*I have done all I can to cover up the trails that have been made, but I cannot guarantee you're safety or your life anymore. There will be a time when you and X5-452 will finally run out of luck.*  
  
The typing stopped, and the whir of a printer took it's place. The man slid the not into a non descript envelope, writing down a single address.  
  
"Sergeant." The man called out, not looking up from the envelope.  
  
A young man in a beret and fatigues entered the small room. "Sir?"  
  
The man handed him the envelope "Deliver this ASAP"  
  
"Yes sir Cornel" the sergeant stated crisply, taking the letter from him  
  
After he left, Cornel Donald Lydecker removed his glasses, rubbing his tired eyes before deleting the document on his computer.  
  
(Fade to Black)  
  
*****  
  
END  
  
I had several ideas on how to end this, but finally decided to do it this way. As much as I wanted Max and Lucia to have this tearful reunion I think if DA ever did do this it wouldn't be that happy. How many of you guessed that Lydecker was the one writing the notes to Lucia? (everyone raises their hands) I wanted to bring the Col. back, he's an interesting character.   
  
Hope you liked the begining segment with Zack and Max. I know that Max said she wasn't  
really a sport's fan, I love b-ball and I had "Smooth Chick" by Missy Elliot in my head and that's what happened.  
  
I will bring Lucia back in other chapters, not gonna just leave it at this, Max and her momma need more time together. Also Lexi should be saying her first words soon, so that's something else to write about, should it be "momma?" "daddy?" "Manticore?"..heh, yeah, um no..I'll think about it.  
  
Well R/R on this tenth addition, and thanks for being patient for me to get it here. 


	10. It's In the Genes

Choices 11-"It's in the Genes"  
Author: Mystic25  
Email: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: Mr. Cameron, Mr. Eglee=THEM. Me= everyone else who ISN'T "them"  
Rating: PG14 for imagery and cursing  
  
Summary: A shooting in Southside Market sends Max to the hospital, where the Cales learn more about their son's advanced ability, and they aren't the only ones who find out.  
  
A/N: The summary kinda sounds like "Harbor Lights" a lil bit huh? Well except for the son part, and the fact that in here Max is Mrs. Cale instead of Mrs. Eastwood. I thought it would be interesting to do a lil spin off of the ep in my universe. Also look for Alexis talking for the first time, think I got a good word planned, just have to wait and see.  
  
A/N #2: Thanks to the reviewers who suggested I do something with Jess's ability. I was planning to anyway, and now is as good a time as any.  
  
*****  
  
Southside Market  
Seattle  
Saturday, February 16, 2020  
  
"Hey girl, take it easy!" the young man was slammed against his stall in the dirty market place. "Not like anything happened"  
  
Max Guevara Cale was not a happy woman "You want points for that shit?" she shoved him harder into the wooden enclosure. "Think you're so damn smart trying to lace produce with a little hyped up rock candy?" she had come here to pick up some fresh green, lettuce, bell peppers, both a rarity in this post-Pulse world. The kids were with her, and Jess had ripped a small section of lettuce off the head, being two and a half and hungry. He had tugged on  
Max's leg, telling his mother that the food had "sand" on it.  
  
Max had taken it from him, looking over the leaf. Dotted all around the edges were hard crystals of Meth. She had gotten royally pissed off then, thinking about what could have happened if her small son had gotten those drugs in his body.  
  
"Money needs to be made girl" the stall owner argued.  
  
Max inched closer to his face "If you would've hurt my son, you wouldn't have needed money where you would have gone" she let him go, and backed away. "Don't ever let me catch you being stupid again" she held out her hand to her son "Let's go baby"  
  
She meandered her way through the stalls, searching for a legitimate place to buy produce. She finally stopped at the stall of a Vietnamese woman  
  
"These are washed right?" Max turned over a bundle of spinach in her hand.  
  
The young woman laughed "If you asking, if it has Meth, no. Jazz just tries to get extra money now and then"  
  
Max held a lettuce head in her hand "Whatcha think guys?" she showed her children the green vegetable "Good deal?"  
  
"Good mama" Jess answered, his speaking ability had gotten sharper, and he was able to pronounce words better.  
  
Max smiled "Then we'll take it" she dug out her money while the shop keeper bagged her purchases "That's a quick witted little boy" the woman said of Jess "I have a two year old who only can say "down mama," and "hungry" she grinned "but I love him anyway"  
  
Max smiled again "Thanks" she took the brown bag, sliding it into the canvas bag she brought to keep the rain from getting the food wet.  
  
"Mommy?" Jess looked up when they started walking to the car.  
  
"Yeah sweetie?" Max swung her hand a little to be able to see his face.  
  
"What's P299?"  
  
Max stopped walking then "Where did you see that?" rain dripped off her nose.  
  
"Back there," Jess pointed an arm covered by a red hoodie behind them "with him"  
  
Max turned to see that same stall keeper she had laid out standing a few feet behind her on the  
dirty road. "Going somewhere?"  
  
"Well ya know it's kind of RAINING slick, and I don't want my children to catch pneumonia or  
anything"  
  
The man didn't say anything, instead whipping out a gun, a silver plated Sig Sauer P299. "Not until we finish this"  
  
Max stood defensively in front of her kids to shield them "Finish what? I thought I DID end it. I suggest you put the iron away before I change my mind"  
  
"All I'm gonna change is your life's outcome" the gun cocked.  
  
Max reacted purely on instinct, pushing her kids back to keep them out of the line of fire. Three rounds went off, then another two. Max managed to dodge them all, but one stray one was fired centimeters beside her 11 month old daughter, and that one she couldn't get away from.  
  
*****   
  
"MOMMY!" Jess was pulling at her frantically. "Mommy up please!"  
  
Max heard her son's desperate yelling through her haze, and in the distance the sound of Lexi crying. The blood mingled with the rain as it slid down her glove. She pushed harder into the hole ripped in her calf, as she lay where she fell on the dirty asphalt.  
  
"Mommy, please-" Jess started to tug at her. His brown eyes caught the sight of pain on her face.  
  
The guy who had shot Max started to leave, when he was met with a human wall. "Hey boy, where  
you headed to in such a hurry?"  
  
The man looked at Alec "Need to get back to my stall man"  
  
Alec glanced in back of him to all the commotion that was occurring "What's up there?" he soon got his answer, when he saw who it was. "Max" he said her name, grabbing the jerk by his collar "I see what we're doing now, well I don't swing that way" Alec threw him into a wall "I do things like this"  
  
"Hey buddy, move for a sec" Alec gently slid Jess away "Max"  
  
"Alec, that you?" Max gritted through her teeth  
  
"No it's Peter at the Pearly Gates" Alec quipped lightly "Where'd you get hit?"  
  
"Leg" Max moved her hand away briefly to show him "Don't know if it hit the femoral artery"  
  
"Let's hope it didn't" Alec pressed his hands on top of Max's "I can stop the blood some with  
the heat method, or do you want to wait for the guys in blue that someone has most likely   
called already?"  
  
"Don't care" Max spat out "Just don't let them see" she indicated her kids. She knew that it would scare them to see Alec trying to help her.  
  
"Someone get these kids" Alec stated to the crowd around them, "I'm a field doctor for the army, and I don't want them to get scared watching me do this"  
  
Ju-Yin Gong, an old friend of Max's stepped out of the crowd, pushing the stroller back to her, and holding Jess's hand "Mommy will be okay little one, you just need to let the man help her"  
  
Jess was still crying, trying to pull away from Ju-Yin to get back to Max. "Momma!"  
  
Alec shielded the flame from his lighter with his hand to keep it from going out by the rain. He heated up his switch blade in the fire, getting the blade hot enough to hiss from rain water contact "Okay Max, time suck it in" he pulled her hands away, and pressed the knife against her skin.  
  
Max screamed when the metal made contact with her body, all the color going from her face.  
  
"Max!" Alec stopped what he was doing. He leaned down closer to her face to check if she was still breathing. Thankfully she was, slow, but there. "Max" Alec tore off his jacket "You're going into shock so I'm going to insulate your body more" he set the navy blue jacket over her still form. Alec still talked to her, even though she was unconscious, because she still might be able to hear him, and he wanted her to know what was going on, it was a tactic learned at Manticore.  
  
Alec was pushed aside when an EMS crew finally arrived at the open area market place. One medic  
knelt next to Max's head "looks like we have a through and through near the femur. Jack, grab some gauze and start the O2" She started to shine her maglite in Max's eyes. "Ma'am, can you hear me? You know where you are? Can you tell me your name?" getting no answer she looked to Alec "What's her name sir?"  
  
"Max" Alec notified "Max Cale"  
  
"Are you her husband?"  
  
Alec laughed at that statement "Fraid not, I just work with her"  
  
The medic, whose nametag said "Carmen," placed an O2 mask on Max's face "Start it at 20 liters, and get out the back board"   
  
Max started to come around as Carmen and her partner were moving her onto the backboard.  
  
"Mrs. Cale?" Carmen spoke to Max "I'm Carmen Andrella, an EMT, do you remember what happened?"  
  
Max nodded, her eyes half open. She looked to Alec, doing a set of signals with her hand.  
  
"What's she doing?" Carmen was confused by Max's behavior. "Is that sign language?"  
  
Alec rolled his eyes a bit "Lady if the woman was deaf, she wouldn't have answered your question." Alec paid attention to the signals Max was making with her left hand "She says some guy from the market shot her at close range with a small hand gun"  
  
Carmen looked baffled "How did you know that?"  
  
"Army training" Alec lied "Me and her were in the same squad"  
  
Max rolled her eyes as best she could at Alec's explanation. She pulled the O2 mask off her face "Call Logan"   
  
"Ma'am, you need to keep that on" the medic went to put the mask on her face, but Max grabbed her hand "Tell him what happened *breath* "Alec, or I'll lay ass when I get out"  
  
"Don't worry," Alec reassured "I'll let Mr. Max know what went down"  
  
"Stay with kids, until he gets there" Max breathed heavily.  
  
"Aw, c'mon Maxie" Alec whined. "I already did you two favors today."  
  
Max shot a death glare to him, placing the O2 mask back on her face.  
  
"Hey, I'm kidding, relax" Alec held up his hand "I'm not that cruel. The little rugrats and I will see you at wherever the hell this tanker is going to"   
  
The doors to the ambulance closed "Sir if you want to ride along-"  
  
"Going to meet you there" Alec interrupted "She asked me to call her the husband"  
  
"Okay, tell Mr. Cale that she is being taken to Metro Medical Center" Carmen informed,  
climbing in the ambulance before it sped off.  
  
*****   
  
Foggle Towers  
Max and Logan's apartment  
  
"I don't understand what's taking so long" Asha stretched out more on the couch "She just said she was going to get vegetables"  
  
"I know" Logan replied "Starting to get worried, Max is never this late getting back" he sliced another cucumber, adding it to the salad.  
  
"I'm sure it's nothing really Logan" Asha looked from him to Zack, who was sitting on the arm of the couch she was at "The rain probably slowed her down"  
  
"Maxie's never been slow in water" Zack argued, looking at her "Why would she have a prob with it now?"  
  
"Calm down babe" Asha stated "I'm sure Max will come through that door any minute and make my idea get shot to hell"  
  
Zack drank more of the scotch in his hand, glancing at his Fossil watch again. "I know my sister, and this isn't like her"  
  
The phone in the kitchen rang. Logan picked up the cordless unit "Yeah?"  
  
"Hey Logan, it's Alec" Alec spoke into his silver cell, leaning against one wall in the ER waiting area.  
  
"What is it?" Logan sounded annoyed.  
  
"Hey, I'm callin' for a good reason, need you to know that Max was shot at the Southside-"  
  
"What?" Logan dropped the wooden spoon in his hand, splashing bright red spaghetti sauce on the  
tile floor "Is she okay?"  
  
"She got shot in the leg Logan, there was a lot of blood loss, but she was still alive when I left her."  
  
"Great, thanks" Logan spat back "Where is she, Metro? And what about the kids?"  
  
"Calm down man" Alec had to pull the cell from his ear because of the loud tone Logan was using "Yeah, she's at Metro, and your kids are fine. They're with me, but remember I'm a genetically enhanced transgenic soldier not a baby sitter"  
  
"Just wait there for a little longer Alec, I'll make it in fifteen" Logan disconnected the call, staring into the face of Zack. "Max was shot"  
  
"WHAT?" Zack's reaction was the same as Logan's "Was it?-"  
  
"Alec didn't say, just told me it happened in Southside Market" Logan was hastily turning off the eyes on the stove so he wouldn't scorch the house. He jammed his body into his leather jacket, snatching his keys off the counter.  
  
Zack pulled out the keys to his Vulcan, pulling on his own leather-riding jacket.  
  
"No way" Asha snatched the keys from him "You and me take my car, it's raining"  
  
"I'm not the fucking Witch of the West Asha, so what the hell difference does it make?" Zack snapped back like a pissed off drill sergeant.   
  
Asha took his anger in strides "'Cause your sister was just shot Zack, and transgenic or not, you won't be able to concentrate on the road until you ram into it, so cut the crap, and lets go!" she could dish it out as well as her hot tempered X5 boyfriend. She grabbed her own Jeep Cherokee ignition key. "I can make to Metro in twelve minutes"  
  
"Make it ten," Zack corrected, following her and Logan out the door at a fast pace.  
  
*****  
  
Metro Medical Center  
OR Reception/Waiting Area  
  
"Now backwards" Alec leaned more into the back of the plastic chair  
  
"205483563443" Jess leaned on Alec's arm, his head in the crook of one elbow.  
  
"Two for two" Alec showed Jess the numbers on his credit card "That's good" the little boy had just rattled off the sequence of numbers both forwards and backwards by only glancing at the card one time  
  
Jess locked his eyes on him "When can I see mommy?" he gave Alec the famous look that he had inherited from Max.  
  
"The doctors are making her feel better Jesse, they'll let you know when you can see her" Alec pocketed the card.  
  
"Doctors hurt mommy before" Jess spoke of the time he and Max had been taken by White.  
  
/Smart for his age/ Alec looked him right in the eye "These aren't the same people that hurt you and your mom before, they just want to help her"  
  
When Lexi started to cry in her stroller, Jess climbed down from his seat and walked over to her "When Lexi cries, mommy sings to her" he peered at his little sister over the sides of the stroller.  
  
"Sure she would be happy if you did now" Alec suggested "Since she's not here, go for it"  
  
Jess touched his little sister, wiping off one tear with his hand, starting to sing a song that Max often sang to him and Alexis when they couldn't sleep, singing in a little boy's voice.  
  
"Jack is in the corner, the dish is with the spoon,  
the sheep is in the meadow, the cow is on the moon,  
but I am here with you and I believe, there's no other place   
I'd rather be, and a promise not to leave you is a promise   
I can keep-"  
  
He wasn't really singing the words, he was rather speaking them out loud "Mommy, come out  
now" for all his intelligence, he was still two years old.  
  
"Hey," Alec patted him on the back "She'll be fine," he reassured Jess who was now crying again.  
  
The door to the waiting area opened "Jess" Logan's voice broke his crying.  
  
"Daddy!" Jess climbed out of the chair and threw himself at his father. "Mommy got hurt real bad" now that he was in Logan's arms, he started to cry again.  
  
"I know boy" Logan rubbed his son's back "Shh, it's okay" to Alec he asked, "Where is she?"  
  
"Doctors took her up to surgery a few minutes after she got here to repair torn muscle." Alec  
spoke these words just as Zack and Asha rounded the corner.  
  
"Did anyone say anything?" Logan asked  
  
"No" Alec replied, "Haven't heard any complaints about a transgenic solider in the OR yet, so I'm guessing Maxie's still safe."   
  
"What the hell happened?" Zack spoke up next.  
  
"Don't know myself," Alec answered, "All I got was that some strung out little punk squeezed some off at her, and one of them stuck. It wasn't any of the Black Helicopter people, just local a street thug looking for a sale"  
  
A doctor in green surgical scrubs stepped through the door "Which one of you is here for Max Cale?"  
  
"We all are" Zack stood up straighter, staring down the doctor like an adversary.  
  
"You the husband?"  
  
"No," Logan corrected, "I am, he's her brother" and added more importantly "How is she?"  
  
"The bullet missed her femoral artery by half a centimeter, so she was incredibly lucky there. The slug did tear up some tendons, but we were able to stop all the bleeding. A surgeon's just about finished repairing the muscle, so she should be outta there in about half an hour." he looked at Logan "You're wife is a very lucky woman Mr. Cale. Half a centimeter deeper and, it could've caused a massive hemorrhage. I'll have someone bring you up once she's settled."  
  
"I appreciate that" Logan said, relief in his voice.   
  
*****  
  
Room 315  
  
Max felt like she was in a haze, somewhere off kilter and fuzzy. After that ended, she felt the pain radiating out her leg. Her eyes opened even more.  
  
"Maxie? C'mon open'em all the way"  
  
/Zack?/ Max's vision finally focused, and she was able to make out Zack's presence at one end of the hospital bed.  
  
"Ya know you're in trouble when you get a visit from the CO after getting your ass shot off." Max made a joke out of her current situation.  
  
Logan was sitting near the head of the bed, and he rubbed her hand that he was holding "How ya feeling baby?"  
  
"Like I fought with a barbed wire fence and lost" Max complained, shifting up to asses the damage to her body. She couldn't see the bandages on her leg, but she could feel them, along with the sutures used to close the surgical incision. She had some road rash on her hands and elbows where she had made contact with the road. An IV bag dripped blood into her arm, O neg. Since she was the universal recipient and donor, it didn't matter what type she received.   
  
"Where are the kids?" Max looked to her husband  
  
"Doctor thought it would best for the "adults" to come in first, to make sure that it's not to much to handle for children" he answered in a way that let her know he wasn't happy with this decision.   
  
"That's a load of BS" Max stated passionately "They watched me get hurt, THAT was too much to handle, I want them in here"  
  
"Not going to get any complaints from me sweetheart" Logan agreed "Alec's got them in the hall with Asha."  
  
*****   
  
"So you really have a thing for Zack?" Alec looked at the blonde standing beside him.  
  
"That so hard to believe?" Asha stared him in the face, standing beside the baby stroller.  
  
"Just that you and him-" Alec came back "Doesn't seem like it'd work. What ever happened between you and Logan?"  
  
"Max happened" Asha glanced at the two children she was watching. "They just-" she searched her mind for a right word "connect. I've never seen Logan look happier then when they're together with these guys."  
  
"But you and Zack, the CO from Manticore hell?" Alec still didn't take to the idea.  
  
"He's a decent guy Alec" Asha corrected, "He's got that hard ass attitude, but so does every other X5 I've met" she shot a glare at Alec "He understands me better then any other guy I've dated"  
  
"That's your great reason? That he can work it with you?"  
  
"Not THAT kind of understanding gutter mind" Asha rolled her eyes, as Logan stepped out of the room.  
  
"How is she?" Asha spoke out  
  
"She's awake, tired, sore, but she wants to see the kids" Logan looked at his son holding Asha's hand, "Wanna go see mommy?"   
  
Jesse didn't need to be asked twice, he held out his hand, waiting for Logan to lead him.  
  
"Hey baby" Max called out to her son, spying Jess enter the room with Logan.  
  
"Mommy hurt?" Jess was a little intimidated by all the wires and IV bags around the bed.  
  
Max nodded "But not so much that you can't give me a hug" she held out her arms "Gimme some  
my man"  
  
Jess was in her arms two seconds later, locked in a death hold around his mother. "I scared"  
  
"It's aiight," Max reassured, she lifted up the blue hospital blanket, exposing the sterile bandage wrapped around her leg "see? I got fixed, so it only hurts a little bit now." she kissed him on the head "How bout you miss?" she addressed her daughter "wanna come sit by mommy?" she held out her arms to take the baby from Logan.  
  
Logan kissed her before passing her their daughter. "Just be a minute huh?" he teased her gently on the last remark she made to him before her accident.  
  
"Guess I lost track of time," she wrapped an arm around Lexi, "Market's a mad area"  
  
"Did you see a face?" Zack asked, moving to stand by Asha.  
  
Max laughed quietly in the back of her throat "This chump laced produce with Meth. I laid him, he didn't like it so he brought out the artillery."  
  
"Anyone get him?" Asha spoke out  
  
"His back did have a good meeting with a wall" Alec notified, making a big deal of clearing his throat. "Not that I'm bragging or anything, just don't want to break that star record of saving Max's ass"  
  
"And here I thought you were egotistical," Max shifted in the bed, hissing under her breath "Stupid DNA, have this codeine and can't even feel it. How'd we handle it during the monthly bone breaking?"  
  
"Remember, we got high off the pain." Zack responded  
  
"I remember screaming" Max answered, "You sounded just like a sailor"  
  
"They broke both my arms then Maxie," Zack informed   
  
"Three fingers, left wrist and two ribs" Alec broke into the conversation, telling them of his own experience from Manticore "all with a vise crusher, healed in two weeks"  
  
"Mine was three, compound fracture" Max spoke out, continuing this turn in the topic of discussion from Codeine to the X5's sharing their medical experiment history.   
  
"Show you my scar Max if you show me yours" Alec came back, looking at her suggestively.  
  
Max merely rolled her eyes at him "Alec, give it a rest before I do it for you" she rested her chin on her daughter's head, playing with her growing locks of brown hair. "So, guess this means dinner's off" Max looked at Asha and her brother.  
  
"I knew something was wrong when you didn't come back on time Maxie" Zack patted her leg through the blanket "Always felt the same way any time you got messed up in combat missions."  
  
"Kinda got the sense something is messed up right now" Alec chimed in.  
  
"Alec shut up," Asha looked to him "Stop thinking trash" she stepped over to the hospital bed, "Told some of my guys I'd drop a package on them tonight after we met up. Just take about fifteen minutes"  
  
"Whatever Asha," Zack didn't get all "yes dear" when it came to moments like these. He finally gave into "false sentiment" but he wasn't going to pour it on.  
  
Asha touched Max's shoulder briefly "Feel better Max"  
  
"Thanks" Max offered her as the other woman pulled her hand away, stepping closer to Zack.  
  
"You get done here let me know" she kissed his mouth, a gesture that he did return.  
  
After Asha left, Zack turned to Max who was looking at him with a half-cocked eyebrow "What?"  
  
"Nuthin' " Max informed, not being able to hide the slight smile on her face "Just wondered where the hell my brother Zack went"  
  
"This is different" Zack argued, "She understands me better then anyone, other than you."  
  
"Funny, that sounds strangely like something people call "love" Max shot her husband a knowing look, who in reaction smiled and kissed her forehead.  
  
"So I guess then I love Asha" Zack spoke out "Want to hold that over my head?" he looked at  
her in a stern stare she remembered from their childhood.   
  
Max knew what it took for Zack to admit what there was between him and Asha, but she also knew  
Zack, and knew that he wouldn't pour his heart out, not even to his baby sister. "No Sir" a smile tugged at her lips.  
  
"Good call soldier" he leaned closer to her face, kissing her cheek, just below her right temple "Get some sleep Maxie, you've been running on nothing but adrenaline for the past few hours" his voice came down from the "all that CO" to a brother showing concern for his baby sister, the first woman he had ever loved.   
  
Max yawned then, as if Zack's words were a stage cue "Just don't be all hanging around me while I kick it in dreamland kay? I'm not planin' to go anywhere" she looked sternly at Logan "That goes for you too baby, I'll be fine while I'm out. Don't want to see you sacked out in an uncomfortable position"  
  
"Try and stop me," Logan returned  
  
*****  
  
Pharmaceutical Department  
Third Floor  
  
"Metro Pharmaceuticals, This is Lisa" the blonde woman spoke into the phone at her desk  
  
"I am a traveler coming from the east-" the voice on the other line spoke out  
  
"And I will cross your path heading from the west" Lisa repeated the age old phrase "what is it you want of me?"  
  
"There is a patient there, a woman brought in for a GSW. She's one of Them"  
  
"An X5?" Lisa asked, glancing around the room briefly to be sure no one heard her  
  
"Correct, she's one who escaped with the twelve in '09"  
  
"You want me to get rid of her?"  
  
The smile could almost be heard through the phone "You could help her get more "comfortable" Ames White leaned back into the leather seat of his car.  
  
Lisa nodded from her end; "I'll make sure she'll be VERY comfortable" she hung up. Opening a large white box with a key Lisa pulled out a syringe that was designed to deliver a single dose of a substance. Next to it lay a small brown bottle, which she filled the syringe with. The label reading "100% Liquid Potassium Chloride No Dilution WARNING: NEVER inject full dosage alone without express written orders." was slightly faded and pealed from age.  
  
Lisa picked up the instrument, throwing the now empty bottle in the trash "Jenny" Lisa called out to a woman who worked the same desk "Could you watch my post for a second? I got a call to take care of a patient"  
  
"Sure" Jenny responded  
  
Lisa smiled, the cynicism known only to her  
  
*****   
  
Room 315  
  
The room was dark, and silent except for the biping of the EKG machine. The people who were with the X5 had all left, Lisa had watched carefully, even her husband had stepped out to use the restroom. She smiled, he didn't even know it was the last time he would see his wife alive. Lisa examined the woman asleep in the bed. Her eyes were closed, brown hair pushed to one side. Her head was tilted slightly, exposing the jugular vein in her neck.  
  
Lisa smiled to herself, taking out the syringe; she uncapped the spike, drawing it to Max's neck "Goodbye 452" her finger was poised above the plunger  
  
"What's that for?"  
  
Lisa pulled back at the small voice, the needle still in her hand. She observed a little brown haired boy climb off the small couch in the room. He looked at her curiously, examining the medical instrument. "Why does mommy need a shot?"  
  
Lisa looked at the small child "Your mommy's been hurt hun, and this will help her feel better" she spoke in a calming voice.  
  
"But what is it?" Jesse asked curious  
  
"Something called Potassium Chloride, it'll help her sleep better" Lisa didn't lie to him, he was only two, he wouldn't know anything about the effects, at least she believed this.  
  
Jess suddenly came closer to the bed "That don't help sleep" /FLASH: Jess sat at the table. Next to him was Max, reading Physician's Desk Reference. On one open page the header read POTASSIUM CHLORIDE: Drug designed for euthanasia. Death occurs within seconds after a single injection/ "Leave mommy alone!" he made a grab for the needle in Lisa's hand.  
  
"Calm down little boy," Lisa pushed him away "Mommy won't feel a thing"  
  
"NO!" Jess locked one hand on her, locking a hard grip on the woman.  
  
Lisa felt the pressure from his grip /It must be the genes from 452, toddlers usually can't do a death lock/ She still managed to draw the needle closer.  
  
At Jess's scream, Max's eyes suddenly snapped open "What's goin' on?" she saw her son yanking on the woman who was holding a needle in her hand "Who are you?"  
  
"No need to be alarmed Mrs. Cale" Lisa stated "Your little boy just got excited from seeing this syringe. Your doctor wanted me to give you more Codeine for the pain." she took Max's hand "Hold still"  
  
"Mommy, she has a broke watch," Jess piped up, formulating something in his mind "Not 4:52." he pointed to Max's watch on the room's nightstand "Yours said 9:11"  
  
Max understood what her son was trying to tell her. She yanked her hand back, locking it around Lisa's wrist "I don't need anymore drugs sorry" she shoved her off the bed, moving to stand up. Lisa landed on the IV wires, yanking them out of Max's hand. She was soon on her feet   
  
"I see your son is getting his share of the genes Manticore freak," Lisa growled, staring down Max.   
  
"At least I gave him good genes, as opposed to the dog looks and ghetto ass you'll pass along to your kids" Max ducked as Lisa threw a punch at her, readying her arms in a fighting stance  
  
Lisa came back kicking Max's legs out from under her. Lisa had trained with White, learning black belt status Jit-Su, Karate and Ta Kwan Do. She wasn't a Red Series, or a member of White's group. But with Max's weakened condition, she had the upper hand "To bad the dog looking woman comes with a back up plan" she pulled out a pistol, cocking it at Max "Tsk tsk 452, shot twice in one day-" her words were cut short when she felt her arms ripped behind her back.  
  
Zack snatched the gun from her hand, throwing it away before knocking her into the wall with a sidekick.  
  
Lisa made a reach for the gun, which had skidded near where she was thrown.  
  
"Don't think so" a one inch healed leather boot stepped on the gun, as the sound of Asha's silver Colt cocked in Lisa's face. She kept her gun aimed on the downed woman, sliding the small pistol to her free hand. Picking up the gun she tossed it to Zack.  
  
Logan helped his wife to her feet. The impact of her being thrown to the floor had ripped open a few stitches in her leg. "Baby can you walk?"  
  
Max stretched out her injured leg, balancing on one of Logan's arms "Think so" She made it about three or four steps back to the bed before she couldn't hold her weight on that leg anymore. She tripped, pitching forward.  
  
Logan caught her arm before she fell, "I got you" He picked her up in his arms, carrying her the rest of the way.  
  
He sat her carefully on the mattress. "Damn" he applied pressure to the blood seeping out of the gauze around her leg "Sorry angel" he remarked after Max hissed at his touch.  
  
Zack hauled the woman to her feet, keeping her arms pinned behind her back in a Manticore technique called a "lock grip"   
  
Lisa looked Zack in the face, like a person she knew but hadn't seen in a while. That look, however soon disappeared "You're X5-599" she paused "You lead the escape in '09," she looked to Max and then back to Zack "I use to work at Manticore." she actually smiled at that "with the interbreeding program. 452 and 599-" she paused to search her memory "ah yes, my last file had it listed as male." she looked Max full in the face "But I'm sure you knew that 452 after you woke up on the floor-"  
  
"SHUT UP!" Zack slammed her into a wall "You have three seconds to convince me why I shouldn't rip each limb off your body and ram them down your throat!"  
  
"You two should be proud of your little trans-transgenic creation," Lisa kept going "He would've been great to splice-"  
  
"I SAID SHUT THE HELL UP!" Zack slammed her into the wall again  
  
The door opened "Ma'am, you need to come with us, you're under arrest for assault and attempted murder" a sector cop entered the room with his gun trained on Lisa "hands in the air where I can see them!"  
  
Zack had to let her go then, but he did so with such force that if Lisa didn't have the training she did, she would've wound up with two dislocated shoulders.  
  
Behind the sector cop, stood Sam "A vial of Potassium Chloride was missing from the pharmacy." he stepped over to Max "no ones allowed access to the vials unless they are authorized to have a key. But there wasn't anyone in the CCU who wanted to end their suffering, so that set of my warning system"  
  
"Intuition paid off" Max remarked  
  
Sam pealed back the gauze from Max's wound, "This is a little messy, gonna have to re-stitch the top four" he obtained a suture kit from the closet and set to work.  
  
"Jess saved my life" Max stated as Sam stitched up her newly opened wound, she looked over at her son who was watching Sam intently "How did you know she wanted to hurt me baby?" she didn't say "kill" because he had been traumatized enough today.  
  
"She said she's giving you bad medicine P-P-"  
  
"Potassium Chloride?" Logan finished for his son   
  
Jess bobbed his head up and down "Book said it for killing people, I don't want mommy to die" Jess said "kill" where Max didn't  
  
"I'm good now hun," she reassured, putting her arm around him "Thanks to my man"  
  
Jess climbed into her lap just as Sam finished the last stitch. He snipped the biodegradable thread with scissors. "Nothing new was torn, I just closed up the old hole" he re-wrapped her leg, setting it gently back on the blue hospital sheet. "You'll be held up here for about two more days or so, then you can go home, but take it easy.That means no "night work" for at least two weeks Max, even with all that Manticore advanced healing you have, bullet wounds are nothing to mess with"  
  
Lisa had been removed in handcuffs from the hospital room, leaving Max with her family plus Sam and Asha. Max flinched when Sam re-inserted a clean IV needle in to replace the one that had been ripped off.  
  
"No pain no gain I guess" Max looked at the tube attached to her hand, clenching and unclenching her fingers  
  
Asha pulled out a latex glove from its box and bent down to pick up the old IV tubes off the floor.  
  
"Throw it in the trash" Zack took out a book of matches. He stood on a "guest" chair and disabled the smoke detector so it wouldn't ring or set off the sprinklers. He sprayed the inside of the trashcan with a little disinfectant aerosol spray from the hospital bathroom.   
He then lit the match and threw it in the can, igniting the highly flammable disinfectant spray.  
  
"Well I feel safe now from the Boogie Man" Max joked lightly, watching the flames burn the tubes and needles with her blood on them.  
  
"White must've heard you were here," Zack smothered the flames with his combats "he doesn't need complete conformation"  
  
"He might try this again, when he realizes Max is still alive Zack" Asha informed   
  
"Maybe someone should be outside the door" Sam suggested "just in case"  
  
"Like who?" Zack was skeptical "I doubt a minimum wage security guard would do the trick"  
  
"Zack"  
  
All eyes shifted to the source of the word that was spoken, because it wasn't Max, Logan or Asha  
  
"Did she just?" Logan looked down at eleven-month-old Lexi who was propped up in his lap.   
  
"She talked" Max looked equally surprised, gazing up at her brother "You were her first word Zack, I can't believe it" Max broke out in a huge grin "That's so coo' baby" she kissed her daughter on the head "Ya know who your uncle is" she played with her fingers.  
  
"Zack," Lexi spoke out again, this time looking her uncle in the eyes.  
  
"Out of all the words she could've chosen to say first-" Logan teased in a whisper  
  
Max hit him lightly with her free hand. "Play nice"  
  
"Heard that Logan, remember Manticore abilities?" Zack reminded.  
  
"She's advanced for her age" Asha pointed out "Most kids I've been around don't talk this clearly"  
  
"It's from Maxie," Zack returned "She started naming weapons out loud when she was ten months old, "AK-47" was her first word"  
  
Max shifted up in the bed "Ahh" she twisted uncomfortably with a grimace  
  
"What's wrong Max?" Logan noticed her discomfort  
  
"Sore," Max admitted "Feel like someone nailed me with a sledge hammer" she rubbed her neck with her free hand, trying to work out the knots that had taken up residency under her skin.  
  
"Here," Logan removed the pillow she was leaning against "Scoot up baby" he sat in the newly vacated area, kneading her sore muscles with his hands.  
  
Max felt her "rocks" starting to chip away, making a noise that sounded suspiciously like a purr under her breath. "Feels nice" she commented   
  
*****   
  
State Prison  
Seattle  
Sector 4  
  
"All right Hinsley," a officer with the Seattle PD came up to Lisa's cell "Your lawyer is here," there was a jingle of keys as he unlocked the cell door "Twenty minutes for a briefing, want longer time, have to do it on another day"  
  
"Understood officer," the man straightened out his navy blue tie before stepping into the 5 x 7 ft cell. After the door was shut, and the officer left did the "lawyer" turn to the woman. He sat next to her on the old prison cot "I take it the objective did not go through"  
  
Lisa turned to look Ames in the face "That little boy 452 has is a lot smarter then I realized, he knew what I was doing"  
  
"Never underestimate Manticore," White told her "Even with all their flaws, those kids still were dipped in the super smart end of the gene pool, and some of it rubs off"  
  
"So what do we do now?" Lisa asked,   
  
"452's son," White stated, "He's progressing at highly advanced level"  
  
"That's to be expected with a mother like his" Lisa agreed  
  
"When I had them contained, the tests on the boy showed that 452's transgenic DNA was altered slightly by her husband's normal genetic code. He is able to learn and perceive faster then X5-452 did at that age."  
  
Lisa looked shocked. As a geneticist who worked on Project Manticore, she had seen 452 identify parts of a Night hawk fuselage and memorize mission strategies at one year old. If this child was becoming more advanced then that- "How much faster?"  
  
"I didn't find out much before 452 escaped, but we can find out" White replied  
  
*****   
  
Foggle Towers  
Two days later  
  
"Good to be home," Max opened the door on the passenger side of the Aztec "Hate hospitals" She had been discharged that morning. Her wound, Sam said, would heal in about a week, but it didn't warrant her to stay at Metro any longer. "Only liked bein' there when I had the kids"  
  
"Well you're back now baby," Logan came around to her side, handing her the crutches she had been given at the hospital  
  
Max placed the crutches under her arms and slid out of the car. She was careful not to set her injured leg on the ground. "Aww sweetie," she addressed her black Ninja sitting in the parking garage, using the same tone of voice she reserved for her children "Mommy got ripped, so she can't play for a few days."   
  
"I'm sure the Ninja missed you too angel" Logan teased; slinging the small bag that housed his wife's belongings over one shoulder. One thing about this woman, she was low maintenance. Manticore had trained her to only take the bare essentials on trips, so as to not be bogged down with extra weight. All she had asked Logan to bring from home was her toothbrush and an extra set of clothes to last her two days. Logan had once taken an overnight trip with Val to Portland for an engagement party, and the woman had brought along ten bags. She said it was for "just in case" In case what? Was that extra ball gown for just in case yellow wasn't the "in" color at the party?  
  
Max limped to the elevator, resting against the concrete wall while she waited for the doors to open. "I know I don't have to sleep, but right now I want to get up there and crash out"  
  
The doors opened, and the couple stepped inside  
  
"Hi Logan," a young woman piped up after the doors closed. She had just recently moved into an apartment on the tenth floor, and she and him chatted on occasion when they passed each other in the mailroom.  
  
"Hey Jenna," Logan said out of politeness "How's it going?"  
  
"Good" the blonde responded cheerfully. She had the biggest crush on him. "You?"   
  
"Can't complain," Logan responded, watching the numbers light up on the panel.  
  
/God he's hot/ Jenna smiled at his statement, "Yeah, life can be a bitch sometimes"  
  
"I wouldn't say that" Logan argued  
  
"Trust me if you're alone, life's a bitch" Jenna complained  
  
"Dammit!" Max cursed suddenly, breaking her silence.  
  
Logan looked away from Jenna "What's wrong?"  
  
"My ring-" Max gazed at the floor of the elevator "Took it off for a sec to scratch this damn road rash and I lost it" she honed her vision around the elevator finally catching the glint of metal with her eye "There it is" she hobbled down to reach it "Little help goes a long way" she looked up at Logan just watching her.  
  
"Thought you were independent Max" Logan retrieved the ring before she did, dusting off a few specs of dirt from the jade surface  
  
"Thought you were a gentleman," she returned, pulling herself up.  
  
Logan had to smile at that "Touché" He examined the jade band in his palm, taking her left hand in his "Allow me" he slipped the band back on her finger. He saw all the reddish colored skin on her hands "Ouch"  
  
"More like damn" Max corrected, turning them over, revealing the same redness on the reverse sides  
  
"You should soak those in some hot water once we get home" he kissed her open palms, turning slightly to the other woman in the elevator "Excuse me, Max, this is Jenna Streland, she just moved in downstairs. Jenna this is my wife Max"  
  
"Nice to meet you" Jenna returned, with a smile, but her voice was slightly down trodden /did he say "wife?"/  
  
"Same" Max returned  
  
The elevator dinged at the penthouse. Even though Jenna lived on the tenth floor, she stayed in the elevator until the top twenty-fifth floor where Max and Logan lived.  
  
"C'mon baby, I can hear our children from here" Max hobbled out into the hall, turning to Jenna "Nice meetin' ya"  
  
"You too" Jenna replied as the elevator door closed   
  
After she left, Logan turned towards Max "You are a wicked woman" he looked at her reproachfully "I can here our children from here "baby"" he mocked her earlier words  
  
"She got the message *baby* " Max argued "Spelled it out as clear as I could without having to break her all over that elevator floor."  
  
"A bit possessive are we?" Logan asked  
  
"Damn straight" Max agreed.  
  
When they approached their door it opened before they got there.  
  
"Heard you comin'" Cindy came out of the penthouse. She had been babysitting the kids while Logan went to pick up Max at the hospital. "Welcome home suga," she hugged Max "How ya doin' my boo?"  
  
"Good as can be expected," Max answered honestly, balancing her injured leg in the air  
  
"Mommy's home!" Jess cried out, running out of the apartment in his bare feet.  
  
"Hey sweetie" Max picked him up, bracing herself on one crutch, and settling Jess on her hip   
"Miss me?"  
  
"Yeah!" Jess answered with enthusiasm, planting a kiss on her mouth.  
  
"Missed you guys too," Max returned the gesture.  
  
"Lil boo," Cindy addressed Jess "Mama needs both her arms to get inside the house so you come with Auntie kay?"  
  
"Kay" Jess agreed, sliding down to the floor "Hurry momma" he ran back in the house.  
  
"I'm right behind ya baby" Max called out  
  
"Better come in suga," Cindy looked at her best girl critically "looks like you need to sit"   
  
"No arguments there gurl," Max limped through the doorway.   
  
"Hey" Max stopped to pet the hyper active Kaja who had bound up to greet her "Nice to see you too"  
  
"Down girl" Logan called out "Mommy needs some rest"  
  
The dog obeyed his command instantly, still remembering where she came from.  
  
Max crashed onto the cushions of the couch with a sigh.  
  
"Let me give you a hand with that" Cindy propped up Max's injured leg on a cushion. "Good?"  
  
"Feels much better" Max looked to her friend "thanks"  
  
In the bedroom Logan unpacked Max's small bag. He made a quick trip to the bathroom to drop off the toothbrush.  
  
"See daddy?" Jess's voice called out, he was holding up something.  
  
"What's up Jess?" Logan turned to look at his son standing in the bathroom doorway "Wow, that's great" he praised the drawing in his hands "Is that for mommy?"  
  
Jess nodded, "Don't like those" Jess pointed to the "P299" that he wrote in pencil, and then   
X-d out in bright red crayon. "Dey were on the gun"  
  
Logan stepped closer to him "Can I see?" he took the paper from Jess, looking at the card, with the typical "Love You Mommy" that any child would do. But the numbers written above the yellow smiley face- "You saw mommy get hurt with a gun?"  
  
Jess nodded again "Silver sisauer P.2.9.9" he pronounced "Sig Sauer" like it was only one word, and he spaced out P299, but just the fact that he had just identified the weapon Max had been shot with was amazing in itself.   
  
"This is good work," Logan proclaimed, handing him back the drawing.  
  
"Will mommy hurt for a long time?" Jess asked seriously.  
  
"For a little while Jess" Logan didn't lie to him "But-" he picked him up "I'm sure when you show her this, she'll feel a lot better"  
  
Jess smiled "Let's bounce"  
  
Logan had to laugh at his statement /He is defiantly his mother's son/ "Okay"   
  
"Hey sweetie," Max looked at her daughter peeking at her from behind the coffee table "Whatcha doin'?"  
  
Lexi giggled, and went back behind the table, but still kept one eye out at her mother.  
  
The smile on Max's face broadened "C'mon baby girl" she held out her arms "Scalk on over to mommy"  
  
The little girl let go of the coffee table, and took wobbly steps over to where Max was.  
  
"Look at my little boo" Cindy praised, as the baby finally reached Max who reached down and picked her up.  
  
"Ya know this one said her first yesterday?" Max raised an eyebrow at Cindy.  
  
Cindy kneeled next to the couch "For real?" she touched Lexi's cheek "My boo is hangin' with the big girls" she kissed her "What was it?" Cindy looked to Max.  
  
"Zack" Max couldn't help the smile that came to her face.  
  
"Logan had a prob with that huh?" Cindy basically asked a rhetorical question.  
  
"With what?" Logan emerged from the bedroom with Jess in tow.  
  
"What my lil boo said yesterday," Cindy informed.  
  
"The "Zack" thing hun" Max informed   
  
"Never said that was a problem," Logan corrected   
  
"Course not," Max said with a hint of a smile.  
  
Jess stood in front of his mother, and presented her with his paper   
  
"For me?" Max took the paper from him. She smiled at what she saw "This is so great" she turned to her son "Thanks baby, makes me feel better" she hugged him. "See what my boy did?" Max held out the drawing to Cindy.  
  
"That's kicks so much" Cindy held out her hand "High five on that one Jess"  
  
Jesse slapped his smaller hand against Cindy's. "See momma" Jess addressed Max again. He pointed to the P299 "No more guns"  
  
Max looked hard at the numbers /FLASH: "Where'd you see that?" "Back there" Jess pointed "With him"/ "No more" Max repeated, kissing his forehead. She shared a glance with Logan across the room.  
  
*****   
  
8:39 p.m.  
  
The black Benz waited outside the back way of the condemned building. Rain slapped against the windows. The passenger door opened and a man slid inside.  
  
"Hot off the press Sir" Private Jenkins handed Ames White a set of photos. "Hover Cam was stationed right outside Southside"  
  
White looked at the images of the outdoor market area. There were several clear shots of Max, one when she was confronting the stall owner, and another after she was shot. "Lisa's end's been tied?"  
  
"Yes Sir" Jenkins pulled out a CD R "She got this out of the hover drone's audio readout. Changed the format so it can play standard, so it's set to roll Sir" he placed it in the Benz CD player and hit "play"  
  
/"What's P299?"  
  
"Where did you see that?"  
  
"Back there with him-"/  
  
Jenkin's pointed to an image of Jess on one of the photos "452's son identified the weapon his mother was shot with before it was even pulled out. My guess is that he must've honed in on the brand of the gun in the man's pocket beforehand"  
  
= = = =  
  
(inside shot of a Lexis LSI's tan leather seats. Opened black laptop runs sound enhancement program. Screen shows the sound waves emitted by White and Jenkins's conversation)  
  
"Your guess would be correct this time Private" White stopped the CD "This boy is showing incredible genetic advancement, and after I run the neuros on him, we'll know how much"  
  
Donald Lydecker listened to the conversation that was going on. After it ended, he picked up the cell that was lying on the car seat next to the computer.  
  
"Seattle Directory Assistance" came the woman's voice on the other end.  
  
"I need the address for Logan and Max Cale"  
  
"One moment please" there was typing on the other end for a few seconds "It's in Sector 5. 363 Lyell Drive, the penthouse apartment"  
  
"Thank you" Lydecker ended the call, watching the black Mercedes drive off before pulling out into the night.  
  
*****   
  
Foggle Towers   
9:21 p.m.  
  
"Sleep tight babe" Max kissed her son on his head once more before shutting of his bedroom light. She closed the door quietly, re-positing the crutches back under her arms.  
  
"How's he taking all this?" Logan asked her once she came back into the living room.   
  
"He's worryin' bout me a lot" Max limped over to him "Poor baby, musta scared him a lot to see me kiss metal" she looked Logan in the eye, leaning against the wall.  
  
"Hey I would've been the same way Max," Logan let her know, framing her face with his hand "But actually it was the one time I was glad Alec was there" this made his wife smile. "Baby, can I ask you something?"   
  
"You wanna know about Jess" Max answered his question before he even asked it.  
  
"When you were at the Southside-" he started walking to the couch. "Did Jess see anyone before-"  
  
"He saw numbers" Max balanced herself on one crutch so she could sit. She felt Logan help her down. "Said something about a P299 when we were leavin'. And when I turned around this shit was holding a silver sig"  
  
Logan pondered this for a moment "He must've seen the brand somewhere on the gun before, and just filed it away to ask you later"  
  
"Never realized how much he reminds me of myself" Max stated suddenly "This stuff is happening to him, and he doesn't understand why" she paused "Because of his freak show mom"  
  
"Hey enough" Logan stated firmly, halting Max's thinking. Woman came down to hard on herself.  
  
A loud crying broke the night air  
  
"Lexi" Max pulled herself up on one crutch,  
  
"I'll go" Logan pushed his wife back down.  
  
"She's my baby too Logan" Max informed, moving to stand up again  
  
Logan kissed her forehead "I know, be right back" he disappeared towards the nursery.  
  
Max leaned back into the couch, closing her eyes, which snapped open a few seconds later when  
something caught her eye in the window  
  
"Zack" Max just entered the office as her brother slid in through the open skyline window  
  
"Shouldn't leave this open Maxie" Zack stepped over to her, removing his leather jacket, revealing a black shirt underneath (mystic: did this part for me, Zack in a black t-shirt, with those arms..d.a.m.n)  
  
"Why are you here?" Max asked, she loved her bro, but he didn't do quick visits like other people  
  
"Can't I just hang with my sis?" Zack stretched out on the same couch where he had thrown his  
jacket. When Max looked at him in a way that said 'not unless hell has frozen over', he told her the truth "Just wanted to see if you were okay"  
  
"I'm good" Max informed, "You know how fast we heal" she leaned on her crutches.   
  
"Alec told me about Jess" Zack stated   
  
"He identified the gun I was shot with" Max limped over to him, stopping right in front of him  
"Starting the way we did"  
  
"That makes it dangerous for him" Zack stated matter-of-factly "You remember what it was  
like when we first got out" he uncrossed his arms, looking up at Max's face "We didn't know how to deal with our abilities in the real world, to keep it DL. Jesse has all this going on, but he wasn't taught to understand it, and run with it. It's his weakness Maxie-"  
  
"That's why I'm going to tell him about us" Max broke in "He has a right to know what's happening to him" a pause "I think about this all the time Zack. He's my son, and I am NOT going to let anyone do to him what Manticore did to us"  
  
There was a knock on the door.  
  
Max was still reeling from her conversation with Zack, so she didn't even look through the peephole.  
  
"Max" Lydecker stepped through the doorway, before she could close it  
  
"Unless you want a doorknob up your ass, you better get out of my house!" Max barked at the older man.  
  
Deck ignored her and stepped into the room "There's something you need to know-" he was cut off  
when he was rushed against the door, making it slam shut from the impact.  
  
"We don't need to know anything from you" Zack glowered at Lydecker, holding a fistful of the man's shirt in his hand.  
  
"I think you do Zack" Lydecker looked the X5 in the eye "Unless you don't care about your nephew's life"  
  
"What are you saying?" Max barked back.  
  
Deck turned to face Max "Your son is very special Max. He isn't a normal boy. Ask yourself what  
would happen if Ames White got a hold of him?"  
  
"Or you Deck" Zack shoved him back against the door "You want to start preaching the "what if" gospel with me, it's gonna get nasty real fast-"  
  
"I never wanted to hurt you all" Lydecker interrupted   
  
"Yeah well you failed" Logan had come out of the bedroom, holding his 45 he kept in the computer desk "Breaking children's bones, shooting them down, what the hell is that if it's not hurt?" he took a step closer to them  
  
"These kids were built for it son," Lydecker addressed Logan, turning to face him. "I'm not coming here to launch a vigil anti on your family, I came here to warn you-"  
  
Max blew him off "We suppose to believe that you did a complete one-eighty, after all that withholding you've done from the Save the Manticore Mutant Prototype Fund?"  
  
"Whether you believe me or not Max, it won't change what White was briefing his boy on about your son" he raised a Zip disk in his hand.  
  
"Let him go" Max ordered to Zack "Hear what he has to say"  
  
Zack looked Deck in the eye with a hard, no nonsense stare "I get wind of a shake down, there won't be enough of you leftover to bury in the ground" he released his shirt in an abrupt, jerky manner.  
  
"You haven't changed Zack" Lydecker announced out of the blue "Had the same commanding tone when you were twelve" he didn't wait for a response from the X5, and got down to his next order of business "I need a zip drive to run this"  
  
"I've got one" Logan snatched the disk from him, and took it over to his computer. He loaded the disk in the drive, clicking the safety on the gun "When were you eavesdropping?" Logan typed in a few commands on his keyboard, laying the 45 back in the drawer.  
  
"2000 hours" Deck informed, not saying anything more.  
  
Logan brought up the file, and ran the audio feed. The conversation played back verbatim through the speakers  
  
"He wants to run neuros on Jess" Max spoke out "Why? He knows how smart he will become, sliced up enough Manticore things in his time"  
  
"It's not the same Max," Deck corrected   
  
"What do you mean?" Zack snapped, "What the hell difference does it make?"  
  
"Max's chrosomial DNA was altered in the boy by Logan's normal genetics" Deck informed, "The intermixing of the two added a completely different strand on one helix of DNA in a chromosome set. It encodes for his abilities to show up earlier then anything Manticore created."  
  
"What about Alexis?" Max shot out; she needed to know "Will she be this way?"  
  
"She will have advancements, but not as fast as his" Deck answered "You all were designed so that if you were to breed with a civilian, the DNA encoding for this helix would stop after the first generation to keep track of these kinds off offspring more efficiently"   
  
Max looked disgusted "If White thinks he's going to mess with MY baby because of this helix strand, I'm going to break out of my policy of not handling guns" she turned to Deck "Why are you giving us this 411? Could just as easily used it against us"  
  
"For the same reason, you all broke out that winter night," Deck spoke out "It's all about priorities"  
  
"You just want to save your own ass" Zack growled   
  
"Regardless of that," Logan broke in, swiveling in his chair "Jess has already been screwed enough by White, and I'm not going to let it happen again"  
  
*****   
  
1:23 a.m.  
  
"Max?" Logan looked up from his pillow, flipping on the light "What's up?"  
  
Max was leaning against the bedroom window, supporting herself on one crutch. Her leg was getting stronger, but she still needed the crutches for balance. "I won't let White take Jess" her voice was fierce, as she gazed out on the broken skyline.   
  
"Feeling's mutual" Logan reassured, stepping up behind his wife.  
  
"He's our son" Max turned her head to look Logan in the eye "Not some science experiment. I don't care how advanced he will become, he's still two years old. If something happens to him, he'll never be the same, hell I'LL never be the same. I know what it's like Logan, and I don't EVER want to see either one of them go through that kind of hell-" she spoke with deep passion.  
  
"That's why we're here" Logan wrapped his arms around her from behind "To make sure nothing happens" he dipped his head down to kiss the barcode on her neck.  
  
/FLASH: "Never underestimate the enemy" Lydecker addressed the young soldiers "Otherwise you will be caught off guard"/  
  
Max squeezed Logan's hands where they rested on her waist, thinking of a way to keep her baby boy out of danger.  
  
*****   
  
Jam Pony  
The Next Morning   
  
"Max" Alec stated when she entered the building "You're looking better then when I saw you all over the road"  
  
"Gee thanks" Max threw back continuing to limp inside.  
  
"Oh my god it's true" Normal spoke out looking at Max "At first I thought this injury scenario was just bullshit to get out of work-"  
  
"I'm sorry to disappoint you Normal" Max threw back "Next time I'll try and dodge the bullet just to keep your ideals on me up to code"  
  
"Is that smart mouth of yours running on the time clock today?" Normal asked  
  
"Not unless I can move a bike with one leg" Max threw back, heading towards the back.  
  
"She's late when she's working and she's punctual when she's not" Normal called out after her.  
  
"So did Zack tell you about your little Manticore Einstein?" Alec continued to follow her  
  
"I knew already Alec" Max informed, "Remember I'm his mother?"  
  
"Nothing like a little half transgenic coming into his own to keep you on your toes huh Maxie?  
Heard about what happened at Metro" when Max looked at him wondering how the hell he knew  
that since he wasn't there, he added "Your brother let me in on the 411 when we had that talk. Guy's so commando oriented, don't know what Logan's ex sees in him"  
  
"All this because she turned you down?" Max stated "I hate to break it to you Alec, but that "thing you do so well" is all in your head, think she went with Zack" she whispered this last part loudly.  
  
"You're just glad that Asha's finally doing someone else, and not sitting around fantasying about what she and Logan could do all day when you're at work"  
  
Max knocked him upside the head.  
  
"Alec, get your lazy butt in gear" Normal called out "This isn't a social hour"  
  
"Max and I are just discussing finer aspects of a threesome" Alec called out.   
  
Max knocked him again for that one  
  
"Damn girl quit doin' that" Alec fixed the messed up strands of his hair.   
  
"This one is for 134 Fental Ave" Normal threw the package at Alec   
  
"This is even beyond steel head territory" Alec examined the label "Gonna run in a lot of overtime"  
  
"I'm not giving you anything extra" Normal returned "If you don't screw anything up, maybe you'll get a tip"  
  
"Not enough money in Seattle for that" Alec came back  
  
"134 Fental Ave" Max spoke out; cocking her head at Alec "Isn't that Asha's place?"  
  
"On second thought" Alec's perspective on the situation changed "Bet I could get a nice tip  
out of this one"  
  
Max looked at him "Shut up, and let's get going"  
  
"You're coming with me?" Alec turned to her "Max, I am deeply touched by this display of affection"  
  
"I'm going to make sure you don't do anything stupid when you're over there" Max informed   
  
"Affection only goes so far Max" Alec told her "As nice looking as you are, this bicycle ain't built for two" he slapped the seat of his bike, making dust billow out of the stretched leather "not even the ways I'm thinking of would hold out that far"   
  
"I have my car" Max held up her keys "'Cause the ways I was thinking of wouldn't get you there in one piece either"  
  
"Then by all means Maxie" Alec did a grand wave with his hand "Lead the way" When Max passed in front of him he asked "what ways were you thinkin' of?"  
  
Max hit him again "Shut up"  
  
*****   
  
Foggle Towers  
  
"Here doggie" Jess held up a rubber pork chop to Kaja. The German Shepherd leapt at her toy. Jess threw it, sending it sliding across the hardwood floor "Go get it!" he watched the dog do a nosedive on the floor. She returned the plastic toy back to Jess, sitting at his feet, waiting to continue the game.  
  
Logan glanced away from the computer for a second, making sure his son wasn't getting into anything he shouldn't. "See this sweetie" Logan addressed Lexi sitting in his lap. "This is going to be bad news for that Mafia group on the West Side" he pointed to the computer monitor, showing two members participating in a robbery at a head shop. Lexi pointed at the screen as well.   
  
Logan smiled "They'll never see it coming" he kissed her on her head   
  
"Fetch Kaja!" Jess pitched back with his arm, putting more force into the throw, sending the chew toy whizzing past the living room, and knocking a glass off the kitchen counter, shattering it on the floor.  
  
Logan's head snapped up at the crash "Jess?" he picked up his daughter, and exited his office. He scanned the penthouse, looking for the source of the noise.  
  
"Jesse" Logan found the boy in the kitchen, kneeling over broken shards of glass "What happened?"  
  
"I threw too hard, I'm sorry daddy. I didn't mean to-"  
  
"It was an accident" Logan informed, "don't worry about it" he set Lexi on her feet outside the kitchen. "Jess don't try to pick those up with your hands, you'll cut yourself" he took the glass piece from his son's hand "I'll do this, Go make sure your sister doesn't come in here and cut herself okay?"   
  
Jess nodded, and headed over to Alexis, watching his father clean up the kitchen floor. The telephone rang after Logan had dumped the broken glass in the trash.  
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"Hello sir, I'm calling from Craddock Heights Insurance. We are offering you a-"  
  
"I'm covered already, thanks" Logan replied to the woman  
  
"Our policy is different sir" the woman argued, "We don't just offer it for you and your life partner, also you're dependants are covered in case of any dismembering accident that might occur"  
  
"Can I get back to you on that?" Logan ran a hand through his hair, annoyed at the sales woman.  
  
= = = =   
  
(Cut to: shot of Lisa talking on a black phone in a dimly lit office)  
  
"Yes sir you can, and with our no haggle phone service, your call will be instantly   
directed to an assistance operator" her voice was overly cheery "We don't want your  
insurance problems to be solved AFTER you get hurt and wake up on the floor"  
  
"Keep that in mind" Logan was heard to say through the other end of the phone.  
  
"Then you have a nice day sir" the phone disconnected  
  
"You have it?" Ames stepped over to Lisa, dressed all in black  
  
"Got it" Jenkins replied, looking at his computer screen "Feed lasted long enough"   
  
"Get a unit over there to apprehend" White ordered, and added "I want him alive"  
  
Jenkins stood up "Yes Sir" he headed out of the room.  
  
"What happens if 452 tries to stop this?" Lisa looked to White after Private Jenkins left. "All  
mothers have instincts when their children are in danger"  
  
"If that happens" White loaded a single bullet in the Magnum XR-05 "It'll just be two for  
the price of one"  
  
*****   
  
Fental Ave  
Asha's Apartment  
  
"Max" Asha opened the door "Thought you'd still be down for the count"  
  
"Getting tired of sittin' at home" Max replied   
  
"Can understand that" Asha replied, "So what's up?"  
  
"Business call Asha" Alec spoke out, stepping in front of Max, holding up the box "delivery. Now if you're out of cash, I can take some other form of payment" Alec stepped into the apartment  
  
Max kicked him with her good leg "Shut up" she followed Alec inside "hey moron, you're working   
remember?"  
  
"Well I'm giving myself a break Maxie" Alec notified "Sure Asha won't mind will you?"  
  
"Actually I do" Asha pointed out, looking at the X5 crashed out on her couch "but that's never stopped you before" she grabbed the parcel out of his hands "Where do I sign?"  
  
Alec gestured at Max with his hand "Maxie, the signature sheet please" ducking when Max threw stuff at him "So where's Mr. CO?"  
  
"Siphoning gas out of my neighbors Honda for his Vulcan" Asha hastily scribbled down her signature on the sheet. She set the box on the coffee table and started to open it with a box cutter.  
  
"And how many times a day does he do this?" Alec threw out  
  
"Just because you play women like a piano Alec doesn't mean that you can speak of Zack that way" Asha came back defensively.   
  
A pager beeping cut through the air.  
  
Max and Alec checked theirs at the same time   
  
"It's Logan" Max informed, looking at the device clipped to her waist "Can I use your phone Asha?"  
  
"Yeah sure, it's over there" Asha pointed out her cordless unit resting on an end table  
  
"Asha," Alec began again "you were getting a little bitchy there, did you have a prob with what I said?"  
  
"Yeah I did" Asha snapped back "Usually do when someone talks trash about my boyfriend"  
  
"Hey it's me hittin' you back " Max spoke into the phone to Logan "what's going down?"  
  
"Nothing really" Logan stated from the other end "I'm just calling to see how your holding up"  
  
"Doin' aiight" Max replied, "Don't have to worry about me" a pause as a loud noise made Max look behind her. The noise turned out to be Asha slicing into the package wrapping the rest of the way. "Yeah, I know" Max responded to Logan's next statement "But you need to relax once in a while baby" she turned to Alec before he could say anything "Shut it"  
  
"Let me guess" Logan began again "You're with Alec"  
  
"Came to make sure he didn't do anything dumb on a delivery"  
  
"Where's that?" Logan asked  
  
"Over at Asha's" came Max's reply "Gonna need to let you go, cause I'm on her phone, and prices are being jacked in this area" she paused again "Jess is doin' okay?"  
  
"He's fine sweetheart" Logan responded "Keeping my eye on both of them"  
  
"Know you are" Max smiled from her end "Kay then I'm out, love ya" she hung up  
  
"Guns by mail" Alec stated about the contents of Asha's package, a Smith and Wesson, redesigned with nine chambers in 2005. "niicee"   
  
Asha ignored him, unhinging the chambers from the base. "Damn cheap packaging" she blew dust out of metal "Use to be cleaner then this"  
  
"Yeah well welcome to the world after the Pulse baby" Alec threw out  
  
This time Asha glared at him, locking the chambers back in place. She then tested the weight of the gun in her right hand.  
  
A beeping once again broke through the air.  
  
"Logan again?" Alec spoke out "What? He forget to say something since that minute that passed?"  
  
Max unclipped her pager, reading the number on it. "Why's he calling again?" she started to head over to Asha's phone again, when she stopped   
  
/FLASH: "To bad this dog looking woman comes with a back up plan" "I came here to warn you-"  
"Once we run the neuros on him, we'll know how much"/  
  
"Max?" Asha looked at her "Are you okay?"  
  
Max whipped around to face Asha "What level is Zack at?"  
  
"Second" Asha responded, "Third space to the right of the elevator. Max what's going on?"  
  
Max didn't say anything, as she made her way out of the apartment.  
  
"What's with her?" Alec asked  
  
All Asha did was stare back at him  
  
= = = =   
  
Parking Garage  
Second Level  
  
"Max what are you doing here?" Zack looked up to his sister when he spotted her in the garage. He finished siphoning the gas and removed the hose that connected his Vulcan with the Honda.  
  
"I need your keys" Max informed, hurrying over to him  
  
"What is it?" Zack asked  
  
"Something's wrong" Max stated, raising up the Vulcan's kick stand "White's about to raid my house" she mounted the bike   
  
"But you can't drive with that leg Maxie" Zack argued   
  
"My car's not gonna cut it Zack, I can move a hell of a lot faster on a bike" Max snapped back   
"Now give me the damn keys!" she snatched them from him, cranking up the engine  
  
"You can't stop White on your own Maxie," Zack informed "not with one bad leg"  
  
"I have no choice Zack!" Max revved up the engine "I'm not going to let that fucker do   
anything to my son" she pealed out of the parking lot  
  
"Max!" Zack called after her. He turned back to the Honda, climbing on the seat.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" the owner of the bike came running over to Zack  
"Get the fuck of my ride!"  
  
Zack ignored him, ripping out the engine wires, connecting the appropriate yellow to blue. The  
engine roared to life.  
  
"HEY!" the guy called after Zack as his bike blazed out of the spot. "Son-of-a-bitch"  
  
*****   
  
Donald Lydecker typed on his laptop, honing in on a map of Sector Five. Two red  
dots indicated military vehicles heading towards Lyell Dr. He typed again, bringing up  
another window, that had Max's pager number as the top, and beeped again with  
Logan's number as the recipient.  
  
*****   
  
"Move into position" the Squad leader ordered over his mic, leaning against the Hummer  
"Remember, the boy's to be taken alive"  
  
"Copy that" one of the members responded, moving into the lobby of the apartment building  
  
*****   
  
Max cranked the speed of the Vulcan up to 90. She weaved in and out of the traffic, ignoring  
all the honks.  
  
"Slow down" a sector cop posted at a checkpoint ordered, but Max ignored him, and broke right  
through the barricade  
  
*****   
  
Foggle Towers  
Max and Logan's Apartment  
  
"Daddy, when's momma coming home?" Jess peered at Logan over the back of the couch  
  
"In about an hour Jess" Logan informed, setting Lexi on her feet in the living room "Here princess" he handed her one of her toys "Play for a while" he looked to his son "Food sound like an idea guys?"  
  
Jess nodded enthusiastically with a smile.  
  
"Think I can find something good" Logan headed into the kitchen, opening the fridge to take out some cans of tuna and some celery to make sandwiches. When he close the door, Jess's drawing fell to the floor. Logan picked it up, placing back on the door with a magnet. His glanced briefly at the X-d out P299 again, before turning around to set the food on the counter, making the plastic bag that held the lettuce brush the phone  
  
/FLASH: "But I'm sure you knew that after you woke up on the floor" Lisa stared down Max   
"We don't want your insurance problems to be solved AFTER you get hurt and wake up on the floor"/  
  
Logan abandoned the food, heading back into the living room "Jess, you take Lexi, and go in daddy's room okay."  
  
"What's wrong daddy?" Jess picked up on Logan's antsyness   
  
"I just need you to do this okay?" Logan informed his son "Can you do that for me?"  
  
"Okay daddy" Jess finally answered, his small mind could tell that this wasn't a time to argue. He took his little sister's hand and lead her to their parents room.  
  
Logan stood by the door once they were inside "Keep away from the windows and don't unlock this   
for ANYONE" he locked his bedroom, shutting his children inside.  
  
Picking up the phone, he beeped Max's pager "C'mon baby pick up" getting no answer he dialed  
Speed Dial One "Tinga, I think White trying his SOS routine again. He found that Jess is going to be smarter then all you at that age, he wants to mess with him some more"  
  
"Where are you Logan?" Tinga asked, stuffing her black wire climbing rope into her pack  
  
"At the apartment, I've got him and Alexis in my room, but that won't keep them hidden for long"  
  
"Did you reach Max?"  
  
"She's not answering her page" Logan responded  
  
"I'll be there fast" Tinga ended the call and turned to her husband "I need to get to Max's"  
  
"What is it hun?" Charlie looked at his wife concerned; he turned down the Pistons game  
he was watching   
  
"Something's wrong" Tinga answered. She kissed him briefly, and then kissed Case on the head beside Charlie "Be good for daddy" she then turned and left her apartment.  
  
*****   
  
"We're entering the elevator now Sir" Jenkins spoke to White who was back at the office building "I'm clocked for the ambush at five minutes in counting"  
  
"Make sure not to mess up Private" White ordered, "I'm very hooked on the phrase 'disposable commodity'"  
  
"Yes Sir" Jenkins answered back, as the elevator began it's decent.  
  
*****   
  
The truck in front of Max started to slow down, and there wasn't enough time weave past him or slow down, so she cranked up the speed, rolling up the trailers lowered tailgate, and sailing over his head.  
  
She landed twenty feet ahead of him on the road "Damn" the maneuver had sent pain racing through her injury, but she kept going. Her pain was nothing compared to what would happen if she didn't get there on time  
  
*****   
  
Tinga swerved her Tracker into the parking garage, parking across three lanes. She grabbed her  
pack and raced around to the back of the building.  
  
She arrived the same the Max pulled up in Zack's Vulcan.  
  
"Tinga" Max dismounted the bike, hissing under her breath, she ditched her crutches.  
  
"Logan told me what happened" Tinga set her pack on the ground. She saw the way Max was holding  
herself "But not what happened to you"  
  
"I got shot three days ago" Max announced, "I'm fine" she looked up to the penthouse "Did you see anyone?"  
  
"Not yet" Tinga fixed the rope in her cross bow.  
  
Just then Zack pulled right up to them in the stolen bike "There's a Hummer a block away,  
tags are the same as the one White's men had"  
  
"Their about to close in" Max announced, "We gotta get up there"  
  
Tinga shot off her bow, sending the rope into the air, where it hooked on the railing of the fire escape stairs.  
  
"You and Maxie take that" Zack revealed his own rope "I got my own way up"   
  
*****   
  
The elevator dinged on the penthouse floor. "All members move into position" Jenkins spoke into  
his mic. The group moved down the hall. "Bust it down" Jenkins ordered to his men. "Yes sir" the soldier kicked down the door.  
  
The apartment was quiet, the living room empty   
  
"Fan out" Jenkins ordered  
  
= = = =  
  
Logan was pressed against the wall of the nursery, looking out through a crack in the door. His 45 was in his hand, as he looked out over the people in his house.  
  
A hand touching his shoulder made him cock the gun reflexively   
  
Max held the barrel in her hand, stopping it from coming closer.  
  
"Max" Logan whispered in a relieved voice. He noticed how she was supporting herself against the wall  
  
"Where are they?" Max whispered back  
  
"Our room" he replied "I locked them inside" he looked at her "Where's Tinga?"  
  
Max pointed above her "She's on the skyline keeping watch" Max looked out the door again. "We hafta get them outta here" The soldiers were looking through the computer room. "I have to knock the door down and get them out, there's no other way"  
  
"They'll see you Max" Logan returned quickly "You're also hurt, you won't be able to fight all of them"  
  
"He's my baby Logan," Max hissed "I'm NOT going to let them lay a hand on him again" she opened the door a little wider, seeing the dog waking up. She must have been given a sedative in her water when they arrived She waved her hand to get Kaja's attention. The German Shephard came over to her wagging her tail.  
  
"I have an idea" Max shut the door again once Kaja was inside "It'll have a diversion affect if she attacks one of the soldiers."  
  
"You think she remembers all the commands?" Logan asked  
  
"She's been domesticated Logan, not de-programmed" Max responded, "We're running out of options" Max opened the door again.  
  
"I'll go first" Logan stilled her movements   
  
"Are you insane?" Max closed the door "You'll be killed!"  
  
"They won't kill me if they think I'm the only one around who knows where Jess is. I'll have to give them that first"  
  
"But I don't know if there's enough time before one of those bastards blows your brains out!" Max hissed She did not like this at all.  
  
"He's my son too Max" Logan pointed out "And I'm not just going to sit back and do nothing"  
  
Max looked at him hard "You crazy son-of-a-bitch" she opened the door again "Go, before one of the Dumb Squad members finds us back here"   
  
Logan took two steps forward, before Max yanked him back, giving him a hard kiss. He pulled back after a second, unlocking the safety on his 45.  
  
Max watched him go out.  
  
"Hold it right there" Jenkins took aim on Logan with his magnum "Drop the piddly weapon" he took the 45 from Logan "Where's the boy?"  
  
Logan stared down the man "Why should I tell you that just so you can hurt him again?"  
  
Jenkins pointed his gun barrel right at Logan's face "Because I'll blow you to hell otherwise"  
  
"Then do it, because I'm not going to tell you" Logan snapped back "He's my son, not some science project for your sleazes to mess with"  
  
/Logan you courageous bastard/ Max crept along the hall, leaning against it, she motioned for Kaja to sit. She watched the scene playing out in her living room, waiting for the right moment.   
  
Jenkins' hand poised on the trigger "Once you're gone, they're wont be anyone to protect him-"  
  
Max signaled Kaja to attack. The German Shepherd leapt at Jenkins, knocking him down with her  
weight, sending the gun to the floor.  
  
Logan backed off after Kaja attacked, following Max to the bedroom.  
  
Max kicked down the door to her bedroom "Jess?" she looked for her son, limping around the  
room   
  
"Mommy"  
  
Max opened the wardrobe door and found them there sitting on the closet floor, Jess holding Lexi in his lap.  
  
"C'mon baby" Max picked up her son "We need to go" she grabbed Alexis, passing her off to Logan.  
  
She started heading out, when a solider knocked her down with his gun "They boy has to stay 452"  
  
"Not a chance in hell" Max flipped herself back up, landing on one foot. "I don't care what you found out, you bastards aren't TOUCHING my son again!"   
  
The soldier threw her into a wall "We have orders 452"  
  
The skyline window cracked as Zack busted through "Change of plans asshole" he knocked him to the floor.  
  
Tinga jumped down from the hole in the skyline, picking up the soldier's gun and aiming it at him, another soldier entered, but Zack took aim on him with Jenkin's gun  
  
Max yanked her sore body back to her feet  
  
"Go Maxie!" Zack yelled at her. He waited until her and Logan were out the door with his niece and nephew before he and Tinga backed out of the room. Tinga signaled for Kaja to follow them, who gave a vicious snarl at the soldiers before following her people.  
  
At the elevator Max ripped open the doors, denting the metal slightly. Zack was the last to slide inside, ducking the rounds of fire being thrown at him  
  
= = = =  
  
"They've escaped Sir" Jenkins shouted into his wrist unit "They knew we were coming"   
  
"Cut them off at the lobby" White barked  
  
"Doing that now Sir" he looked to his men "take the stairs!"  
  
*****   
  
Tinga unlocked her doors with the automatic lock. "Everybody in" she pointed to the Tracker "go girl" she stated to Kaja who leapt inside.  
  
Zack pushed Max inside "Move out, I'll tail in my Vulcan" he shut the door as Tinga gunned the engine and blazed out of the parking spot.  
  
Zack jumped on his bike, seeing the soldiers reach the ground floor. He revved up the engine, and then heard three gun shots.  
  
Lydecker stood there, the smoking XR-05 in his hand "Move Zack, this won't hold them back for long"  
  
Zack drove out, making his tires squelch on the pavement.  
  
Jenkins came out seconds after Zack pulled out, aiming his gun at Deck "what the hell do you think you're doing?"  
  
"I don't appreciate being mouthed off to son" Lydecker wiped off his finger prints from the gun and set it in the dead soldiers hand, taking the paper out of his pocket.  
  
"That's classified Sir" Jenkins kept his aim  
  
"Which is why I'm making sure it stays that way" Deck lit the paper on fire with a lighter, throwing it to the ground.   
  
"Hands in the air Sir!" Jenkins shouted, before he could squeeze off however, a gun was pointed at his back, and fired. Private Jenkins fell to the floor in a heap.  
  
Deck stomped out the smoldering paper with his boot, looking up to the Sergeant holding the gun "Gather up the dead. I want a level three perimeter sweep"  
  
"Yes Sir Cornel" the Sgt. responded, pulling up his wrist unit "Unit XR03 come in-"  
  
*****   
  
8:35 p.m.  
  
"That wound was filthy gurl" Cindy closed off the fresh dressing in Max's leg. "There ya go suga" she propped up her leg on a cushion  
  
Max leaned back more into her friends couch, looking around at her old place. "Feels better" she lifted up her leg slightly and hissed. "Thanks for letting us stay here" Logan had called Matt Sung from Cindy's. The detective agreed to write up a report that the mess at the penthouse was from a break in. Logan's insurance company was sending someone up in the morning to asses the damage, but there was too much debris tonight to stay there with a baby.  
  
"Anything for my suga" Cindy came back. She kissed Max on the head "I'm gonna heat up some coffee, want?"  
  
"Of course" Max smiled back.   
  
"Feels almost like old times" Cindy stated standing up, watching Logan come through the door with Jess holding his hand "Except for scenes like that" she gave a nod over to Logan. "May be a guy, but sure is a hot boy my boo has" she started walking towards the kitchen.  
  
"He wanted to say good night," Logan informed, leading his son over to Max.  
  
Max smiled pulling Jess into a hug "Night baby" she kissed him on the head.   
  
"Mommy" Jess said around the hug "I understand now"  
  
"Understand what babe?" Max asked looking him in the eye.  
  
"What a bad person is, and I'm not one" he kissed her on the nose, and retreated back to   
Max's old bedroom.  
  
Max watched him go "He's still a baby, but not so much as before."  
  
Logan sat on the arm of the couch, draping an arm behind Max's head. "He would've grown up no  
matter if he had different genetics"   
  
"But not so damn fast" Max argued "Most two year olds don't have MIB's on their trail"  
  
"Neither do most women" Logan notified, kissing her. "Don't blame yourself"  
  
"He's right suga" Cindy came out of the kitchen, setting a mug on the coffee table in front of Max "Freak assed peeps wanted your son in a cage, and you prevented that. You don't do bad boo, you do good"  
  
"You're a good mom" Logan went on "they love you"   
  
"How bout I put in a movie?" Cindy suggested, looking at the pair "feel like veggin' out tonight"  
  
"Sounds good" Logan commented as Cindy went to retrieve a DVD from the bookcase   
  
"Men In Black" she read the title off the spine "Fits the mood tonight." she put it in the player and sat in an arm chair "Original Cindy's watching aliens get their asses blown off" she looked at the couple on the couch "she's not gonna be lookin' back in case people in this room want to get down with somethin'" she waved the remote at them "Just keep it on the DL" she hit "play"  
  
Max laughed quietly, watching as Logan stood up. She sat up so he could slide in behind her,  
resting her back against his chest.  
  
Logan kissed her soundlessly, turning to watch Tommy Lee Jones blow out an alien.  
  
Cindy glanced at the pair out of the corner of her eye. /Defiantly hot lookin' for a guy. My boo did good there too./  
  
*****   
  
Seattle   
Puget Sound  
  
"Three dead Sir" the squad leader stated  
  
"What about Jenkins?" Lisa asked, the wind blowing her trench coat  
  
"He was one of them ma'am" the soldier answered   
  
Lisa turned to White "We can't keep loosing men like this Ames. Your son and the others won't be ready for at least another month"  
  
"We have to find out who is tipping 452 off" White stated "and dispose of them"  
  
= = = =  
  
"Sweep is complete Cornel," the Sgt. informed, stepping up to Lydecker's LSI. "There are some  
local media vans outside wanting information. I told them it was a break in like you requested,  
and that I lived in the building" the Sgt. pulled on the civilian style jacket he put on to conceal his uniform. "These are all the documents we pulled off the bodies"  
  
Lydecker took the papers from him "Pack it up and return to base"   
  
"Yes Sir" the Sgt. left as Lydecker pulled out into the night.  
  
(Fade to Black)  
  
*****   
  
END  
  
After several ideas on how to end this, I settled with this, that way, I can go into it later. Like I said before this was a little Harbor Light'-ey type fic, but it's not 100% like the ep, I changed things to fit this storyline.  
  
Did you like Alexis's first word? I was going to have her say "mommy" but thought "Zack" would be more interesting:)   
  
The song Jess sang to Lexi in the hospital is called "Anna", written by Michael W. Smith  
for his eight year old daughter.  
  
As for Zack's confession about Asha, not going to make a whole thing about it, but it is something I'll bring up. Thinking of having a piece around the pair, it won't be the whole plot, I'll weave it with another. I know a lot of people don't like Asha, and I'm not in the Asha Forever camp either, but I started this relationship, I want to see it go deeper.   
  
I know it takes a looong time for me to post things, but it takes a while to write something this lengthy, I want it to have substance, not just be words on paper. Plus, with college stuff I sometimes don't get around to typing for a while. R/R please, and thanks for keepin' up with me  
  
peace 


	11. Iridescence

TITLE: Choices 12 "Iridescence"  
AUTHOR: Mystic25  
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com  
  
RATING: PG14  
  
DISCLAIMER: I'm poor, will always be poor until I get my masters in Peds about eleven years  
from now. I steal them b/c I can, so-end of discussion Cameron kay?  
  
SUMMARY: Lucia's visit with Max re-surfaces her memories of Ben's death, and Asha drops a potential bombshell on Zack  
  
A/N: Lucia's back like I said; want to go deeper with what I started  
  
A/N#2: I picked out the title because when you look at something that is iridescent, it doesn't  
look the same from every angle, and that's kind of what I'm going for  
  
A/N#3: I dedicate all Max/Logan scenes in here to everyone who has seen "Hello Goodbye" and was  
either about to cry (like I almost did) or curse a blue streak. The ep minus the cruel parts was good though. I'm not a Max/Alec girl (can't you tell?) but his reaction when she was telling him about Ben was sweet. Dark Angel may be messing with the "going away" thing, but this is MY universe, where things are messed up, but not screwed up, so take THAT James Cameron.   
  
A/N #4: This is like a new record with the notes, heh. Like the last chapter, this is a sorta spin on H/G in my world. Some of the lines may sound like they're from the ep. Did it on purpose to add to the effect. But, they're not a hundred percent the same, so don't add another lawsuit to the list Cameron. Oh and Max's flashbacks to that time with Ben are word for word, I got a copy of the "Pollo Loco" script, so all the info about the ep is correct. No more notes, story starts...NOW  
  
*****   
  
134 FENTAL AVE  
SEATTLE  
MARCH 2020  
  
Asha wiped the steam off her mirror that had accumulated there from her shower about  
half an hour ago, flipping off the light and exiting her bathroom. She entered her living room,   
flopping down on her couch to get her shoes out from under it. She grabbed out the black  
boots, also pulling something out that wasn't hers, a black glove  
  
/Must've left this here/ she threw the man's glove on the coffee table, and laced up her shoes.  
/Last guy to leave his stuff with me was Logan, no wait, Derek, Logan always cleaned up after  
himself. Derek wouldn't know a mop if it bit him in the ass/ Asha stood up and yanked her burgundy leather jacket off a chair. Her stomach growled. She checked her watch /2:14, I just ate two hours ago. Stupid PMS crap, makes me hungry too much. What day is this?/ she looked over at her little flip desk calendar stuck on an end table /Late this time, wait, when was the last? After Leo and the others met up with me, five, no six weeks. Remember now it was 2 am. Zack came by right after, boy never sleeps-shit hold up/ Asha finally got what she was thinking /Hell no, he used stuff, didn't he?/  
  
"Uh-uh" Asha spoke this out loud, she grabbed her keys and bolted out the door /No freakin' way/  
  
*****  
  
JAM PONY  
  
"Excuse me" a tall, brunette woman stepped into the building  
  
"Can I help you?" Normal was actually being polite with this woman, mostly because he found  
her attractive.  
  
"Hope so" Lucia informed, "I'm looking for an employee of yours, Max-" Lucia broke out of her  
sentence, spotting the person she had come here to see.  
  
"Hey" Max stated, after seeing who it was who called her, she really didn't know what else to  
say, like before  
  
Lucia was the same way, but after a minute she pulled Max into a hug "How are you?" Lucia  
pulled back after a minute  
  
"I'm good" /I'm great at these short answers/ She pulled back and looked at the older woman  
"Is there a problem or anything?"  
  
"No" Lucia responded, "I just wanted to see how you were, and I remembered you worked here.  
I never really got a chance to talk to you after-"   
  
"Me neither" Max answered honestly "Wanna talk after I get done here? Could come by my house.  
Logan's out of town until tonight, so it will be just us and my kids"  
  
"Sounds good" Lucia stated with a hint of a smile, pleased that Max was allowing her to come into her life "Is seven okay?"  
  
"Fine" Max responded "it's at 363 Lyell, penthouse"  
  
"Thank you" Lucia said afterwards "for letting me do this" she put her hand on Max's shoulder "C-ya tonight"  
  
Cindy had seem Lucia come in, and waited until the woman left, thinking that her girl probably wanted to be alone with her. "So that's your moms?" she turned to her friend "Seems coo'"  
  
"Still don't know if I can call her mom" Max admitted "But I want to get to know her"  
  
"Your boy had to miss it too" Cindy referenced the fact that Logan was helping out Aunt Margo  
with some affairs. Max had been invited too, but she was afraid of what she might do to the  
snobby woman if Margo pissed her off.  
  
"He'll be back tonight" Max informed, "Maybe they'll catch each other" she missed him. He'd  
been gone for two and a half days, and though she loved her children, she enjoyed her late  
nights talking about the ways of the world, and the sleaze of Seattle with Logan over chess,  
or stretched out together on the couch, sipping wine.  
  
"Miss him huh?" Cindy caught the tone in her voice  
  
"I'm that obvious?" Max asked  
  
*****   
  
"Logan dear" Margo's voice echoed off the outside walls of her ridiculously expensive two story town house "This is where you got to" she found him over looking her red rose garden in a white gazebo that stood in the center of the flowers and shrubs "Everyone was beginning to wonder where you disappeared to"  
  
Logan turned to face his aunt "Just came out to take in the scenery" in reality he was out here  
to get away from Margo's stuffy friends. He never liked being around rich, old money women.  
He'd stood in this gazebo many times as a kid, when his parents dragged him and Marie over to  
visit them. "Sorry for just 'disappearing'" he spoke to her politely.  
  
Margo stepped closer "Jennae's daughter is a lovely girl" she spoke of the nineteen year old  
blonde inside, who had been hanging on Logan's every word all day.  
  
"That she is" /but she's nothing like my Max/ he didn't speak this out loud, but it was true.  
Rainelle was a nice girl, but she was so well bred and polished, and over did the whole  
defenseless damsel act. She was the kind of woman Margo and her crowd thought well  
suited for Logan. But being around Max, made Logan sick of Rainelle's fawning and cooing  
over his every move /"Logan, I can't believe how smart you are, I would've never known that"/  
/"No shit Sherlock, what am I, simple?"/ Max's remark filtered through his brain. He missed her, a lot. These people were so fake. He missed his real life, gritty, love you till it hurts, kick ass woman, and would rather be at home with her then here in over posh kingdom.  
  
After a few minutes Logan decided to be polite and join the "party" again.  
  
"There he is" Jennae stood up from the ivory colored sofa "Rainelle was looking for you,  
it isn't nice to just dash off like that Logan"  
  
"Sorry" Logan apologized, slipping back into a chair "Just wanted to see Aunt Margo's garden"  
  
"So Margo tells me you're in the newspaper business" Mrs. Fara Kingston remarked. She was   
a middle-aged brunette decked out in a Dior white pants suit with a baby blue sweater tied around her shoulders, and about three karats in diamonds on her rings alone.  
  
"Not exactly" Logan pointed out "I mostly do freelance"  
  
"Sounds so exciting" there was Rainelle with the flattery  
  
"Jonas tried to start Logan off into the business, but my brother-in-law didn't do a thing   
to encourage it, Logan was just too stubborn like his father" Margo chimed in  
  
Logan gave the cheesiest fake laugh, but hoped no one noticed. He was sick of people  
talking bad about his father just because he didn't marry a woman in his money bracket.  
/I wish Max had decided to come, then I could at least make up excuses to slip away with  
her, maybe even disgrace Margo's garden some/  
  
"Loggie" Rainelle used a name Logan hadn't heard from anyone since the days of Marie teasing  
him with it in front of his friends. "Does that mean you're the one in charge? Cause I don't understand the newspaper business" she was all light and innocent in her tone.  
  
Logan's cell rang a second later "Sorry" he flipped it on without looking at the caller ID, just thankful for the distraction "Yeah?"  
  
"Welcome to your connection back to the real world"  
  
"Max" Logan was relieved to hear a voice that didn't want to make him shoot himself. "How's  
it going?"  
  
"Not too good" came her reply  
  
"Why?" Logan adopted a concerned tone of voice "Are you okay?"  
  
"Just miss you is all" Max pointed out honestly  
  
"Miss you too baby" Logan admitted /Screw them, I want to talk to my wife the way I always do/  
  
"Baby?" the whispers began "Whose he talking to?"  
  
"That's his wife" Margo pointed out, she didn't really sound too thrilled to mention it  
  
"He's married?" there was Jennae   
  
"Guess I ruffled the feathers" Max could hear all the commotion around Logan. "Your  
Aunt Margo there?"  
  
"Yes" Logan replied   
  
"Tell the snooty bitch I said hi"  
  
Logan covered the receiver "Max says hello Aunt Margo" Logan left out the "snooty bitch" part,  
he went back to his call "so you off work?"  
  
"In about ten" Max responded "Lucia came by to see me today"  
  
Logan was surprised at what she said, "You two get the chance to talk?"  
  
"Invited her over tonight" Max informed, "Maybe you'll get a chance to talk before  
she leaves here"  
  
"Hope so" Logan came back  
  
"You're back around nine?" Max asked, although he had told her that before he even left,  
she just wanted to hear more of his voice  
  
"Yeah, sounds right"  
  
"Good" Max smiled from her end "They'll be glad to see you. Lexi went around looking  
for you all day yesterday. Give them the good news tonight"  
  
This made Logan smile "Kiss them for me?"  
  
"I can do that" Max agreed, "I'm out then, love you"  
  
"I love you too sweetheart" he hung up, and was faced with the women's stares.  
  
"Margo never told us you were married Logan" Jennae started in  
  
"Guess she just never got around to it" Logan let her know /maybe now she won't try so  
hard to shove Rainelle on me/  
  
"You have children?" Rainelle was still trying, she might be able to win him over,  
if he wasn't happy.  
  
"Two" Logan informed   
  
"Oh" Rainelle came back, her cheeriness had just been taken down a notch, but she tried to  
hide it "how perfectly lovely"  
  
"Why didn't she come along?" Jennae asked, she was as ruthless as her daughter "Is there something wrong with her?"  
  
/What the hell's that suppose to mean?/ "She had work" Logan came back "Her boss wouldn't let  
her get away"  
  
"What is that place that she works again Logan?" Margo broke in "some sort of delivery service?"  
  
"It's a bike messenger place" Logan answered her question /Not gonna work Margo, I'm not embarrassed by what she does/  
  
"Sounds cultural" Jennae voice was sarcastic "So one level" she had just contradicted herself, but she didn't care  
  
"Well Max wasn't thinking about culture when she started there Mrs. Winston" Logan stated defensively. "Her father abused her and her siblings, so she ran away. She needed money to survive. After we got married, she decided to stay, she had made a lot of friends there, and I wasn't about to tell her no. Even if it is just a 'one level job', Max wants to give our kids what she never had," /take that/   
  
"Excuse me" Logan stood up; he had had enough of these women putting down Max. Any more discussion would make Logan be reduced to painting a big sob story about his poor wife. Max didn't have the ideal childhood, but she hadn't been defenseless. She and the others broke out because they had enough.  
  
"I've got a three hour drive home, and I should get started before it gets too late" a pause  
"Nice meeting you all" he tried to keep his voice pleasant sounding.  
  
He headed upstairs to get his bag out of the guestroom, "Bitch" he stated under his breath  
as he ascended the stairs /God I can't wait till I see her/  
  
*****  
  
METRO MEDICAL  
  
"Can I help you?" a woman behind the counter asked  
  
"Yeah" /here goes/ "I need a pregnancy test" Asha couldn't believe the words that had just come  
out of her mouth. Hardly any drug store sold them anymore since Martial Law passed in the US.   
Now, instead of having privacy, women had to publicly announce in a room full of strangers  
that they had unprotected sex.  
  
"We ran out of them this morning honey" the receptionist informed "Won't get another shipment  
until tomorrow, or I could just make an appointment with an ob for you"  
  
"That's okay" Asha replied /"Do you know who the father is Ms. Moore?" "Oh yeah, it's just this  
transgenic guy I've been dating for a while, but keep that a secret okay? He's a little picky about exposure"/ "I'll come back" she headed out of the hospital, walking over to where she had parked her car. /Damn, what the hell am I suppose to do now?/  
  
*****   
  
6:55 PM  
  
"Hi" Lucia stated, after Max had opened the door "I'm early"  
  
"That's coo'" Max informed, "Come in" she moved aside so the woman could enter  
the apartment.  
  
"I brought-" Lucia stopped what she was saying when a big ball of teeth and fur came  
at her.  
  
"Down girl, she's not going to do anything" Max stated to the dog. Kaja sat back on her  
haunches "Sorry, she's wary of strangers"  
  
"Mine are too" Lucia pointed out "Huskies have a thing against intruders" she let Kaja sniff  
her hand, after a minute the German Shepherd licked her palm "good girl" she turned back to  
face Max "Like I was getting out there before I brought some bosole, it's a Spanish dish, my  
husband just loves it"  
  
Max smiled at this "works out good, cause I'm not exactly a novice in the kitchen. Logan  
usually handles that part"   
  
Lucia set the casserole dish on the marble table top in the dining room "You have a beautiful  
home Max"   
  
"Thanks" Max came out of the kitchen, setting some napkins on the table "You mind a little  
rose with the food?" Max held the bottle of wine she had gotten from the rack.  
  
"Sounds great" Lucia reassured "I haven't had a good wine since my last anniversary"  
  
Max set the bottle on the table beside the napkins and silverware. "Hang on a sec while  
I get my squad to the table" Max said starting to walk towards the back "Make yourself at  
home"  
  
"Thanks" Lucia, sat in a chair and waited, but then got up. She was always an investigator.  
She paused at the bookshelf, looking at all the photos. Delivery room shots, sonograms.  
She stopped at Max's wedding photo. The young woman wore a deep purple dress, and  
was wrapped up in the arms of her new husband /It's simple, but it's beautiful/  
  
"I'm back" Max announced, coming around with her children in tow, Jess by the hand and  
Lexi in her arms.  
  
Lucia looked at the kids "They're so cute Max" she proclaimed, "What are their names?"  
  
"Well this one" Max swung Jess's arm with hers "Is Jesse, and Ms. Thang up here" she looked  
to her daughter, "is Alexis" she paused "Guys, we have a visitor, this is Lucia, she's a good  
friend of mine"  
  
Lucia didn't expect Max to tell them she was their grandmother, she knew that would take  
time, but she was touched by the good friend part /Even if it isn't "official" yet I AM a   
grandmother, I mean look at them/  
  
"Hello" Jess spoke up first, pondering the older woman  
  
"Hey there" Lucia hadn't raised any children herself, but she knew how to talk to them  
"I'm pleased to meet you and your little sister."  
  
"Are you staying for dinner?" Jess asked, still doing all the talking  
  
"Yes I am" Lucia responded "I made something for you all in fact"  
  
Jess smiled "Daddy's gone, so mommy needs a lot of help with food"  
  
Max had to laugh "Hey can't fault him for being right" she roughed up his  
hair "Sweetie, go grab a seat"  
  
"Kay momma" Jess answered, he looked to Lucia "You sit by me? Lexi's  
too small to sit in a chair yet"  
  
"I'd love it" Lucia came back "lead the way"  
  
*****   
  
"My father had a figurine just like that," Lucia pointed to the statue of Bast that sat in it's  
place on the mantle "Always was right next to the Virgin" she settled more into the couch,  
sipping the coffee Max insisted that she'd make after they had eaten, since she didn't do dinner.  
  
"The Blue Lady-" Max used the name that Ben and the others had called Her at Manticore.  
"When I was little my brother Ben use to tell stories about her, how she was there to protect  
us" she spoke in a far off voice, remembering all those nights on the watchtower with him.  
  
"Does he still believe in her now?" Lucia asked an innocent question, not aware of the   
implications it brought.  
  
/"Tell me about the Good Place"/ "Ben's gone" Max paused "He died about two years ago"  
  
"I'm sorry" Lucia's voice held compassion "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories-"  
  
"S'okay" Max shrugged "Not like I didn't experience loss before that."  
  
"But you shouldn't have had too" Lucia argued, she touched Max's hand, glad that she didn't  
jerk back "You mentioned one brother, did you have anymore there?"  
  
"There were eleven of us that escaped" Max told her "Six sisters, four brothers"  
  
/At least she had them to survive there/ "Wow, do you see any of them?"   
  
"My sister Tinga lives here, about five miles away with her family. The others are spread out.  
One of my sisters lives in Mexico with her son. We see each other if we can, but it's not always  
easy"  
  
"I understand" Lucia stated "So-" she went in another direction "I'll let you know some about  
me. I've been married to Rick for about eleven years now. We don't have any children, well  
except for our furry babies, Kira and Abby. I had one brother who served in the marines, but  
he was killed in the Persian Gulf, and another brother of mine lives in New York, and we still  
keep in touch."  
  
"So no kids huh?" Max asked of her earlier statement  
  
"Honey I tried for five years to have them" Lucia let her know "But no dice. Rick went out  
to a kennel on our seventh anniversary and got these little husky puppies for me. He wanted  
kids as bad as me, so they became like our children. I never knew what happened to you-"  
Lucia said "if I had another child I was going to tell her about her sister" Lucia got chocked  
up at the end "How beautiful you looked in those brief moments I saw you after you were  
born"  
  
Max didn't know it, but a single tear had trickled down her cheek.  
  
"Momma, what's wrong?" Jess had climbed in beside her, leaning on her arm  
  
"Nuthin' baby" Max reassured wiping away the moisture from her face. She put her  
arm around him "You excited about daddy coming home tonight?"  
  
Jess nodded "Why did he go away for so long again?"  
  
"Because your great aunt asked him to her house" /the bitchy schmuck/ "And I hung around  
here to be with you guys" she looked over at Lexi, who was toddling over to Lucia. The little  
girl had her first birthday the day before Logan left, and Tinga, Cindy and everyone else had  
given her a big party.  
  
"Hi" she was developing more of a vocabulary from her first word. Her blue eyes gazed into   
Lucia's "Up?" she held out her arms, wanting to be picked up, something that she loved.  
She was very choosy though about who she asked, didn't do it unless she liked the person.  
  
Lucia looked surprised, but that look soon vanished as she picked up the child. Lexi got  
comfortable in her lap, yawning. It was ten 'till nine, and Max's "no sleep" genes hadn't  
kicked in on her yet.  
  
"You tired little one?" Lucia touched the girl's brown hair "Bet you waiting up to see your  
daddy. He'll be here soon." she spoke reassuringly "Your momma is waiting too" she  
smiled at Max, who had glanced at the clock for about the tenth time in five minutes.   
  
Max shrugged sheepishly, trying not to do it again. /Something happen? What if-knock it  
off girl, it's early. He'll come. Yeah, but it's only ten minutes early-/ Max was broken out  
of her thoughts, by a soft voice. She turned to see Lucia singing a lullaby to her daughter.  
  
"Durmetes nina linda-" her voice was very harmonious as she sang an old Spanish lullaby  
that her mother had taught her. "En los brazos del amor. Que te arulla tu madre, cantando  
te a la ru"  
  
/Oh hush my pretty baby/ Max translated the song. Manticore had equipped them to know  
many tongues. She could speak six different languages /Sleeping in the arms of love. While  
your mother sings you, a lullaby from above/ "That's beautiful" Max stated.  
  
"No, THAT's beautiful"   
  
Max looked up, to see Logan standing by the doorway; his luggage bag slung over one shoulder.  
  
"Daddy!" Jess was the first one to pounce on him   
  
"Hey boy" Logan picked up his son and hugged him hard "I missed you guys" he kissed him.  
He stepped over to Max. /God she's such a sight for sore eyes/ "Hey you" he carefully set Jess down on his feet.  
  
"Hey stranger" Max stood up and was in his arms half a second later.  
  
Logan hugged her to him hard, drinking in her scent and warmth /She's amazing, and she's  
mine/ "I missed you too ya know"  
  
Max's response was to kiss him, long and hard. She didn't pull back for about fifteen seconds, finally breaking contact when she remembered that Logan couldn't hold his breath as long as she could.  
  
"Daddy's home babe" Max picked up Lexi, who had squirmed out of Lucia's lap when she saw Logan  
come inside.  
  
"Hey princess" Logan hugged his daughter "How's my big girl?" he kissed her right above her ice blue eyes.  
  
Lexi giggled, at the ticklish feeling his kiss produced on her forehead, and returned his gesture.  
  
"Daddy this is a friend of mommy's" Jess announced, gesturing towards Lucia "this is my daddy"  
he pointed out to the older woman.  
  
"I'm Logan Cale" Logan introduced himself to the woman "Max's husband, we didn't get a chance to meet last time"  
  
Lucia shook the hand that he offered "Max has told me a lot about you though" Lucia pointed out  
/but not how handsome he looks in person/  
  
Logan looked to his wife "Should I be worried?"  
  
Max knocked him lightly upside head "Shut up"  
  
/This is the kind of stuff I missed, Margo better not get anymore bright ideas to call  
me up to see her/ "Do you have to go yet?" Logan asked the older woman in his living  
room.  
  
"I can stay for a while longer," Lucia pointed out "I told my husband I'd be back around  
ten, it's about a thirty minute drive to my home"  
  
"Then please-" Logan gestured for her to sit back down  
  
"Thank you" Lucia replied taking a seat at the end of the couch. "I just want to  
thank you both again, for letting me come into your lives" Lucia spoke sincerely.  
"After I ran from that base, I believed that if my child ever got out of there and  
grew up, she would want nothing to do with me."  
  
"It's aiight" this time Max touched Lucia's hand "Hanna told me what you tried to   
do"  
  
"Hanna?" Lucia hadn't heard the name of that woman in years. She had seen her  
many times when she was pregnant /"Please Hanna, don't let them take my baby"  
"I can't make that promise Lucia" Hanna had to tell her the truth "There's nothing I  
can do"/  
  
"She took me in for a while" Max told her "but I bolted shortly. She lived too close to Manticore, and I was almost captured" /"Search everywhere!" the op ordered his group "fan out!" Nine year old Max laid buried under two feet of snow just to the right of the woodpile. She stayed there for twenty minutes until they left, before sneaking into the surrounding woods/ "Never came back, I wandered into Seattle, lived with this foster family for a while, but the father liked to abuse me and his daughter Maria. After I left there I hooked up with a girl who let me live with her, then she had to move so I lived with her friend Kendra" /"This is Max boo," Cindy stood beside the sixteen year old, speaking to the tall blonde named Kendra "Needs a place to live"/ Then I met up with Logan, and well" Max shrugged "The rest is history" /"We kinda got engaged last night" "Bout freakin' time gurl!" Kendra was ecstatic "I never knew what love was, until I met you" Logan spoke his own written wedding vows to Max on the beach/   
  
Lucia looked at the couple in front of her /What would have happened if I had left before  
Max was born? I still wish she didn't have to suffer as much as she did/   
  
"Does your husband know about-" Max broke in with this question.  
  
"I told him what happened that night after I left the hospital" Lucia responded, "It shocked  
him, I'll tell you that much" she paused, seeing the look in Max's eyes "But he was more upset about what I had undergone then why I was there"  
  
"Sounds like a decent man Mrs. Weston" Logan commented, putting an arm around Max's shoulders.  
  
"He is" Lucia agreed "And let's get one thing straight sir" Lucia addressed the younger man "No more of that "Mrs. Weston" crap, it's Lucia okay?"  
  
Logan had to smile at the woman's fire "Got it" /she reminds me of someone/ "So long as you call me Logan in return"  
  
"Think I can do that" Lucia smiled "Can see why Max loves you so much"  
  
"You can?" Max started to make a joke "I can't" she ducked when Logan threw a cushion at her.  
"How was your Aunt Margo's?" Max asked of her husband.  
  
"Dull" Logan returned, "The place is great, a lot of beautiful scenery, gardens, but those women" here he rolled his eyes "Margo's friends are very high society shmucks. They talked about noting but the over pricing of help, and saving up to by another set of diamonds" he dipped his head back on the couch and sighed "Was all I could do to keep from ending it with a shrimp cocktail fork at that afternoon brunch"  
  
"Logan's got money relatives" Max explained to Lucia "Kinda sleazy blue blooded inbred thing.  
They weren't exactly thrilled about a street girl marrying into the trust funds, so I'm sure I wasn't missed"  
  
"At least not by any of them" Logan shot back, rubbing her shoulder with one hand.  
  
This made Max smile "glad that there was someone on my side at the festivities"   
  
Lucia glanced at her watch "I guess I should go. Sector police are very thick around here"  
she stood up from the couch.   
  
"Thank you for coming over" Logan stated, stepping beside her "It was nice to finally meet you"  
  
"And you" Lucia returned, "I appreciate you letting me come over Logan" the older woman held  
out her hand to him.  
  
Logan returned the handshake, but then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
Lucia blushed slightly "If I told Rick that another man kissed me tonight, we won't make love for-" she calculated in her head for a second, "hours" she smiled at her joke.   
  
"It was so great seeing you again Max," Lucia informed "Now we have to do this more often"  
  
"That'd be good" Max returned  
  
Lucia pulled the younger woman into a hug "You turned out so beautiful Max, I'm just sorry I missed it all" she kissed her forehead. "Bye" she gathered up her stuff, and soon the front door closed.  
  
"So that's Lucia huh?" Logan spoke up after a few seconds  
  
"Yep" Max turned to face him, wiping a few stray tears off her face  
  
Logan wiped off one that she missed "Something in your eye?" he joked lightly  
  
Max shook her head.  
  
"There is now," Logan returned, he leaned over and kissed the exposed part of her left eyelid.  
He dipped his forehead to hers "Wanna continue the party?"  
  
"Party hasn't started yet" Max returned seductively, wrapping one arm behind his neck "After  
the kids go to sleep. You had two days of 'vacation' Sir" Max smiled a Cheshire cat grin "That  
calls for an entire night of multitasking to make up for it"  
  
"God, I love having a lot of hard work," Logan returned  
  
*****   
  
"If you have this number, you know who this is, leave a message" *beep*  
  
"Hey, it's Jondy, just checking in, haven't been tailed in a while" Jondy smiled,  
sitting in a stool at a local bar in San Francisco "No bad guys on my ass so  
far, but there are several guys after my ass, just to keep you informed big brother."   
Jondy laughed at the sight of a man falling off his stool "Gotta go see  
how much feline DNA is really in me. Oh and anything Krit tells you about  
tonight is a damn lie. I'm out"   
  
*****   
  
CRASH  
  
*beep*  
  
"It's Asha. Guess you turned your cell off again, or don't have it on you, whatever." Asha rested her elbows on the bar "Need to talk to you. Tonight, tomorrow, don't care, but soon. Bye"  
she ended the call, only playing with the shot glass in front of her.  
  
"Just going to sit there and admire it?" Alec slid into the vacant stool beside Asha  
  
Her response to this was to slam down the shot and drop the empty glass back down on the  
bar. /Isn't drinking bad if your knocked up? I don't know yet, so I'll reform later/ "You want  
something Alec?" she turned to him.  
  
"Depends" Alec returned  
  
Asha glared at him "Don't even start with that crap tonight" she pushed some blonde hair behind one ear.  
  
"On whether you want my company" Alec finished "You have a dirty mind sometimes Asha" he took  
a drink from his beer mug "You and Zack get into something?"  
  
"We didn't have a fight Alec" Asha responded, "It's really none of your business" she turned the glass upside down on the counter surface  
  
"So nothing's going down, but your sitting here alone to get wasted" Alec didn't buy her explanation   
  
"Exactly" Asha stood up and paid for the drink. She grabbed her jacket off the bar.  
  
"Good luck with that" Alec raised his mug at her.  
  
"Goodbye Alec" Asha's voice was annoyed. She grabbed her keys out of her pocket and left  
the bar.  
  
Once outside she checked her watch /11:22. How long is this damn night gonna last?/ The cool  
air made her stuff her hands into her coat pockets /great time to forget my gloves/ She  
slid into her Cherokee, turning on the heater.   
  
She drove through the darkness, back to her apartment. The elevator soon dinged on her  
floor. Her front door opened silently. She flipped on the lights, collecting the ads that had  
been slid under her door. She slid out of her jacket on the way to her bedroom, throwing it  
on a chair. She started unbuttoning her blue shirt before flipping on the light. After she  
adjusted to the brightness, her eyes focused on a reflection in the mirror, and her hand  
instinctively went to the Colt in its holster.  
  
A hand grabbed the barrel of the gun as soon as she turned around.  
  
"Zack," Asha exhaled, lowering her weapon "You scared the shit out of me" she clicked the gun on safety, and threw it on the bed.   
  
"Came across your message in my voice mail" Zack spoke up "Is there a problem?" his voice hinted of concern  
  
"Not really" Asha replied, re-buttoning her shirt /Not that he hasn't seen that before, just not a good state of dress for this kind of conversation/ "Zack we need to talk"  
  
*****   
  
"Satisfied?" Logan looked at his wife curled up next to him under the sheets. They had just  
spent the past two hours giving each other an extremely intimate welcome home party.  
  
"Hell yeah" was Max's reply "Multitasking was never this good before"   
  
Logan laughed quietly at her remark "Can't complain anymore about it now" Max's heart beat one  
second slower against his bare chest then his own, creating a rhythmic beating that mingled with the sounds of their own breathing.   
  
"Shut up" her response held no anger, only sarcasm. She pulled herself up and straddled  
him, the sheet covering her bare form like a wrap.  
  
He looked at her, clad in only a cotton sheet, long brown locks tousled, dark skin shining with   
sweat in the lamplight, and wondered again how the hell a woman like this found her way into  
his life.  
  
"Can't ogle me without givin' the verdict" Max broke him out of his thoughts  
  
"You're so beautiful" he ran a hand down her bare shoulder "Like an angel"  
  
She blew him off "I'm no angel" she leaned down closer to his face "But the beautiful part  
is coo'" she kissed him.  
  
He returned the gesture, sliding a hand behind her neck, directly over her barcode. "I missed this" he caressed the pattern of lines and numbers. "I know you hate it baby, but this is a part of who you are, and who I fell in love with"  
  
Max hated her barcode, hated being cataloged, tagged and easily referenced. "I hate what I am"  
she spoke out, breaking the tranquil mood, and she knew it "Sorry for being a party killer" she  
pulled back and laid back on her side of the bed "Not very nice for a woman who hasn't seen her man in two days" she was turned so she was staring at the ceiling  
  
"There aren't any set rules on how you should feel sweetheart" he scooted over so he was   
looking down on her now. "Your barcode does not define you Max. All that time at Margo's  
made me miss that mixture of in your face honesty and down to earth hard love that you have.  
THAT'S who you are" his voice was gentle, but firm "Not a damn string of numbers" he caressed  
her face with one hand.  
  
"Nothing like a bit of melodrama after sex" Max made a light remark to deal with the heavy atmosphere.   
  
"Shut up" this time it was his turn to say it. He kissed her again in the soft lamplight. "Even though the super soldier might still be on full alert, this mere mortal husband is tired"   
  
"It was only two hours" Max stated playfully.  
  
"Of pure, unadulterated, mind blowing-"  
  
"Yeah, your right" she interrupted teasingly, a yawn catching her by surprise "Guess it's lights out time"  
  
He smiled at her sudden tiredness, and couldn't help but feel a little sense of male pride in knowing that he was able to satisfy her. He switched off the light, bathing the room in ebony darkness.  
  
The pair got comfortable in the bed, Max taking her favorite position pressed up against his back, and Logan snaking an arm around her waist.  
  
"Baby?" Max spoke up after about a minute of silence  
  
"Hmm?" his voice was somewhat muffled by the pillow.  
  
"Were their blue blooded snits at Margo's?" her voice was defensive, waiting for the answer /I'll lay them out if there were/  
  
"I handled it" Logan's breath ticked her ear. "Would never cheat on you, you'd kick my ass"  
  
She smiled "Just checking" her eyes closed, and she lay there, waiting to fall asleep.  
  
****   
  
FENTAL AVE  
  
"Zack say something" Asha had just finished telling him.  
  
"What is there to say?" Zack spoke out. He was sitting on the arm of her couch "Nothing will change it if it's true"  
  
"Means you wouldn't want to keep it huh?" Asha stood across from him, slowly lowering herself onto her coffee table.  
  
"I don't know" Zack shot back, he looked up to her, seeing hurt behind hiding behind her eyes. /She looks so much like Maxie when she does that/ "It's not that I don't love you Asha. But you have no idea what it would be like for a baby that would be half Manticore. I've seen it too much already with Maxie and Tinga"  
  
"You love me?" Asha ignored everything else Zack had just said, concentrating on the one thing  
she never thought would come out of his mouth. The relationship was good, but because of their  
past, every X5 had trouble getting attached to anything.   
  
Zack realized that he had just spoken that feeling aloud /Shit, can't believe I just said that.  
Well say something soldier, cat's out of the bag now. Great, my damn thoughts read like a drill  
sergeant./ With slow movements he moved to sit on the opposite couch arm.   
  
"I do" he didn't repeat the words again, because he wasn't like that "I always tried to avoid love, because it creates weakness, something that others could use against you because they  
knew it would bring you down. I love Maxie, and I was used because of it a hundred times over   
to bring her back to Manticore if I didn't want to see her die. I feel the same way about you" he tucked some loose hair behind her ear, much like he had done to Max in Logan's cabin when they were fleeing to Canada. "But I know the implications of something like that"  
  
"Zack I love you too" Asha said the words he kept hinting around for the past ten minutes   
"And I'm not going anywhere just because there are asses out there who like to hunt down  
transgenics. Call me stubborn, but that's how it is" she traced a pattern down the edges of his  
face.  
  
He suddenly kissed her long and hard, making her lean further back in her "chair" "I gotta go" he pulled back abruptly after ten seconds "Have to think about things"  
  
"Just come back tomorrow" Asha watched him slide back into his leather jacket "Whether or not  
you stay around, I'm gonna keep it if I find out it's there"  
  
"Look for me sometime tomorrow then" he headed for the door, which made a sturdy click as  
it closed behind him.  
  
Asha dipped her head into her hands, wiping the tears off angrily.  
  
****   
  
(MAX'S DREAM SEQUENCE)  
  
/"Ben's gone" he died about a year and a half ago"/   
  
"Don't leave me here. Don't let them take me." Ben pleaded to Max. He was gasping for breath at the pain radiating from his broken leg.  
  
"Ben I can't"  
  
"Please, you know what they'll do to me, they'll put me down there with them..the nomalies, please"  
  
"Tell me about the Good Place" Max didn't look at him when she asked this, but continued to hold her dying brother in her arms.  
  
/"Always was right next to the Virgin"/  
  
Max pulled back the cloth, and saw them, bloody teeth laid at the feet of the Holy Mother  
  
"For one brief moment, you were what you were meant to be--a predator" Max whirled around and  
saw him. He was a dead ringer for Alec, except for the haunted crazed look in his eyes.  
  
"Nothing makes sense out here Maxie" Ben stepped closer to where Max was beside the  
statue "They don't understand us" he pushed past her, and laid a fresh handful of teeth  
below the Virgin "This is who we are"  
  
"No it isn't" Max argued, "Just because we were spliced in a lab doesn't make us killers"  
  
"But it's true. You killed me little sister," Ben reminded, "When they were coming for me, I asked you to kill me, and you did it without hesitation-"  
  
"I didn't want them to take you" Max's voice was softer now "I didn't want to do it, I loved  
you-" the church suddenly morphed into leafy vegetation, the woods where Ben had fallen.  
  
He was there now, lifeless, his neck snapped by her own hand.  
  
"I loved you so much Ben" Max held his still form "I didn't want too-" she opened her hand.  
The palm was coated in blood, and a cluster of human teeth rested in its center.  
  
****   
  
"Ben" her voice was a low whimper as her eyes snapped open in the darkness.   
  
"Max?" Logan flipped on the lamp "What is it, what's wrong?" he was concerned when he saw  
her rapid breathing, obviously from a nightmare  
  
"I didn't want to kill him Logan" her words came out in-between harsh breaths "They were coming  
for him, and Ben didn't want to go back. We were in the woods and he asked me to kill him, he  
told me I knew why I had to kill-" her words were becoming more frantic I didn't want to, but  
I did it. Deck dragged his body away from where I left it-" a sob broke free   
  
Logan hugged her to him then, feeling her tremble from the onslaught of emotions brought on   
by her dream.   
  
Anguished tears streamed down her face "I killed my brother, I killed Ben-" her words were choked behind behind the sobs  
  
"You tried to save him baby" Logan told her, "You didn't want them to take him back to Manticore" he embraced her tighter, resting his chin in her long hair, felling her cry into the hollow of his throat.  
  
"I loved him so much Logan" her words were desperately sad.  
  
"I know" he whispered this, kissing her tear-stained face, moisture welling up in his own eyes at seeing his wife re-living this kind of pain.  
  
"I just wanted him to stop" she bowed her head down again. "I never wanted to do it-"  
  
He brushed his lips to her forehead, pulling her back to him "Of course you didn't" he rubbed her back over her tank top "It's okay" the issue of Ben would never be okay with Max, but he couldn't just listen to her suffer. He loved her too much; he had to offer her something.  
  
After a few minutes of hugging her, and rubbing her back, Logan pulled back and leaned back into the pillows that rested on the mattress, grabbing her hand at the same time.  
  
She came without a fight, scooting up further on the bed. She stretched her form on top of his so that the side of her head rested just above his collarbone.  
  
He wrapped both arms tightly around her waist, placing one hand on top of her left, feeling the cool jade of her wedding band on his palm. Though it was 1:55 a.m. sleep was now the last thing on either one of their minds.  
  
*****   
  
Asha had lost track of the time since Zack had left. She had shut off all the lights in  
her apartment, sitting on her couch in the dark.  
  
/Never in my life has a day gone by so slow, not even that time that we were held up in  
that sewer to hide out from the Sector Police/   
  
The glowing red numbers on her digital clock seemed to taunt her, so she flipped it around to  
face the wall, effectively ripping the plug out of the outlet in the process.  
  
"He said he loved me, never thought that would happen" she spoke this out loud to herself.  
  
/FLASH: "You wanna come up for a while?" Asha suggested to the man who stood outside her  
apartment. This had only been their second "date", but there was a hint of something there and  
she wanted to know how deep it ran.  
  
"Depends on if you don't mind black helicopters flying over your building" Zack responded   
cynically. He was leaning against his black Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle, glasses pulled on top of his head./  
  
Zack was a very good with the cynicism and sarcasm. It was a weapon he developed after  
years of running and keeping watch over his siblings. But Asha somehow managed to find a way  
in through his hard ass side, and got him to accept her feelings concerning him.  
  
She never thought in her wildest dreams she would comeback to Seattle to see and old flame, only to fall for his wife's brother. And now this, how would it be if-?  
  
She dipped her head back on the couch with a sigh /Life sucks sometimes/  
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
9:15 AM  
THE NEXT DAY  
  
Morning found Max and Logan still in the same position. Logan was the first to open his eyes when he heard a noise from outside the penthouse.  
  
Logan rubbed his eyes with one hand "Max" he gently shook her "someone's at the door"  
  
An upset moan escaped Max's lips "Who the hell comes by this early?" she didn't bother to open her eyes  
  
Logan listened for a second "Sound's like Alec"   
  
===  
  
(OUTSIDE THE PENTHOUSE)  
  
"Guys" Alec pounded on the door again "Don't want to stand out here all day. Have better things to do then having to bust down your front door"  
  
====   
  
"Why is he here?" Max asked, her voice was heavy.  
  
"Normal probably sent him," Logan noticed the time on the clock that sat on the nightstand  
"Your late for work angel"  
  
This time Max opened her eyes, and looked over at the clock. She groaned again and lowered her head back down on Logan's chest. "Not gonna here the end of this today" she reluctantly de-tangled herself from his body "Go let Alec in before he scares the piss out of the neighbors" she was now laying on her back staring at the celling.  
  
"You gonna be able to get moving?" Logan looked down on her, blocking her line of sight.  
  
"Just give me a minute to get it together, I'll make it"  
  
He kissed her, and climbed off the bed.  
  
"Morning Jess" Logan greeted his son, who came into the living room in his pajamas.  
  
"Hi daddy" Jess returned, "Why is mommy still here?" his voice held the concern of a  
three year old for his mother.  
  
"She didn't get much sleep last night" Logan told him honestly /Partly due to that nightmare  
and partly due to the little after hours party/ He picked Jess up "So she decided to sleep  
a little later" Logan carried his son to the foyer, and opened his front door.  
  
"Bout time" Alec spoke up after the door opened "I got short changed by Normal for finding  
out the reason that Max isn't quote "at work this very second doing her job while she still has  
one" he paused "I know that you just got back Logan, but I have better things to do then  
chase Max down for work because you two decided to have an extended nightly greeting"  
  
"What does he mean daddy?" Jess suddenly asked. He was advancing at a very rapid pace, but  
on matters like these, he was still three years old.  
  
"Nothing Jess" Logan returned quickly.  
  
"Something you'll learn when you're older kid" Alec ruffed up the boy's hair. "Can be an awful lot of fun"  
  
"You wanna drop this conversation?" Logan suggested, "He's only three"  
  
"He's smart though," Alec reminded, "Not like he wouldn't understand if he found out"  
  
Logan glared at him, setting Jess down on his feet, who was squirming to get down.  
  
"Mommy," Jess called out to Max when she walked into the living room "Alec's here"  
  
"I see that" Max returned. She was now dressed in a black sports tank top and gray cargos.  
She kissed her son good morning, setting Lexi down beside him. "Guys hang here for a second  
so I can talk to him" she stood back up, and walked over to where Alec was.  
  
"So this is what Normal was reduced to sending?" Max stated, moving to stand beside Logan.  
  
"Well maybe if you and Logan didn't decide to knock boots all night long I could've been   
somewhere else" Alec informed  
  
"What we do is none of your business" Max remarked  
  
"C'mon Max" Alec began again "I could care less what you two do to each other. I'm just  
looking out for a fellow X5 employee so she doesn't get fired"  
  
"How sweet" Max's voice was sarcastic  
  
"Do it all for you Maxie" Alec came back  
  
/FLASH: "This is for you Maxie. So you finally understand what I'm doing" Ben looked at her, his foot on Father Destry's neck, ready to add another to his killings./  
  
"Let's just go" Max said suddenly, turning away from Alec. She couldn't look at him right now,  
his eyes were just like-  
  
"Baby are you okay?" Logan's voice broke her out of her thoughts. He put one hand on her shoulder. He had seen the far off look in her eyes.  
  
"Yeah" she answered quickly "I'm fine" she turned to face him completely "Should get going" she   
stepped closer and kissed him "I'll be back about five"  
  
Logan kissed her back. "Try and have a good day sweetheart"  
  
She gave a small nod "Bye guys" Max called out, turning to face her kids  
  
"Bye momma" Jess answered her from the living room  
  
****   
  
"Very domestic little scene that just played out there Max," Alec walked beside her to the   
elevator.  
  
"Got a problem with that?" Max snapped back  
  
"Just never really saw you in that kind of setting," Alec answered "Somehow doesn't fit the whole bad ass thing you tote around everywhere else. You know I like Logan, just not the same way as you because that'd be really disgusting" Alec stepped through the doors, and pushed the button for the garage.  
  
"Don't put that kind of an image in my head" Max informed, "That's my husband you're talking about remember?" she watched the numbers light up on the panel.  
  
"Relax Maxie-"   
  
"And stop calling me Maxie!" Max screamed this, effectively scaring the woman behind them. She  
got off the elevator with a strange look in her eye.  
  
After the doors closed again Alec turned to Max "Is there something going on-"  
  
"Don't call me that again Alec" Max's voice was void of all humor "You look too much like him"  
  
Alec was now completely confused "Like who?" he followed her out into parking garage "What  
are you talking about?"  
  
Max turned to him briefly once she reached her Ninja "Like Ben" this was all she was willing to give him  
  
/FLASH: Young Ben is looking out the window, at the trees on the ground, making up stories for his siblings lying in their bunks FLASH AGAIN: Ben is grown, tattooing his own barcode on the back of a man's neck that he had captured/  
  
"Ben?" Alec repeated the name "As in my twin Ben? I never met him" he went in another direction  
"They found him in the woods when I was still at Manticore-"  
  
/FLASH: "Don't leave me" Ben pleaded, "Ben, I can't carry you, we'll both get caught" the words came out of Max's lips in a rush/  
  
"Someone had broken his neck, and left his body there"  
  
/FLASH: Max gripped Ben's neck, feeling the bones under the skin. She quickly snapped his neck  
and Ben fell silent in mid-sentence/  
  
"Just stop, okay?" Max whirled on him "I know what happened" she climbed on her Ninja  
  
"I'm sure" Alec agreed, "he was in your unit, word gets around-"  
  
"No," Max interrupted "I know because I was the one who did it" she raised the Ninja's kickstand  
  
This caught Alec off guard "Max-"  
  
She didn't answer him and blazed down out of her parking spot.  
  
****   
  
JAM PONY  
  
"Bip Bip Bip Max" Normal tapped his watch "Time is money, and you've already wasted enough of  
it by being late"  
  
Alec approached Normal's desk, leaning his elbows on the counter "Cut her a break, her husband was gone two days and just got in last night, she probably wanted to catch up"  
  
"Look at me, do I look like I care?" Normal returned. "Why are you so keen on defending Max this morning?"  
  
"Just looking out for a friend" Alec notified.  
  
"Uh-huh" Normal shoved some boxes at him "And I'm just looking out for my job"  
  
Alec grabbed them and dropped the boxes in his pack with a sigh.  
  
"Max, can I talk to you for a second?" Alec interrupted Max's conversation with Cindy.  
  
"Guess I should get something done" Cindy stated, and left the two alone.  
  
"What's this about?" Max asked  
  
"Not here" Alec stated cryptically "Back" he pointed to a storage room that was open.  
  
Max was becoming more confused "Alec-"  
  
"Just trust me this once Max okay?" Alec told her  
  
****   
  
"So what's the big secret?" Max asked, crossing her arms after Alec shut the door "'Cause if you want me to do you any whacked out favors just forget it"  
  
"I want to know what happened to Ben" Alec answered.  
  
Max didn't expect that "What happened to him is that he died" She headed for the door, but Alec blocked her path  
  
"You said you did it" Alec grabbed her arm  
  
"Alec don't-" Max did not want to have this conversation, with him of all people.  
  
"I'm not gonna arrest you or anything Max" Alec stated "I've killed people too remember?  
I just want to know what you meant"  
  
Max jerked out of his grip, turning away from him "Ben killed ten people about a year ago" she stated the facts first. /FLASH: "Yesterday a body was found in the woods outside of the city, had a barcode on the back of his neck" Logan gauged her reaction as he told her/ "He broke their necks and removed their teeth as a gift for the Blue Lady" /FLASH: Max approached the alter, lifting up the white cloth to the sight of bloody human teeth/  
  
"So my twin was that whacked," Alec said this all in one breath "They told us that he had some problems, but a serial killer-"  
  
"Ben couldn't get use to life outside" Max interrupted /FLASH: "Nothing makes sense out here Maxie"/ "He put barcodes on all his victims, his/"But you're not just giving them any barcode, you're giving them yours"/ "he wanted to kill himself over and over" she took a breath before continuing "He went after Father Destry. I chased them into the woods" /FLASH: "Run Father!" Max screamed to the other man, pounding on the steel door that separated them "Yes Father, by all means-" Ben stated in the voice of a hunter "Run"/ "I fought Ben, I told him to stop." /"We can let him go.."Max pleaded to her brother "find someone better"/ "But he told me that he had to do it" /"This is for you Maxie"/ "Destry got away, but Ben was hurt. Manticore had followed us out there I heard all the jeeps. Ben didn't want to go back"  
  
"Confinement" Alec stated "Or worse" He knew if his twin had been taken back to Manticore alive, he would've been kept down in the basement, only let out to run tests and be experimented on.   
  
Max silently acknowledged him "He begged for me to stay-to-" the next part caught in her throat "he wanted me to kill him, he asked me to. So I did" /"Tell me about the Good Place" Max looked down at her older brother. Ben actually smiled "Where no one ever gets punished" "And no one gets yelled at" Max went on, remembering the tales. "And no one disappears. And when you wake up in the morning you can stay in bed as long as--" he never got the words out, falling silent as Max snapped his neck/  
  
"The jeeps were coming closer" unbeknownst to Max, two tears had fallen from each eye "I ran,  
I just left his body there for Lydecker to drag away so I could save my own ass" another tear joined the first ones.  
  
Alec stood there in quiet silence for a second. "Max I'm sorry" one hand touched her shoulder  
"I didn't know" he came up behind her and rested his cheek against the top of her head.  
  
She didn't acknowledge his presence, wiping the tears off her face "Gotta get moving" she  
opened the door and stepped out of the room.  
  
"Hey" Max called out to Alec after they exited the storage room  
  
"Yeah?" Alec stopped walking and turned to face her   
  
She stepped towards him "Thanks for hearin' me out, even though I look upon you as a pain in the ass most of the time"  
  
Alec shrugged "Not a problem Max. I can understand it. Gotta be hard looking at me and seeing Ben"  
  
"Maybe that's why I diss you so much" Max agreed.  
  
Alec gave a small smile, putting one arm casually across her shoulder "Or maybe I'm just a pain in the ass you can't live without" this made Max smile slightly. Alec looked up seeing someone enter the building  
  
"This isn't what it looks like" Alec informed Logan who had just entered Jam Pony. He removed his arm from Max's shoulder.   
  
Logan didn't say anything to him. "You alright?" he asked his wife "You looked upset when you left"  
  
"I'm okay" Max reassured, "Just shaking off that bad dream still"  
  
He hugged her strongly, no words, just silent communication.   
  
"Think I'm gonna go do some work now." Alec informed the pair "Always a pleasure Max" he stepped past her "Hey Logan how's it going?" he asked when he passed the other man, not waiting for a response.   
  
After a minute or two Logan pulled back and kissed Max's forehead "I got someone to look after the kids-"  
  
Max cocked an eyebrow at him "What are you suggesting?"  
  
"It's noon Max" Logan told her "I wanted to take you out to lunch." he paused "Why? What were you thinking about?"   
  
"Nothing," Max shrugged "I just get "bad" thoughts when I'm food deprived," she stated in a come on.  
  
"I'll keep that in mind next time I cook dinner" he returned with a smile.  
  
"There's not many places around here where the food is actually edible ya know," Max told him straight out  
  
"Think I can handle it for one day" Logan told her "Where's your sense of adventure?"  
  
"Aiight," Max agreed "but if I get whacked out, you better resuscitate me"  
  
"Not a problem angel," he kissed her and led her out the door with his arm across her shoulders.  
  
*****   
  
METRO MEDICAL   
  
/Here I am again-medical hell/ Asha stepped up to the recptionist desk   
  
"Can I help you dear?" the woman working the desk this morning was older then the one  
there yesterday. Sweet looking at first glance, but eyes that had the look of a nosy old   
crone that gossiped her mouth off about who came into her workplace with what.   
  
"I'm here to pick up a pregnancy test," Asha told the woman  
  
"Just one second honey-" the woman rolled back in the swivel chair she was seated at, searching under the counter  
  
/Sometime this year would be nice lady/ Asha leaned against the Plexiglas window and waited  
  
"Here it is" the woman set a white box on the counter in front of Asha "that's eight dollars"  
  
Asha threw the money at her, and jammed the box into her coat pocket.  
  
"There's a restroom just across the hall dear-" the woman pointed out  
  
"Thanks, but I have an apartment" Asha told her "and there's one in there too. So if it's just  
the same to you I'd rather go home so every freakin' worker at this place doesn't know my   
damn business" she slammed the Plexiglas door on the woman and walked out of the hospital.  
  
****  
  
PUCHERA'S CAFÉ   
  
"Told you bad food came with the Pulse" Max watched Logan pick at the remnants of chicken on his plate  
  
"It wasn't THAT bad" Logan objected, "I've eaten worse things" he took a sip of iced tea.  
  
"Rusty nails?" Max shot out in a question "Manticore served better crap then this" she  
threw a wadded napkin on her half full plate.   
  
"But they more then make up for the shotty food with the lovely sense of style" Logan threw out, looking around at the dusty counter tops and graffito tagged tables and walls.  
  
"Gotta love the ghetto trash look" Max said in reply, banging on the metal tabletop. She checked her watch "Hate to say it but we gotta bounce. Normal may be a pain in my ass but he signs my checks so I better not be late again" she stood up from the chair "thanks for 'taking me out' baby" Max stated to her husband "next time lets just go home and order in"  
  
"Deal" Logan agreed, taking his jacket off the back of the chair  
  
"Don't forget to tip the maître d'" Max reminded   
  
"Funny" Logan threw back, laying the tip on the table. He followed her out the door, holding it open as she passed through it.  
  
"So I'll see you at home?" Logan wrapped her up in his arms the second they exited the building.  
  
"Defiantly" Max responded, kissing him.  
  
"Get a room!" someone shouted from somewhere "Don't need to see that"  
  
Max broke apart from Logan "Then close your eyes!" she retorted to whoever had made the  
comment.  
  
"You should get going" Logan stated. "Before you get any later to work"  
  
"Yeah" Max agreed with a sigh, breaking away from him. She headed over to where  
she had parked her Ninja  
  
"Bye angel" Logan called out, watching her gun the engine.  
  
She smiled at how loud he said it to be heard above the revving of the engine. She blew him a kiss on her index and middle finger, slowly moving the bike down the narrow road, and cranking   
up the speed once she was clear of parked cars.  
  
After a few miles Max encountered a new sector stop that was set up. She slowed the Ninja's speed, stopping at the end of the long line. /Great/ a check on her watch revealed that it was 12:45 /I'm gonna get chewed out again/ She sighed, looking at the surrounding buildings so she wouldn't have to see how slow the line was moving. Something caught her eye on one of the rooftops  
  
/"I'm going to the High Place-" Ben looked around at his siblings, getting ready to ask the Blue Lady for advice/  
  
"The High Place" Max uttered the same words she had spoken that night when she found Ben at  
the Space Needle.  
  
"Let's keep it moving" the sector cop waved his hand at Max who was holding up the line.  
  
Max shuffled through the stop, waving her pass in the cops face. Once she cleared the checkpoint she headed in the direction of a nearby cooperate bank building. People turned to look at her entering the over decorated lobby. Most of them were dressed in suits, and she didn't fit the dress code.  
  
"Ma'am I'm sorry, you can't use our facilities unless you work here-"  
  
Max shoved a random box on the long white counter "Then would you mind it if I delivered this? It's kinda important for MY job"  
  
"Where's it going to?" the woman looked at the address on the box.  
  
Max covered it with her hand before she could get a good look at it "Some office upstairs"  
  
"Well if you'll just leave it here-" the woman was doing all she could to get Max out of the  
building.  
  
"I need a signature" Max held up the clipboard.  
  
The woman sighed, "Elevators are down the hall and to the right"  
  
Max smiled "Appreciate it" the smile did noting to hide the sarcasm in her voice.  
  
She stepped into the elevator along with twenty other people all dressed to the nines in  
power suits. They all ignored her.  
  
"If someone could press 25 I'd appreciate it" Max called out. She heard someone sigh and the  
button be pressed  
  
The elevator was going incredibly slow, mostly due to the fact that it made a stop at every floor /Why do people take this thing for only one floor?/ Finally on the twentieth floor Max had had enough  
  
"'Scuse me" she pushed passed the crowd, ignoring all the comments. She now stood in a long  
white hallway whose walls were covered in contemporary art.   
  
She headed down the hall to the fire escape stairs at the back of the building. Being an older building the stairs were the metal kind located outside with small iron landings. Max made sure no one was looking before leaping up and latching onto the landing on the floor above her. She kept this up four more times, finally flipping to land silently on the roof of the building.  
  
"Talk about getting' high" Max stepped over to Zack, who she had seen from the street.   
  
Zack turned and looked down on her from where he was sitting above the door that led to the  
roof. He leapt down to stand beside her "Came up here to be alone" he informed  
  
"Sorry I didn't see the 'Do Not Disturb' sign posted on the landing" Max came back  
  
"Why are you here?" Zack asked   
  
"Thought I'd take in the view" Max stated, then added "I saw you from the street, which brings us to the question of what you're doin' up here"  
  
"Good place to think" Zack responded  
  
"That's kinda vague" Max returned, "Think about what?"   
  
"Is my life now your business Maxie?" Zack turned to face her  
  
"Is mine yours?" she questioned  
  
Zack turned to look back out over the traffic "Asha might be pregnant" he kept his eyes focused on the street when he said this   
  
Max took this in "Does she know for sure?"  
  
"She'll know today," Zack answered  
  
"What are you gonna do if-"  
  
"How should I know?" Zack snapped back "I've never had this happen before, not from my own decisions"  
  
"Do you love her?" Max threw this out  
  
"What the hell's that suppose to mean?" he turned his entire body to face her  
  
"Means do you love her" Max repeated, "It's not rocket science"  
  
"I love her okay?" Zack spoke his feelings aloud "But what good will that be if White or anyone else gets their hands on another transgenic kid."  
  
"There's a chance that she's not pregnant Zack" Max stated "But if she is you can't just up and leave. You'd owe her and the kid more then that. He'd deserved to know who his father is"  
  
"Like all of them?" Zack made reference to the interbred X series that had been created from his sperm when he was 12.  
  
"This is different" Max argued "It's not like the warped boys and girls club at Manticore."  
  
"Overall outcome won't change though" Zack reminded, "How many times have your children  
been hurt because of what they are?"  
  
"I still love them Zack" Max pointed out "Every parent has to protect their kids, and that's what I do, even though it's a little more intense than the average mom"  
  
Zack sighed looking over the concrete at the traffic below "I know how to be CO. I know how to be a solider, but this-"  
  
"There are not set rules" Max leaned against the concrete boundary "It's sorta learn as you go." "Back at Manticore our whole lives were mapped out for us. After we got out I didn't really know how to do anything for myself, I was so use to orders and the chain of command, being prepped for a situation before hand. That counted for shit when I found out I was pregnant. When I had those seizures after I went into labor it scared the piss out of me.   
I was in a situation I couldn't control. The same people who trained me to be a lethal weapon also encoded me with a faulty gene. I was helpless"  
  
"That scared you didn't it?" Zack focused on what she was saying, shifting the attention off of him and Asha for the moment.  
  
"I thought he wasn't gonna make it" Max said in an honest voice "and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. There was no training I had been taught to condition me to watch my son die"  
  
"Would you change it if you could?" Zack suddenly asked, "have the normal life you always wanted?"  
  
"Not even for a chance to bust a cap in Deck's ass" Max responded, "I gave up trying to be normal, I'm just being me" she touched her brother's shoulder "She loves you Zack. She was there before any possible kid. Don't mess it up because of this." she hugged Zack  
  
Zack hugged her back, sharing a rare emotional moment with her "If she is I want to-"  
  
"No you don't" Max argued "Jace already named her son after me, pick another okay bro?"  
  
"Eva" Zack said right after she finished "or Ben"  
  
Max's smile vanished at the mention of Ben. "He's dead Zack"  
  
"So is she" Zack stated  
  
"Not by me" Max didn't look at him when she said this, even though he already knew. She had   
confessed it to him a few months ago.  
  
"You did what you had to do" Zack returned, "You didn't let Lydecker hurt him again"  
  
/"They were designed to kill. Coldly...efficiently...and happily. All they need is a trigger"/  
"Doesn't make any difference," she argued  
  
*****   
  
OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART CHURCH  
  
Max entered the large church quietly, her feet barely making any noise on the soft carpet.  
She glanced to the stained glass windows. Colourful reds, blues and yellows that depicted scenes from the bible. Like the first time she had come here, she slid silently into a pew near the middle of the church.  
  
Near the altar were several people lighting candles, and some kneeling next to the Virgin in prayer. She sat, observing them pay respects to the Lady, asking for Her guidance.   
  
After one man had stepped away from the altar Max stood up and made her way to the front.  
She stared at the statue of Mary with Her arms spread open, a silent testimony that no one would be turned away.   
  
"I came to ask you why" Max spoke to the silent figure "I know that I had conscious decision in what I did, you didn't guide my hand to his neck. I just want to know why you didn't save him. He believed in you so much. He was willing to kill for you-"  
  
"I haven't seen you here in a while-"  
  
The voice made her turn away from the Lady. "Father Destry" she spoke to the young priest who  
headed the church, the one who she saved from Ben.  
  
"I don't mean to intrude on your time" Destry apologized   
  
"No it's fine" Max reassured  
  
"I saw you when I came out of my office" Destry went on, holding out his hand "It's nice  
to see you again"  
  
Max took the hand he offered, not really knowing what to say to that, to the man she had  
last seen lying at Ben's feet.  
  
Destry tilted her hand, observing the jade band as it hit the light "Should I still call you Ms. Guevara?"  
  
"It's Cale now Father" Max answered  
  
He smiled "I already felt that was the case" he released her hand "You deserve some happiness in your life, and I'm glad you were able to embrace it, and forgive your past"  
  
/"Do you think there are some things that are-- unforgivable?" "God's forgiveness has no limits" Father Destry told her, sitting beside her in the pew" "That's big of Him" Max remarked/  
  
"There are some things you shouldn't forgive" Max looked at Destry solemnly  
  
"Remember God's forgiveness is limitless Mrs. Cale" Destry addressed her politely "Even if we cannot forgive ourselves for our actions, He will always, that's what He is about. Your brother is with Him now, forgiven of all the sins he committed"  
  
/FLASH: "They'll take him to the Bad Place and drink his blood. Then the Nomalies'll take him away" Ben watched the ops drag a boy away who was shaking with seizures/  
  
"My brother believed the Lady wanted him to do those things Father" Max cast her eyes up again  
to the statue "What I did to him was purely for selfish reasons, I can never forgive and forget  
what I did"  
  
"You will never forget" Destry's voice was wise beyond his years "It will be a memory you will  
always carry with you. But forgiveness Mrs. Cale, will keep your soul from being tormented by your memories"  
  
"I'm already tormented by them Father" Max told him "Confessions only clear out the surface, it doesn't touch the scars" she moved again to sit in the first pew.  
  
Destry silently sat down beside her "I can tell you loved him very much" he spoke to her without a trace of anger. The tone of voice that soothed, that only a few possessed. "He was a very troubled man." Destry remembered his encounter with Ben. It terrified him, but the young woman who came after him, risked her own life to save him, trying to talk to his capturer. They were connected souls. "You didn't want him to die; you only wanted to stop his madness, to save him. No matter what else happened that day you're intentions were pure"  
  
"That's what my brother said" Max proclaimed, "That's also what my husband told me" she turned her head so that she was looking him in the eye "But the fact of the matter is he's dead Father. I killed him, and nothing will ever change that" she locked eyes with the Virgin.  
  
Destry placed a hand on her shoulder "But you must forgive yourself Mrs. Cale. We have all sinned in the face of God. He knows of all our faults, but we are still forgiven, and we must do the same with ourselves."  
  
"I have two children Father" Max told him "What do I say to them?" she paused "How can I excuse what I did last year?"  
  
"You tell them the truth," Destry answered "Tell them how much you loved your brother. Do not excuse it, but allow yourself their forgiveness."  
  
Destry rose from the pew, walking over to the rows of candles just to the right of the Holy Mother. He struck a long match, lighting the third candle in the first row "Each light here represents a prayer. I light this for you Mrs. Cale. To ask God to show you the meaning of forgiveness, so you will no longer be haunted by your past"  
  
The curtain in a confessional is drawn back. One of Destry's parishioners touches the woman's  
hand who has just stepped out "God be with you my child"  
  
Lucia silently nodded to the older man, adjusting her purse strap before turning around.  
  
Max felt rather then heard someone slid next to her in the pew.  
  
"Hi" Lucia said in greeting "Are you of the faith Max?"  
  
Max turned to see the older woman there "Just came to see an old 'friend'" she looked at the priest.  
  
"Father Destry's a wonderful leader," Lucia said in praise "I've been attending here for almost a year. He's young, but he's good"  
  
"Mrs. Weston" Destry approached Lucia "How are you?"  
  
"I'm doing well" Lucia responded  
  
"I was just chatting with an old acquaintance-"  
  
"We've met Father" Lucia stated "Glad you got the chance too as well" she touched Max's hand when she said this. Lucia suddenly stood up. "I almost forgot" A single match struck and another candle was lit  
  
"Lord I ask for forgiveness for the sins I've committed against my family, for guidance to do right with all new things that have come my way" she looked at Max out of the corner of her eye. "I ask these things in the name of the Father, The Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen"  
  
****   
  
OUTSIDE SACRED HEART  
  
"What you said in there" Max looked at Lucia who stood beside her "What I mean is-"  
  
"You're welcome" Lucia answered the unspoken statement. She hesitated for a moment before  
hugging Max, who returned the gesture.  
  
"Next time you come by," Max spoke out "don't be surprised to hear Jess and Lexi call you 'grandma'"  
  
Lucia was taken aback so much that she was rendered speechless.  
  
"If it's okay I mean," Max broke in "Cause let's face it gurl, you look too damn young to be a grandmother"  
  
"Hey I don't mind" Lucia's could barely get the words out past the lump in her throat. She had yet to call her 'mom', but by Max allowing her children to call her that, she was acknowledging that fact. "Who says a nana has to be old?" /Shit, I'm not gonna cry/ "I should get going" she kissed Max on the forehead "Bye sweetie"  
  
Max watched her walk to her car. She tilted her head up to face a half circle stain glass window above the main double doors. It had a picture of the Lady on it. /"She's watching over us" Ben held a little picture of the Virgin in his hand/  
  
****  
  
FENTAL AVE  
  
"So what's the verdict?" Zack used this as a greeting.  
  
Asha didn't say anything, moving aside to let him enter the apartment. She closed the door before turning to face him "I'm not pregnant" she leaned against her door "Guess you're glad"  
  
Zack let this sink in "Glad has nothing to do with it" he rested a hand against the door, leaning down to kiss her hard "I love you Asha" he finally said it "Whatever happens as a result we'll handle. A squad looks after it's own."  
  
This made her smile "Squad?"  
  
"What do you want from me? I came from Manticore" Zack threw out  
  
She rested a hand on his shoulder "Thanks for letting me in the group"   
  
"Just don't ask for the for the club tattoo" he came back.  
  
Asha laughed a little and hugged him /Who says you need perfection?/  
  
*****   
  
SPACE NEEDLE  
8:45 PM  
  
Max looked out over the broken city, watching the fires created by the homeless people flicker in the darkness. She checked her watch again. She had called Logan, who was out running errands at that time, telling him simply to "Come to the High Place"  
  
Something touched her hair, and she turned to see Logan tucking a loose lock behind her ear "I got your message, and since this is where you normally come to think I figured this was the 'high place' you meant"  
  
"Ben use to go out on the roof to talk to the Lady, he called it the High Place" she turned to him "I scared you that time didn't I?" /FLASH: "I'm not protecting anybody" "Then why did you lie to me?" Logan looked at Max hard, wanting an answer. "If your brother was a murderer would you want people to know?"/  
  
He didn't say anything for a second "It was hard for me to hear what Lydecker said about you, and separate it from who you actually are" /FLASH: "She's not the girl next door" Lydecker spoke into the microphone Logan had placed in the empty room "You have no idea what she's capable of doing"/ "But I realized those pictures and words were Lydecker's ideal of his soldiers. You turned out nothing like that"   
  
"Ben's dead because of me" Max argued, "I turned to be the predator Deck wanted"  
  
"No you didn't" this time it was Logan's turn to argue, "You may have a bad past Max, but you're not a cold hearted killer. You're a smart, beautiful, kick ass woman. Love of my life, mother of my children" he kissed her then "THAT'S who you are"  
  
Max scooted closer laying her head across his lap "Love me that much huh?" she went a little  
playful.  
  
"Fraid so" Logan returned. He paused, rubbing her inner thigh with his hand "Was Ben always-"  
  
"Crazy?" Max finished for him "No. There was always something different about him, but he  
never really stuck out. He use to tell us stories about the mission" /Ben makes the shadow  
of a bird casting it right over a sign in the barracks/ "How we were had a purpose. Always   
talked of the Good Place, where the Lady would take us when we're gone. It made us feel-  
loved"  
  
"Tell me about Ben" Logan spoke up   
  
"He was my brother, but he couldn't deal with life outside. He killed himself over and over-  
/"Hold still" Ben tattooed his barcode on Father Destry's neck "It has to be perfect"/ He  
hated being the anomalie in the basement. The very same ones he made up stories about.  
So he made his victims out to be them instead"  
  
/"You're the Nomaile Max stated to Ben "The monster in the basement. Some part of you wants  
it to end. So end it. You can't keep trying to recreate Manticore"/   
  
She looked directly at Logan "I loved him, I only wanted it to stop"  
  
Logan wiped the tear that had fallen out of her eye "I know" he kissed her, repeated the same phrase he used before.  
  
The streetlights became a swirl of colours from her unshed tears, as she grasped her husband's hand. Her eyes scanned the night sky, the place where Ben said the Blue Lady lived, trying to find him among the stars.  
  
****  
  
END  
  
If I made anyone cry at that last part, sorry. I didn't want it to end all happy. Pollo Loco was powerful because of the emotions presented, and I wanted this to be too. I worked on this so much that I missed the new ep. *Shrugs* I'm a slave to my work. Sides my world isn't as depressing. Plus my mom was showing me this Korean card game, and I got wrapped up in it.  
  
Probably a lot of people are glad Asha's not 'in the family way' I never planned to make her be pregnant, just wanted something to test the feelings between her and Zack.   
  
I'm not Catholic so I hope I got the things in the church right, about parishioners and such.   
Hope you enjoyed it R/R please,  
  
peace 


	12. Borrowed Time

Choices 13 "Borrowed Time"  
Author: Mystic25  
Email: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com  
  
Summary: With Washington state going into total lockdown, the X5's living there leave for San Francisco, but the vacation turns ugly when they must save Max and Logan's daughter from a unspeakable fate  
  
  
Rating: PG13 just to be safe for all the bad mouthing and violence  
  
Disclaimer: You own them Mr. Cameron, otherwise "Hello Goodbye" wouldn't have been an episode, but I'll forgive you for that b/c of the awesome finale.  
  
A/N: I just wondered what would've happened if I took Max and her sibs (meaning Zack, Krit, Jondy, Syl, Tinga and Zane) together with Alec ('cause he's an escapee too) along with Logan (like I'd make him stay if Max left) his and Max's children, Cindy (need her saucy attitude) Charlie (same situation as Logan 'cept with Tinga) Case, Asha (for Zack) and Max and Zane's dogs (not gonna leave them out either) and put them all together in the same place. I like playing with fire.  
  
A/N #2: As many of you know the title is also the name of an actual DA ep, but it fits here too. I originally was going to call it 'Road Trip' but that didn't fit once I got the plot established.  
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE  
2:36 AM  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
"Just grab whatever and go" Max brushed passed Logan shoving more things into an open bag on  
their bed.  
  
"That's what I'm doing sweetheart" Logan informed her, closing the bottom dresser drawer "Not like I'm going to be picky about what I bring for sneaking out in the middle of the night" he dropped some clothes into a black duffel bag. "Get the kids' stuff together, I'm gonna grab my computer" he passed through the open door.  
  
Max opened the door to her son's bedroom "You all set baby?" she found him pulling one of his  
shirts over his head  
  
"Mommy?" Jess asked when Max kneeled down to help him "Why are we leaving?"  
  
"There's just a lot of problems in town now, so we're going away for a bit" she smoothed the  
cotton shirt over his body  
  
"Will we come home?" he asked an honest question. This was the only world he really knew.  
  
"We will" Max reassured, touching his head "Once things are better here" she started filling a small bag with about half of his clothes. She soon shut off the light in his bedroom and locked the door.  
  
"Go wait with Kaja in the living room sweetie" Max ushered her son to the couch  
  
She then headed into the nursery, and after filing up a carrying bag with diapers and extra clothes she picked up her daughter and brought her out into the living room.  
  
"Momma's gonna bundle you up babe" Max threw an thick wool jacket over Lexi "It's pretty cool   
out there" she buttoned it up and then headed to the office to find Logan.  
  
She found her husband busily shutting down his Eyes Only mainframe, and encoding all his files  
with an randomly selected numeric password of at least 12 digits. "I've got most of the files stored on my laptop" he patted the Hewlett Packard in his hand "What's leftover won't be enough reading material for a two minute ride"  
  
"We're set" Max informed him "Rendezvous point is at Sector Five and Nine"  
  
"Got in touch with Zack?" Logan switched off the light to his office  
  
"He's at Asha's, leaving his Vulcan and their taking her Cherokee"  
  
"Guess all ends are tied" Logan stated to her "Should get going then"  
  
*****   
  
SECTOR FIVE  
  
"Call a taxi?" Max threw this out the window of her Impala   
  
The door opened, blasting cool air into the car "Weather's a bitch outside boo" Cindy tossed her stuff on the floor by her feet. "Thanks for gettin' me outta here for lockdown"  
  
"No prob" Max gunned out from the front of the building "Not a good place for anyone at a time like this"  
  
*****   
  
After a few minutes of driving, Max caught the sight of blinking headlights, just to the right of her car.  
  
Max checked her rearview mirror "It's Tinga" the black Tracker pulled along side the Impala.  
  
Tinga signaled Max to pull off to the shoulder after they passed the last Sector stop.  
  
After Max accomplished that task, she realized that an empty parking lot stretched out in front of her, and a tall high rise building stood beside it.   
  
The Impala's engine cut off, and Max climbed out, opening the back door to let Kaja out before her leather upholstery got messed up.  
  
Kaja's barking soon was joined by another, slightly higher bark. Beside a little brown and white English Spaniel walked a tall figure.  
  
"Did you get here okay with my directions?" Zane came out of the shadows.  
  
"I missed the turn" Max made a joke of it, falling into the hug Zane offered  
  
"You did bring him didn't you?" Zane asked, not seeing Logan with her.  
  
"No Zane" Max began sarcastically "I'm busting out of Seattle because of the damn lock down  
and thought what the hell, leave my husband home, he's a big boy" she paused "He's parked  
back there" she nodded with her head back a little ways  
  
"Didn't say a word Maxie" Zane said in his defense  
  
"That'd be a first" Tinga soon emerged beside Max.   
  
"First what?" another voice spoke out. Syl joined the already forming circle  
  
"Nothing sis" Zane argued "I was just playin' around"  
  
"So what else is new?" Syl shot out. She glanced over at Max "This is the Ultimate Real World Inner Circle" she referenced the old MTV reality TV challenge.  
  
"I'm being voted off aren't I?" Max joked, she knew a little about the show. "Everyone make it here okay?"  
  
"Good" Syl responded "Had to explain to my neighbor why she needed to watch my apartment for  
a week-"  
  
"Didn't tell her about the stash did ya?" this time the voice belonged to Krit "I maintain that honesty is the best policy big sister" his breath was visible in a puff above his black leather jacket  
  
"Okay Cat-Man, first light that hits, go tell everyone that you're transgenic" Syl threw out in a challenge.  
  
"Like I said, secrets are good" he looked around the circle of his siblings "Where's our CO? He  
should be here before all of us"  
  
"He's just running late" Max notified "Besides, we got one more sector stop before we meet up"  
  
"What about that guy-494-" Krit couldn't think of the name  
  
"Alec" Cindy finished. She had come out of the car, getting bored just sitting there "Boy runs late a lot. No different even with a situation like this"  
  
"Okay then" Krit said in response "Cindy, you're looking good"  
  
"Krit I appreciate it, but you gotta remember which way this chica swings aiight?" Cindy told him  
  
"Original Cindy, Zane" Max introduced her "Zane, this is my girl"  
  
"How ya doin'" Zane shook Cindy's hand "You don't mind hanging with a bunch of weirdoes?"  
  
"Max has been my boo for years, and she's never been weird to me" Cindy told him "You'z  
my girl's family, and I'm down wid that"  
  
"Was talking about Krit" Zane finished with a smile "You're a good woman"   
  
"We should get going" Syl broke in "Need to get outta Seattle before it gets too light, or we're stuck here for the duration"  
  
Tinga nodded silently "Meet up again at 0800"  
  
Zane turned to Cindy "Time to roll. Cindy, been a pleasure, and welcome to X5 hell"  
he waved the air with his hand "Move it out guys"  
  
*****   
  
MARION CITY  
TEN MILES AFTER WASHINGTON BOARDER  
CALIFORNIA  
8:35 AM  
  
The Impala cut off again, this time stopping at a small town that had a sign that read:  
  
Welcome to Marion City  
Population: 750  
Curfew: 12:00 AM  
  
Max looked around at the scattered wooden buildings, and oak trees growing up behind them.  
Marion may claim itself as a city, but it had a simpler atmosphere, not as dangerous as Seattle.  
  
"Wake up" Max nudged Cindy in the passenger seat  
  
Cindy yawned slowly, opening her eyes to the morning sun "How long we've been drivin'?"  
  
"Five hours" Max told her "Just passed the California border 'bout a half hour ago"  
  
Cindy stretched, "You drove that long?" she looked to Max "Shoulda let me take over  
for a while"  
  
"I don't sleep remember, it was fine" Max argued "Sides you didn't know the way"  
  
Cindy looked out the car window "Place is really something, looks like that town my  
grandma use to live in on our summer visits" she undid her seat belt "Gotta stretch, been   
sittin' down too long" she climbed out of the car.  
  
Max slammed the door on the driver's side, stretching the kinks out of her back. She looked around for Logan, finally finding his Aztec parked off to the side of some trees. She smiled when she found him asleep, leaning back against the headrest.   
  
The door was locked, so she tapped on the window. After about a minute his eyes opened and he  
popped the lock  
  
"Morning sleeping beauty" Max leaned her head inside the car  
  
"Man what time is it?" Logan tilted his neck back to get the knots out off it. He checked his watch "Damn, that was a long drive"  
  
"Specially without sleep" Max informed, placing her hand behind his neck, rubbing the tight muscles there.  
  
"Reminds me of college trips" Logan threw out "You're not the only one who's ever stayed up all night" he turned to face her.  
  
"But I don't need sleep as opposed to you" Max argued kissing him soundly on the mouth.  
  
She pulled back, seeing Jess wake up in the backseat "Morning baby" she spoke to her son.  
She opened the back door "Sleep okay?" she gave him a kiss on his head  
  
"Yeah" Jess returned, unbuckling his seatbelt himself "Is there a bathroom?"  
  
Max stuck her head out of the car for a second, spotting a restaurant a few yards away "Yeah  
babe, c'mon I'll take you-"  
  
"Should take Lexi first," Jess pointed out "She didn't sleep very well"   
  
"Ah sweetie" Max got what her son was telling her "I'm sorry, we should've stopped sometime   
last night" she went around and unbuckled her daughter from her car seat.  
  
"C'mon Jess" Logan spoke to his son "I'll take you to the bathroom so mommy can clean up your  
sister"  
  
Max stepped through the door Logan held for her, balancing her one year old on her hip. There   
were about ten or so people in the diner, and soft elevator type music filled the place.  
  
"Good morning Sir. Would you and your wife like a table?" a young waitress approached them, smiling politely, wearing a blue uniform and white apron  
  
"Just looking for the facilities," Max told her  
  
"It's straight back and to the right," the young woman answered, pointing to the location with   
her hand  
  
"Thanks" Logan returned  
  
"No problem" she responded "Let me know if you need anything else" with that she disappeared to  
take some orders.  
  
Max found the ladies room relatively quickly. She changed Lexi on the built in table.  
  
"Mommy, she doesn't know how to wait" a red haired little girl of four or five looked at Alexis  
when Max was strapping on a fresh diaper  
  
The girl's mother, an auburn haired woman laughed a bit "You were like that too honey, she's  
still little" she smiled at Max, glancing at the little girl who was back in her mother's arms "She's beautiful"  
  
Max returned the smile "Thanks" she looked at her daughter "Say thanks hun, you just got props"  
she kissed her on the cheek, exiting the restroom  
  
"Coffee please, black" Asha leaned on the red counter and waited for her order to be filled  
  
"Hey" Max said, approaching the blonde "Long drive huh?"  
  
"Defiantly" Asha agreed, "Zack did most of the driving after about four" she paid for her coffee, lifting the lid and taking a sip.  
  
"Like the same thing she has" Max spoke up to the man behind the counter.  
  
The man handed her the Styrofoam cup "You all aren't from here huh?" he handed Max back  
her change.  
  
"Just passing through" Asha told him   
  
"On vacation?" the guy asked  
  
"Something like that" Max returned grabbing her coffee off the counter, shifting the diaper bag further on her shoulder  
  
"Where you headed?" the man was full of questions, not overly pushy, just curious.  
  
"San Francisco" Max answered   
  
"Family thing-" the man began again  
  
"Don't you have a job to do?" Zack came up behind Max, glaring at the man behind the counter  
  
The guy didn't say anything more, turning to head back into the kitchen.  
  
After Logan emerged from the bathroom with Jess, they left the restaurant, heading back to their cars.  
  
"You're late boo" Cindy had wandered down to the 'beach' that sat at a small lake about ten  
feet from the parking lot.  
  
Alec turned to face her "You didn't have to explain to Normal the reasons why three of his employees are taking leave. When we make it back to Seattle you had the stomach flu, and both Max's kids contracted chicken pox"  
  
"And what was your cover?" Cindy asked crossing her arms  
  
"Hung out with you two and got contaminated" Alec answered.   
  
Kaja soon approached him, barking and throwing a stick at his feet.  
  
"What?" Alec picked up the branch "Want to play with me?" he hurled the stick down the beach and Kaja sprinted after it.  
  
"Hey Alec" Max walked down to the beach, she threw another branch his way "fetch"  
  
"Max that's just wrong" Alec complained  
  
"Sorry, but you left it open-" Max returned moving to stand beside Cindy.  
  
"Let's just get going" Alec suggested "San Francisco's about another two hour's drive, and this  
weather isn't good for the finish on my car" he glanced back at his old make cherry red convertible  
  
"Actually sounds good to me" Max stated, to Alec's surprise "This place is nice and all, but Jondy's gonna start canvassing if we don't get there soon"  
  
*****   
  
PHIONEX APARTMENTS  
LOBBY  
SAN FRANCISCO  
12:27 PM  
  
"Here you go Jondy" the landlord of the building handed her a set of keys "Was thinking about renting this one out"  
  
"Sorry bout that" Jondy apologized "But my brother's coming down for a while, and with all the  
conventions and shit, their ain't no place to stay" Jondy fingered the apartment keys, exiting the lobby.  
  
She headed up the stairs to the second floor of the five-story apartment. She inserted her key into the lock. The door creaked open. Jondy surveyed her brother's old digs. This had been Zack's place when he had been in Frisco on one of his moves. Technically it didn't belong to him anymore, but Jondy convinced the landlord otherwise. She had about twelve people coming, and had no way in hell to keep them all in her apartment, even with two extra bedrooms at her place.   
  
Zack's apartment was only a two bedroom, but it also had a fold out couch. /Most of us don't  
usually sleep anyways, so it's not like it'll be a problem/ Jondy flipped on some lights and beat the dust out of the leather sofa, which billowed out like smoke.  
  
"Damn" Jondy coughed "And I thought I was messy"  
  
"Jondy" someone called her name from outside  
  
She shut off the bedroom light and came back out into the California sun.   
  
"Hey Erik" she spotted the brunette man outside. They were more or less friends, but  
Jondy felt that he liked her more then that, he was just too chicken to admit it "What is it?"  
  
"Got some newbies," he pointed down at the parking lot at two cars pulling in.  
  
"They aren't newbies Erik" Jondy corrected, seeing the red Impala and black Tracker pull in. Jondy didn't see Zane's hummer, or any other of her sibs vehicles, but they were probably parking in the back somewhere. It would just look like a convoy if everyone grouped up in the front. White had feelers everywhere, and it was better to be safe then experimented on.   
  
"Wow, check out the brunette" he saw Max open her door and step out "She's a hot as you are"  
  
"I wouldn't hold my breath Erik" Jondy argued, "She's taken"  
  
Erik turned to her "How do you know?"  
  
Jondy smiled when she saw Lexi being lifted up in Max's arms "Cause that's my niece she's got"  
she ignored Erik's look and bolted down the stairs   
  
"'Sup my sista?" Jondy stepped over to Max, locking her in a hug.   
  
Max returned the gesture "Thanks again for hosting the X5 on the lamb tour"  
  
"Not a prob" Jondy stated, "Where's my brother-in-law?"  
  
"Right here" Logan spoke up coming from behind Max  
  
"Wow, magic" Jondy joked, "I like it" she slapped him on the shoulder "How's it  
going Logan?"  
  
"Everything's fine Jondy" Logan kissed his sister-in-law  
  
Jondy smiled at the peck "Maxie, think your man's puttin' moves on me"  
  
Max just shook her head at Jondy's thinking. She spotted Erik standing at the railing on the  
second floor "Whose the guy?"  
  
Jondy glanced behind her for a second "That's Erik, he's a friend of mine. He's just curious.  
Frisco's a big city, but not many people come knocking around this sect" she smiled at her nephew standing beside Logan "Hey kiddo, welcome to the city by the bay" she picked him up and kissed him "You are so big my man, hardly knew it was you at first"  
  
"Can't forget me Aunt Jondy" Jess told her with a smile  
  
Jondy laughed "Not a chance" she turned to Max "he's defiantly your kid" she glanced over at Erik again, motioning him to come down "Come down here loner, got people for you to meet"  
  
Erik came down the stairs since the apartments had no elevator.   
  
"Erik this is my sister Max" Jondy introduced "Logan" she introduced her brother-in-law,  
"and my niece and nephew"  
  
"Hey" Erik said in greeting "Jondy's been busy all morning prepping for this, kinda headless  
chicken thing"  
  
"I don't do headless chicken Erik" Jondy shot back   
  
"Now why do you gotta lie to the man like that?" Syl joined the crowd  
  
"I'm not lying" Jondy argued back, and at the disbelieving look on her sister's face she  
added "Syl shut up"  
  
Syl laughed, "I'm Jondy's big sister" she introduced to Erik  
  
"Didn't tell me you grew up in a family of all girls," Erik stated, thinking that Max and Syl were the only sibs Jondy had  
  
Jondy however found this amusing, and when she spotted her CO she had to say it "Yep,  
family of all girls"   
  
Krit overheard, and laughed at this "Zack, you're a woman? That explains so much" he ducked  
when Zack whacked him one.  
  
"Zack's a woman?" Zane got in on the act "My god, the standards of woman just dropped down  
to ug-lay"  
  
"Zane!" Jondy hadn't seen him in a while, longer then the rest of them "You made it"  
she nearly knocked him over in a hug.  
  
"Ease up on the grip little sister" Zane said around her death lock "You're lookin' good girl,  
how long has it been?"  
  
"Too damn long" Jondy returned, "I see you still have your horse appendage" she tugged on  
his pony tail.   
  
Zane made a move to do the same with her hair, but before he could Jondy grabbed his hand "Not if you value your balls bro" she looked around the group "Where's Tinga?"  
  
"Comin' round the bend" Syl told her "Probably should hold off on the intros until everyone gets here"  
  
"You mean there's more?" Erik sounded surprised. He had know idea that it would be this many people  
  
"It's a big family" Max informed  
  
"Defiantly" Tinga finally reached the front of the building along with Charlie and Case.  
  
"Kay guys what do you say to savin the complete intro until things are settled?" Jondy suggested "All the parking lot's not a stage" she paused "Move it Cat-Man" she shoved Krit ahead of her  
  
"Must I remind you I hate that name," Krit informed  
  
Jondy smiled "I know"  
  
*****   
  
Jondy had gotten everyone inside her place for the time being, which was no small feat. "Kay now before 'settling in' gets under way I have intros to make" Jondy stood in the center of her living room, looking around at all the people there /Reminds me of barrack life/  
  
"Take it off!" Krit shouted at her from his seat on the kitchen counter.  
  
Jondy's aim on him with a couch cushion was dead on. "First the easy part" "Everyone this is Erik Paston, he lives down the hall." she paused "Erik these are my sibs Krit" she threw something else at him "Syl, Zane, Max, you met her husband, Jess and Alexis, their kids, Tinga, my second oldest sib, her man Charlie and my nephew Case, Original Cindy" she smiled at the woman sitting next to Max on the sofa "Maxie's girl, and big brother of all, Zack" she finished "The others I have know idea"  
  
"Asha" Max introduced the woman with Zack "Zack's girlfriend, and man of mystery back there is   
Alec"  
  
"You say something?" Alec poked his head out from inside the fridge. "Nice Chablis" Alec commented, holding up the wine bottle "Score it off the Black Market?" he asked of Jondy  
  
"Boy you already raiding the fridge?" Cindy asked with a raised eyebrow "You just got here"  
  
"Best time" Alec raised the bottle "Jondy doesn't mind, do you?"  
  
"Not anymore" Jondy stated "You put your mouth on it"  
  
Alec saluted her with the glass bottle "Cheers"  
  
Jondy just sighed, "Okay then, about bunk assignments..."   
  
*****  
  
30 MINUTES LATER  
  
"Never doing this again" Jondy crashed on her couch with a sigh. "I'm not an OP, can't  
be an OP-" she turned to Max "Shoulda just taken over a large warehouse."  
  
The married couples had been given Jondy's two spare rooms, Syl didn't have her man with her so she offered the pull down on the couch in Zack's place, all the kids were in Jondy's room on her day bed, Cindy sharing her queen size bed. Zack and Asha at his old place, Zane in Zack's extra room and Alec not caring where the hell he threw his stuff, but Jondy had given him her pull down. Syl suggested it might not be good to put Zack and Alec in the same vicinity for a long time, blood and all that crap was a pain to clean up.  
  
"That whole what if scenario" Max joked beside her "Wish I had my baby" she had to leave her Ninja behind  
  
Jondy turned to her "Frisco's a good place to ride sis, get a rental. There's a place downtown"  
  
"Cheat on my girl?" Max argued, "That's so wrong"  
  
"She'll never know" Jondy told her "Buy her a carton of premium and it'll all be good"  
  
*****   
  
BARTON'S CYCLE RENTAL  
DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO  
  
"Looking for something ladies?" the owner came out and approached the counter, wiping off the  
grease and oil that stood in puddles on the wooden surface  
  
"My girl needs a temp set of wheels" Jondy spoke up   
  
"What make?" the man asked  
  
"Gotta be Ninja" Max informed "Nothing less then 650 cc, and at least a four inch ground clearance"  
  
The man was impressed with her knowledge of bikes "Got just the thing in back"   
  
He led them to a small warehouse behind the counter. Many cycles lined the area propped  
up on stands.   
  
"This beauty will be perfect for you" he touched the handles of a yellow bike "Kawasaki Ninja  
ZX-6R, 850 cc, liquid cooling, four and a half inch clearence, all wrapped up in this sweet little studio yellow body"  
  
"Needs to be dark" Max told him. Her Ninja at home was black, it made night riding easier.  
  
"Then let me direct your attention to this lovely behind you" he stepped over to another  
bike "Another Ninja ZX, same cc's and clearance but midnight black, perfect for sneak  
attacks" he laughed at the "joke" he had just made  
  
"How much?" Max asked  
  
"Only 250 a week" the man replied "A good price for a sleek model like this"  
  
"Too high sorry" Max turned. The bike itself was nice, but she didn't have that much  
cash on her. /I like the wheels but I need to feed my children while I'm here slick/  
  
The man was determined to make a sale "180," he leered at Max "cause you turn my head"  
  
"100" Max threw out a number "and you get to keep your head"   
  
"150" the man argued back on the price "I gotta make money on this sugar"  
  
"101" Max went only a dollar higher then her previous price "I gotta KEEP money, can't feed  
my family with a rented bike"  
  
"Fine" the man finally settled on her price "Cash on the table, don't do checks"  
  
Max slapped the money in his hand "Pleasure doin' business with ya" she undid the padlock that  
was on the Ninja's wheels and slid the chain out from between the handle bars "Keys" she  
stood back up looking at the owner "I could hot wire, but that'd make her harder to sell  
later" she caught the keys to the bike when he threw them at her in an underhand throw.  
  
Max revved up the Ninja's engine after she was outside "Gas is full" she proclaimed, looking at the gauge  
  
"Surprised the guy didn't empty it and charge extra" Jondy threw out, mounting her own bike, a purple Honda 750 Shadow Spirit. "Let's open her up sis, see what she's made of"  
  
Max threw a smile at her, cranking up the engine.  
  
Jondy and Max drove through the downtown streets of Frisco, weaving in between the cars and trolleys. Soon the typical American scenery was replaced by the brightly colored banners and outdoor markets of Chinatown. Children came out into the streets to see the two women on the motorcycles. And several teenage boys catcalled at the X5's.  
  
Jondy shook her head at the hormonal boys. Soon the bikes cut off. Max had stopped here when something in the window of a tattoo parlor caught her eye. On the outside window there were paintings of some of the designs the parlor offered, and right next to the Zen symbol for power was the pattern of a barcode.  
  
Jondy shot Max a look when she saw it "What the hell-"  
  
They quickly locked up the bikes and entered the parlor. There were three metal chairs standing in it's center, two of them occupied.  
  
"Hey doll-" one man grabbed Max's ass when she passed  
  
Max whirled around and gripped the tall; 190 lb man by the neck "Keep your hands to yourself!" she released him, shoving him back into his chair.  
  
"Help you?" the owner of the shop approached them, a young African-American man with several black dragon tattoos on his arms.  
  
"That one in the window" Jondy spoke out first "The barcode-"  
  
"New idea" the guy told her "Didn't think it would be real popular, but there was this guy-"  
  
"Someone came in with a copycat?" Max interrupted /Zack, is this the same place he tried to have his burned off at?/  
  
"Wanted me to clean it off" the owner told them "That bitch wasn't movin'. Some of the hardest junk I ever saw. Used 80 power acid, and still there"  
  
"What'd this guy look like?" Jondy asked  
  
"Just some white dude" he responded "Young, had a few guns, boy thought he was all that"  
  
Jondy had to repress a laugh at the man's description of Zack /Apparently I'm not the only one  
who thinks he's full of shit 99.9% of the time/ "What'd you two fine ladies doin' askin' me bout that?"  
  
"Nuthin'" Max reassured "Just thought it was different, but makes you feel like merchandise" she gave a fake shudder to add effect.  
  
"You'd look better with snakes girl" the man told Max "Black cobra-"  
  
"My husband doesn't like snakes" Max threw this out just to gauge his reaction on it  
  
The man blew her off "He'd like it where I put on that body"  
  
"Thanks just the same," Max told him straight out "But I pass. Late boy" she and Jondy turned to leave the building.   
  
They passed the same group of people, who apparently didn't give up because one of them made a grab for Jondy  
  
"See if you're easier to deal with then your friend baby-" he was cut short when Jondy pulled back his arm and pinned it against the back of the chair  
  
"Fraid not" she released him abruptly, popping his shoulder slightly out of alignment.   
  
As Max was heading towards the door, she heard some faint whispering,   
  
"5,4, 3, 2..."  
  
She and Jondy just about cleared the building, before hearing "1"  
  
A pop was heard, then an earth shaking blast rocked the building, blowing out all the windows and engulfing the place in a fiery inferno.  
  
*****   
  
The force of the impact threw Max and Jondy to the ground, landing them just in front of what use to be the back door to the supply room  
  
Max pulled herself up on her feet, coughing from all the smoke that filled the space. She turned behind her, seeing all the fire in the building.  
  
"Maxie!" Jondy shouted to her. There was a stream of blood trickling from her hairline   
  
"You okay?" Max called back to her. She saw the blood on her head.  
  
"I'm good, mostly" Jondy answered back "Need to get the hell outta here. Don't know the power  
of the blast, but this place's gotta be at least 104" flames now took the place of the two inner walls  
  
"Can't just leave the people here," Max told her, coughing again at all the smoke. She saw the owner pinned under fallen pieces of the roof. Blood was on his face, and he wasn't moving.   
  
Max used her night vision to see her way through the smoke over to him. She picked up the 15 lb piece of debris.  
  
"Ahh!" Max was halted in her movements by pain. She flipped over her arm, seeing a three inch long piece of wood embedded lengthwise in her skin, blood oozing out.  
  
"Jondy give me a hand!" she called out "Piece of shrapnel's in my arm, can't move it enough"  
  
Jondy lifted the counter top from the man "You want me to get him out?" she looked at the unconscious man at her feet.  
  
"No I got it," Max told her. She grabbed the piece of wood and ripped it out of her arm with one movement. "Shit!" she cursed at the pain it produced "Go get the others, bring'em out on the sidewalk"  
  
Max lifted the man in a fireman's lift, shoving her way through all the debris. Feeling the sidewalk on her feet she flipped him over on his back with a groan. He still remained knocked out, blood and debris all over his clothes.  
  
Jondy came out a few seconds later dragging the biker out of the fire "Shit tries to grab my ass, now I have to save HIS ass" she dropped him on the sidewalk and started coughing.   
  
"That's everyone" Max looked back at all the flames, now as high as the roof. In the background were the sounds of fire engine sirens, and they were getting closer.  
  
"Let's get outta here," Jondy stated "Everyone's clear. They'll be asking too many questions"  
  
Max nodded silently. She picked up the bike from where it had been thrown. Thankfully nothing was knocked out or messed up in the blast so it still started. She revved up the engine and followed Jondy down the road.  
  
*****   
  
"So it's done?" the man in the black suit asked  
  
The translator asked the same question in Chinese  
  
The oriental man the long black leather jacket gave an answer  
  
The suit turned to his colleague "It's been taken care of as ordered Sir"  
  
"Wonderful" Agent White agreed, he turned to the man (spoken in Chinese) "You've  
done a good service kid. Always nice to find reliable under grounders"   
  
"Pleasure" he spoke a few words of English  
  
*****   
  
"Guys look at this" Alec was crashed out on Jondy's couch watching television, when the program was interrupted by a newsbreak.  
  
(Women announcer standing outside of burning building) "We interrupt your programming to bring you this developing story. A fire races through a local tattoo parlor in Chinatown after what authorities claim was a pipe bomb explosion. San Francisco Police will not comment on a possible motive of the alleged bombing or who was responsible. This just happened moments ago (camera pans closer to the building) Firefighters are trying to get the blast under control, but as you can see the whole building is now engulfed. So far no one has been found inside. Some one pulled the people out(shot of the four men on the sidewalk being attended to by EMT's) but then they left. (Camera focuses on a few drops of blood on the sidewalk a few feet away from the rescue workers) As you can see there is a trail of blood leading away from the building. Police will not comment on the suspicion that this might be the person who detonated the bomb, maybe getting injured from the shock wave, but they are saying it's likely. We'll keep you updated on this as we learn more. In Chinatown this is Fara Wes-"  
  
Alec shut off the TV before she could finish "Who would blow up a tattoo parlor?"  
  
"Someone who wasn't happy with what they had" Krit was seated in a backwards chair, drinking a Coronas from Jondy's fridge.   
  
"Disgruntled tattoo owner?" Alec asked  
  
"Maybe" Krit agreed  
  
Outside Tinga was challenging Logan to a pick up game in the court at the side of the apartment complex.  
  
Logan made the shot from the three-point line, bouncing once off the rim before landing inside.  
  
"Almost ties it up" Tinga commented. Her long braided hair was doubled up to keep it from slapping her back  
  
"Yeah" Logan agreed "but 13 to 12 just means I can come back to win with two points" he checked it too her  
  
"Not the way I see it" Tinga moved left, making a side shot "I can WIN with one point"  
  
"Like this game huh?" Logan threw out to his sister-in-law  
  
"Something like that" Tinga agreed "Game point" she checked, but when it came time to play they got interrupted.  
  
"What is it?" Logan saw her go still  
  
Tinga used her tunnel vision for a second, seeing her sisters coming in through the parking lot. "Holy shit-" she then caught sight of them better.  
  
"What's wrong?" Logan didn't like her tone of voice. He then saw what Tinga saw "Max-" his sneakers pounded the pavement   
  
Max killed the engine, wiping the blood out of her eyes. Some of it was hers, but mostly it belonged to the men she had to haul out of the fire.  
  
"Baby what happened?" Logan panicked when he saw all the blood   
  
"Blast downtown" Jondy answered his question "Blew out a tattoo parlor in Chinatown" she pressed a hand to the blood near her hairline.   
  
Tinga moved her sister's hand away for a second, looking at the laceration "Lil nasty there baby sister"  
  
"It's nuthin' Jondy shrugged "Only a pipe bomb, could've been worse" she hissed when Tinga wiped off some of the blood with her hand.  
  
Max did a check over herself once she got off the bike. The gash in her arm was the only major injury she had, but there were a couple of smaller cuts from when the bomb blew out the windows, plus a few burns on her jacket from the impact. "Dammit, this is my favorite jacket"   
  
Logan rotated her arm, making her wince. "Right now I'm more concerned with getting this taken care of"  
  
****   
  
"Damn" Max cursed again, sitting in one of Jondy's high back red dinning chairs as Cindy was dabbing at her wound with hydrogen peroxide and pulling out small pieces of plastic still embedded in it at the same time.  
  
Cindy took her time, working slowly to make sure she left nothing inside the laceration to cause an infection. "Did you see the faces of the freak asses who did this so I do some smack downs?"  
  
"Just heard the countdown," Max told her, hissing again "and then blast-off" she looked down at her arm, at the blood still oozing out.  
  
"You must've hit a vein boo, it hasn't stopped bleeding" Cindy said straight up. "I ain't a doctor, but I can tell you that if I just wrap this it'll be soaked through in a hour"  
  
"Probably needs a few sutures" Logan got in on the act, handing his wife a cloth so she could clean up the blood from her face.  
  
"Yeah but I can't just parade into the hospital" Max wiped the blood off from her hairline with the blue hand towel "If I show up with shrapnel wounds after that blast they'll haul me in for questioning, and I'm not in the mood for lying to the AMA again"  
  
"It needs to be taken care of" Logan informed "Otherwise you'd bleed out sweetheart, and I think you know that"  
  
"I could do it" Alec spoke out from the couch "Once went on a deep cover assignment at this hospital. Doc thought I was a med student so I sewed up a few people"  
  
"What was the mission?" Jondy stood near her kitchen counter, placing a bandage on her forehead.   
  
"Took out the head surgeons" Alec confessed, "One was tied with Manticore, and they didn't want him to spill"  
  
Everyone went silent at his remark.  
  
"Ya know your basic deep cover thing" Alec threw this out to lighten the mood. "But seriously though I know how to do it-"  
  
"Were those people alive you messed with?" Max threw out  
  
"Not after I got done with them," Alec joked and when Max shot him a death glare he added, "They all made it through Max relax"  
  
"Aiight" Max finally agreed, looking down at her arm and then back up to him "You got a deal"  
  
"Okay then" Alec began "Gonna need some sort of needle and thread-"  
  
"We aren't exactly into needle point Alec," Krit told him "I could get you some panem wire though"  
  
"I've got some" Tinga disappeared into the bedroom and came out with a small travel sewing kit "Charile's mom gave this to me, just never take it out" she handed him a fairly large needle and black thread.  
  
"Great, thank you nurse" he ducked when Tinga smacked him upside the head  
  
Alec searched for a minute before finding what he wanted under the sink, bleach and a box of latex gloves. "Jondy you don't happen to have a camera in your bedroom do you?"  
  
"Alec shut up" Jondy threw out "You'd be surprised how well those come in handy when you don't want to leave prints on things"  
  
Alec didn't say anything dropping the needle in the bleach to sanitize it. "I'm assuming you have some sort of numbing agent around here, ambasol, something with lydocane"  
  
"Something" Jondy threw out "Don't have a medicine cabinet in my bathroom so it should be in that drawer above your head"   
  
In a moment Alec sat down at the circular table in the dinning room/kitchen with all his 'tools' He spread the dental numbing agent on Max's skin "This isn't gonna take the edge off much Max" he knotted the end of the thread.  
  
"I'll bite down on a leather belt" Max remarked straight-faced. "Get this bitch started" It didn't hurt too badly when the needle went in because of the lydocane cream, but the long thread going through her skin burned all the way through. She cursed at those moments, squeezing Logan's hand, but restrained herself from doing it as hard as she knew she could which would result in her breaking her husband's hand.  
  
"Will mommy be okay?" Jess had joined the adults in the kitchen/dining room and was worried about his mother.  
  
"I'm fine sweetie" Max gave her son a reassuring smile, which came out to be more of a grimace.  
  
"Just about don-" Alec began but Max cut him off  
  
"Don't say a damn thing until your ACTALLY done Alec!" Max snapped back like a riled cobra. She bit back other remarks to keep from using any more profanity in front of her three year old.  
  
After a few seconds Alec snipped the end of the thread with scissors. "There, that should hold the wound together while it heals. But since I didn't use real suturing thread you need to check it daily to make sure new skin hasn't grown to the stitches"   
  
"That's disgusting" Max complained, "Just have to make sure that doesn't happen I guess" she paused "Thanks doc" she praised Alec with the fake title. Jondy had thrown the pack of first aid tape on the tabletop and Max uncoiled it from the roll and wrapped it around her arm in an over-and-over fashion.  
  
"Send you the bill later Max" Alec referenced her earlier remark.  
  
"See hun," Max showed Jess the bandage around her arm "It's all good now"  
  
Jess kissed her arm then pulled her head down to his level to kiss the small cuts above her right eyebrow.  
  
Max smiled, "Thanks baby" she returned his gesture, pulling him into her lap. "Guess gettin' some shit knocked out of ya isn't just a 'Seattle thing'"  
  
"Wouldn't be nice if they didn't 'share'" Krit remarked  
  
*****   
  
8:35 PM  
  
"Max have you seen-" Alec halted in his question when he came upon the scene in Jondy's spare room. "Should've at least locked the door," he informed the pair who before he came in were making out atop the covers.  
  
Max pulled apart from her husband, where she had just gotten comfortable straddling his waist on the bed. "Ever heard of knocking?" she complained, not moving from her position.  
  
"Didn't know it was hot and heavy in here Max" Alec stated   
  
"What do you want?" Logan spoke out annoyed that he got interrupted. He sat up from his lying position  
  
"Forgive for interrupting 'Love Fest 2021' Logan. Was looking for Jondy, she said she was gonna give me stats to that bar so I can get a little drink action going, maybe meet some women-"  
  
"Is that all you think about?" Logan interrupted, sighing as he spoke this, not hiding the fact that Alec's timing basically sucked.  
  
"Mostly yeah," Alec told him straight out, adjusting the collar on his leather jacket "Nothing wrong with meeting some hot looking chick, have a few drinks, maybe go back to her place, knock it up"  
  
"See," Max told her husband "He doesn't JUST think about women, he goes deeper with meaningless sex-"  
  
"Don't see a problem there Maxie" Alec interrupted "Not like Manticore shot off the best part of me, nothing wrong with livin' it up-"  
  
"Jondy's over at Zack's" Max answered his question before he could go any further with his visual on the 'perfect night'  
  
"Great. Then I'm gone" Alec headed out the door, but stopped in the doorway for a second "Not to downgrade you guys gettin' down on the domestic front, but Frisco's a great night city, take breaks once in a while" he patted the door frame twice with his hand and disappeared.  
  
Max turned towards Logan after Alec left "He's got a point"  
  
"Yeah" Logan remarked, rubbing her left arm "But unfortunately it doesn't result in us 'getting down on the domestic front' anytime soon" he borrowed Alec's phrase for sex.  
  
"If we go club hoppin' with Alec," Max began "All that noise-"  
  
"And those shitty men who'd be on you-" Logan stated   
  
"Yeah but who CAN'T have me" she reminded, drawing her face closer to his "Might be fun to see how Frisco gets down before we do"  
  
"Think it might be fun?" Logan questioned with a raised eyebrow  
  
"I do" Max answered "Told Cindy I'd scope out places with her tonight" she paused "Tinga's already leavin' Case with Jondy's guy's grandmother-"  
  
"Grandmother? You make it sound like we're family to these people. We don't even know her"  
  
"Jondy's checked her out," Max informed "She's coo'"  
  
"She's looked at her minimal knife selection and 'I have nothing to hide' phrases on samplers and figured this out?" Logan asked  
  
"No I mean she's HAD her checked out. Did a background check with Zane's equipment. She's clean. Sixty years old, raised three kids on her own. Most outstanding thing about her is that she ran a ten k last spring to fight breast cancer"  
  
"Can't believe she had her status checked" Logan said in disbelief.  
  
"Hey I'm not leaving my babies with some psycho woman, just maternal instinct"  
  
"With background checks" Logan finished "So I'm assuming then that the infamous Erik is doing something tonight too?"  
  
"Goin' out with Jondy and us" Max answered "Thinks he's got the hots for my sista"   
  
"Looks that way" Logan agreed, "So after we do this club thing" his voice became lower "Walls are kind of thin here-"  
  
"Jondy doesn't sleep anyway" Max returned with a smile  
  
*****   
  
RIO'S BAR  
23RD ST  
SAN FRANCISCO  
9:20 PM  
  
"Place isn't bad" Cindy remarked, eating the marchino cherry in her black margarita "Not all snooty or over crowded. Just the right size" she paused for a moment "Kinda like that fine lookin' sista over there" she gave a nodd over to a tall brunette woman with hair about as long as Max's, dressed in a halter-cut scarlet mini dress with thigh high black boots. "Think this girl's gonna leave her heart in San Franciso" she made a noise of appreciation in the back of her throat.  
  
"Find something worthwile, you should go for it" Max spoke up beside her.  
  
"Don't even know if she kicks it my way boo" Cindy told her  
  
"Never gonna find out unless you ask" Max responded to her friend.  
  
"Yeah give it a shot," Alec agreed, leaning back into his chair, the one that was across the table from Cindy's. "No sense in being afraid"  
  
"Boy I ain't afraid" Cindy snapped back "Aiight, I'll do it. If it turns-"  
  
"Be her loss" Max finished  
  
"Glad someone's night is hookin' up right" Alec said after Cindy left.  
  
"Still haven't found your plaything?" Max questioned.  
  
"Make it sound like I'm out for hire Max" Alec complained, "Not like I'll screw the first thing on two legs" he drank from his beer mug. He looked over to where Jondy was sitting in the booth across from the table with Erik. "Story with them?"  
  
Max turned to where he was looking "Apparently he likes her" she stated the obvious.  
  
"Deep Maxie" Krit told her "You were wasted at Manticore"   
  
From across the bar Cindy was scorin' up points with the woman she had met.  
  
"So what's a fine suga like you doin' here alone?" Cindy asked, leaning against the bar.  
  
The woman smiled at her "Just out for some fun my sista" she smiled at her "Found some too"  
  
The mood was broken when Alec emerged beside Cindy "Get a refill" Alec notified the bartender, sliding the empty pitcher across the wooden surface. "Ladies" he addressed the two women beside him, briefly glancing at them  
  
Cindy rolled her eyes slightly at Alec trying to move in on her territory.  
  
The woman beside Cindy watched Alec at the bar "Been a while" she addressed Alec, who turned to look at her in confusion  
  
"Do I know you?" Alec asked to the woman hitting on him, the fine assed woman, but Cindy looked pissed that he was messing up her chances.  
  
"Hey!" Max had left the table, stepping towards Alec "How long does it take to fill one pitcher?"  
  
The woman shook her head at Alec's question "Just been a WHILE-" she licked her lips, not hiding the fact that she was bi-sexual.   
  
"Yeah okay" Alec told her "Sorry, but I'm kinda in-between women right now, so-" he picked up the refilled pitcher "Thanks for stoppin' out" he ignored Max's look and headed back to the table.  
  
"His girl's cute" the woman spoke out after Alec left, giving a nod up to Max.  
  
"Max? No boo-" Cindy started to set her straight "They ain't together. See that hot boy with the glasses over there?" she pointed out Logan "That's my suga's man"  
  
"Serious?" the woman looked over the crowd "Can't be true, they look so good together, that just doesn't happen anymore"   
  
"You should see their kids boo" Cindy pointed out "They made some nice lookin' babies"  
  
*****   
  
PHIONEX APARTMENTS  
APT #12  
  
Erik's grandmother Mrs. Stedson, tucked one of her afghans around the little girl sleeping on her sofa. /Such a sweet child/ she flipped off the lamp on the end table, so it wouldn't bother her. Little Alexis had fallen asleep almost an hour ago, but the two boys were practically wide-awake. They weren't really causing any trouble; they just showed no signs of falling asleep.  
  
The TV in front of her couch displayed the evening news. Mrs. Stedson, turned it down slightly so it wouldn't awaken the little girl.   
  
"You two aren't tired yet?" she asked of the boys sitting on the floor in the bedroom, watching a cartoon movie that she had managed to scrounge up from the collection she kept when Erik was a child.  
  
Jesse shook his head, "Movie's good Mrs. Stedson"  
  
"Thank you sweetie, this was my grandson's favorite" she was amazed at how bright and clear the three year old talked. /They must read to him a lot/ "I'll be right out here dears if you want me okay?"  
  
Both Jess and Case nodded. Mrs. Stedson closed the door.  
  
A knock at her front door was heard, just as she was entering her living room. She was about to answer it, when Lexi woke up crying.  
  
"What's the matter sweetie?" she picked up the little girl, resting her on her hip. She wiped off her tears with her hand "It's okay darling" the knock on the door grew more impatient.  
  
"Coming!" the elderly woman called out /Damn sales people. Can't come by at sane hours/ She was old, but her mind was incredibly sharp and witty. "Come on little one, we'll go fend off the wolves"  
  
She opened the door to a middle aged man with dark hair. "Yes?"  
  
"I'm sorry to bother you ma'am. I'm on my way to a meeting, and my car broke down about half a mile away. Cell's not working either" he paused "Probably sounds like a load of crap huh?"  
  
"Not really" she responded, "My phone's back there if you want to use it" she pointed out her phone on an oak end table.  
  
The man smiled "Thank you" he looked at the baby in her arms "She's cute. Is she your grandchild?"  
  
She laughed "No son. My grandchildren are all grown. I married young. I'm babysitting her."  
  
After they exchanged a few pleasantries, the stranger went to use the phone.  
  
It turned out that Alexis had just missed her mother, and after Mrs. Stedson had told her that Max would be back shortly she set the girl back down on the couch to finish her nap.  
  
The man finally finished his call, stopping in front of Lexi. He touched her neck with one leather glove, inserting something in her neck that Mrs. Stedson didn't see. "Hope my kids are as cute as her" he addressed the older woman "Thanks again for the phone"  
  
"Your welcome dear" she told him, offering him a smile before he left.  
  
*****   
  
The men headed down the stairs, meeting a Black Ford Escort in the parking lot.   
  
"It's been taken care of Sir" he informed the driver of the car.  
  
White turned to look at him "How long until it takes effect?"  
  
"Half an hour Sir." the man responded "It'll enter her bloodstream fast since she is small. After initial infection it'll be less then a day without the antidote."   
  
White actually smiled at this.  
  
"Do you think 452 will comply with our demands Sir?" White's fellow agent asked.   
  
"452 may be a bitchy woman about a lot of things, but she won't sacrifice the life of her child. Mothers are strange that way."  
  
"If you say so Sir"  
  
*****   
  
HALF AN HOUR LATER  
  
Mrs. Stedson sat down next to Lexi to put the covers back on her that the child had kicked off. The girl's face was flushed in her sleep.   
  
She touched the child "My God" the one year old was burning up. She went to retrieve a cloth. She wiped down Lexi's face with the cool cloth.  
  
The girl awoke at the sensation "Momma?"  
  
"Shh little one, your mommy's not home yet." she wiped her down some more. Something caught her eye on the back of the girl's neck. "Jesus Christ"   
  
There were large, puffy, lines going vertical down the back of her neck. Each one swelled beside the other, some leaking out a weepy liquid. They created an odd pattern. Alarmed by this Mrs. Stedson, picked up the little girl. An ambulance would take too long, so she decided to drive to the nearest hospital herself.  
  
She packed up the little boys. Case took one look at his cousin and said aloud "That's what I had"  
  
Mrs. Stedson, didn't pay much attention to this, wanting to get Alexis to a doctor ASAP.  
  
Once in her Acura, she picked up the car phone she was thankful her daughter talked her into installing and dialed Max's cell.  
  
*****   
  
RIO'S  
  
"Yeah?" Max answered her phone when it rang.  
  
"There's something wrong with the baby Mrs. Cale" Mrs. Stedson's voice was panicky.  
  
"What do you mean?" Max's voice took on a tone of worry.  
  
"I checked on her about an hour ago, and she was burning up with a fever, 101, and she has some sort of sores on the back of her neck. I'm on my way to the hospital with her"  
  
"What do the sores look like?" Max's proclamation caught the attention of Logan and Alec.  
  
"Like lines, that's the closet comparison. Some of them larger then others-"  
  
"I'm on my way right now" Max broke in "What hospital are you taking her to?"  
  
"What's wrong?" Logan became worried at Max's use of the word "hospital"  
  
"It's called Mercy General. On 15th street, just after the exit to Golden Gate park"  
  
"Take care of her until we get there" it wasn't a request.  
  
"Lexi's sick" Max told her family. Erik's grandma said she has a high fever, and sores on the back of her neck. Described them looking like a barcode" she didn't try to hide the panic in her voice.  
  
*****   
  
MERCY GENERAL  
ER  
  
"My baby was brought here," Max informed the ER receptionist "She's one year old names Alexis Cale"   
  
"What for?" the woman asked, "there are a lot of babies around here"  
  
"I don't have a fucking clue!" Max pounded on the circular desk with rage "That's why you're here, so why don't you do your damn job!"  
  
"Cale?" the receptionist tried to hide the aftershock of what Max said to her, "Dr. Hest is seeing her. Exam room four"  
  
Max didn't say anything else to the woman, and hurried to find her daughter.  
  
****   
  
EXAM ROOM FOUR  
  
Dr. Hest looked up from the chart at the sound of the door opening. "You the parents?" he asked the couple entering, a very beautiful young woman, and tall, light brown haired man with deep blue eyes. /I see where this little girl gets her eyes/  
  
"Yeah" Logan was the one to answer as Max made a b-line for Alexis lying on the bed.   
  
"Hey sweetie" she stroked her head, and kissed her, feeling the heat coming off her. The big, adult size hospital bed made her look so small. She opened her eyes a little at the contact, but not completely, and soon they drifted shut again.  
  
"We've haven't be able to reduce her temp-" Dr. Hest notified "But it's stabilized for now."  
  
"What about her neck?" Logan asked, though he already knew the answer.  
  
"I've treated the abrasions and bandaged them, also I took a small tissue sample-" he paused when he saw Max shooting him a death glare because he hurt her baby. "We used anesthesia so we could run tests without hurting her. Ran the sample down for a culture so I can determine how she got the marks. But right now I'm more concerned that we can't reduce her temp. High fevers are particularly damaging to small children. We'll wait it out, keep giving her fluids to keep her hydrated."  
  
"Can we be alone with her?" Max asked, still sitting on the bed  
  
"Of course" the doctor agreed, handing her a card "That's my beeper number. Page me if anything changes, or you have any other questions" They both had the look Hest had seen hundreds of times before, the look of fear and uncertainty as their child lay sick before them.  
  
After he left, Max picked up Lexi, who cried a little "Shh it's okay sweetie, mommy's right here" she quieted after she heard this. "Check her neck" she addressed Logan, who moved to sit beside her on the bed.  
  
Carefully he pealed the sterile bandage that had been placed over the marks. The lines were no longer swollen; they were now black and straight edged at the bottom, the clear imprint of a barcode. "They formed into a barcode," Logan told her solemnly. "Like with Case"  
  
"There's gotta be an antidote then" Max stated, wiping the sweat off Lexi's brow with her hand  
  
"But where do we find it?" Logan touched his daughter's back "As far as I know Deck had the only one-"  
  
"Someone else has to have some Logan" Max sounded like she was trying to convince herself of what she was saying. She rocked her sick child in her arms.  
  
Her cell rang inside her coat pocket. She reluctantly handed Lexi to Logan before moving off the bed to answer the call.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"How is she 452?" White's voice was on the other line   
  
"You son-of-a-bitch, what did you do to her?" Max's voice jumped from normal to pissed off in two seconds.  
  
Logan looked up at what Max said, watching her pacing come to a stand still.  
  
"Merely making a business proposition 452"  
  
"What the hell is that?" Max stepped outside the room, where her family had gathered.   
  
"You know the last time I had the pleasure of your company you eluded me, did the same today, when I found out you escaped that blast downtown"  
  
"Your accommodations sucked White" Max spoke his name to let them know who she was conversing with. "No mints on the dead rat pillows so I didn't leave a tip. Now I wanna know what you did to my daughter"  
  
"Something that can be eradicated if we strike a deal 452."  
  
"I don't deal with the devil" Max shot back with venom  
  
"That might change 452 after I inform you that if your daughter doesn't receive the antidote in 25 hours in counting, she'll become one with the earth."  
  
"You rat bastard!" Max shouted into the phone, making several people stop and stare at her "If she dies from this I'm gonna rip your slimy ass apart and feed you to those snakes your sicko cult keeps lying around!"  
  
"So we have a deal?"  
  
Max sighed in the back of her throat, but it really came out as more of a growl "What is it?"  
  
"125 Golden Gate Rd. Be there in an hour, bring only one other, I'll make the transaction, the antidote for you. Meet these terms exactly 452. You double cross me, she's as good as dead." the line cut off.  
  
"What's he want Maxie?" Krit asked after Max disconnected the call  
  
"Me" Max told him "Said if I don't show up in an hour, she dies. He infected her with the same crap Deck gave Case"  
  
"She has a barcode?" Tinga spoke in hushed tones not wanting to draw more attention to them they already had. She got her answer at the look on Max's face.   
  
"I'm assuming you want to screw White's plan huh Max?" Alec asked in more of a statement then a question "Unless you really think after he 'gets' you he won't just blow you away"  
  
"I have to go thorough with it Alec" Max informed, "There's no other way to save her"  
  
"He's gonna kill you Max." Alec went on "Ya know that's what he wants. Probably will just offer you the stuff, then shoot us down before anyone gets it. Called black mail."  
  
"What the hell are you talkin' bout 'us'?" Max snapped back  
  
"He wants one other there right?" Alec clarified "To get the drug back here. He sure as hell won't let you leave with it."  
  
"So you volunteered?" Max's voice was edgy, her brain processing a mile a minute to think of a plan. "Fine then, we do this together. But that's my baby's life in the balance Alec, DO NOT mess it up"  
  
"So what's the plan?" Jondy asked   
  
"White's group is strong" Zack stated, "Two X5's are no match for them. "I say we tail"  
  
"Gotta be a vehical White doesn't know" Syl spoke out  
  
"My Hummer's out then" Zane stated "He'd recognize it"  
  
"What about my Tracker?" Tinga volunteered, "It's big enough to carry some of Zane's arsenal. Max's dog too, she's an attack dog, might come in handy."  
  
"What about communication?" Zane brought out  
  
"That's easy" Alec threw out "Logan could rig something up here."  
  
"I'll drive" Jondy notified "I know Frisco better then any of you. If I try to get there early, I can scope out the place beforehand. "I say it's me, Zack, Krit and Tinga. Zane and Syl should stay behind with Logan to make sure White's not gonna black mail us"  
  
Max looked at her watch "We meet up again in 10 minutes"  
  
*****   
  
20 MINUTES LATER  
  
"You getting this?" Logan spoke into his mic, sitting in the guest chair in Lexi's room. He went silent as a nurse hung another bag of fluid by his daughter's bedside. The young woman offered him a look of sympathy, and the confidence that the baby would be fine before leaving to attend other patients.  
  
"You're fine" Max called back to him, driving her rented bike through downtown "Alec?"  
  
"Loud and clear Max" Alec was in his car, driving beside her.  
  
"It's ten miles till the turn sis" Jondy gave her directions via her own mic connection. "After it's straight driving for about fifteen minutes"  
  
Max followed her directions silently, her thoughts always on her daughter.  
  
"She'll be okay" Alec reassured through the mic "You gotta keep your head in the game Max. I know your worried about her, but don't let that mess up your judgment"  
  
"I'll keep that in mind" Max informed, weaving in and out of the traffic. "She doin' okay Logan?"   
  
"As good as she can be" Logan answered honestly, watching the liquid from the IV bag drip into his little girl's arm. "She hasn't gotten any worse" he tried to maintain a calm voice.  
  
"She won't" Max informed matter-of-fact. "She's gonna make it baby, she's a fighter."  
  
"Like her mother" Logan offered his wife. "Be careful Max" he voice had taken on the familiar tone it always did when he was worried about her "I want both my girls in one piece"   
  
*****   
  
MERCY CAFETERIA   
  
Cindy and Asha had volunteered to take the two boys down to the hospital cafeteria; both needed a distraction. Cindy needed something to do instead of watching her pseudo-niece suffer, and Asha had to something to keep her mind off what could go wrong when Zack and the others encountered White.  
  
They ordered, and sat in a both with the kids.  
  
Asha screwed up her face at the so-called coffee "Government should approve this as a lethal weapon"  
  
"Original Cindy agrees girl" Cindy pushed aside the Styrofoam cup, watching a few people pass by.  
  
"Wonder if any of them knows that upstairs is a little girl dying by people who used her to insure they capture the transgenics they created, but would rather kill then live up to that fact." Asha watched the gaggle of people pass by.  
  
"Don't think they wanna know boo," Cindy said straight up "Peeps in the big scope are stupid. Guarantee they won't care if my baby boo dies cause they'd be too busy bein' afraid"  
  
"Why are they afraid of us?" it was Case who asked the question.  
  
Cindy sighed, not really knowing how to answer, "People are just scared of stupid things baby boy. They think your moms and your auntie are bad because of where they came from. They can't see that their good women."  
  
"Is Lexi gonna die?" Jess asked a hard question "Mommy and daddy are really scared"  
  
Asha ruffled his hair from her seat beside him "They just worry about her. But things will be okay hun, you have to believe that."  
  
"You too boo" Cindy directed this at Asha "Your boy was trained to be supah bad. He can handle himself"  
  
Asha shrugged at getting caught "Gotta work on that transparency thing. Never thought I'd fall this hard"  
  
Cindy smiled at this "Max said the same thing"  
  
"Guess there's something to look forward to" Asha returned.  
  
*****   
  
125 GOLDEN GATE RD  
10:05 PM  
  
The location White told Max to come turned out to be an abandoned hanger, aged and pealing from the wind and weather. There was an airstrip in front of it, and it was empty save for two twin engine white bi-planes parked along its length. Directly behind it there was almost a picturesque view of the Golden Gate bridge.   
  
This made a very ironic statement in Max's mind, given what she was here for. "Guys I'm at the drop off point"  
  
"Copy that baby sister" Tinga stated "We're pulling back, be behind the level of trees west north west of the hanger." There was barking in the background "Kaja wants to get this show on the road"  
  
"Let's not disappoint her then" Max cut off the engine to her bike  
  
"Don't forget to ditch your hardware baby" Logan told her   
  
"I'm on it" Max pulled the receiving device out of her ear, but the held the mic up to her mouth again "It's go time"  
  
"We're lying in wait little sister" Krit told her, loading one of Zane's AK-47's "Just give the signal"  
  
"Keep your head above water Maxie" that was Zack "Don't get dragged into his game."  
  
"You can do this Max" this voice belonged to Logan "And hurry. I got a feeling White may be lying with the timeframe. Lexi's temperature spiked about ten minutes ago, they had to ice her down"  
  
Max's heart stopped "She's not-" she didn't dare say the word she was shit afraid of saying  
  
"No" Logan reassured "But I don't know how much longer she can hold out" Lexi's forehead under his hand felt more like an oven then a person's skin. "She's just so weak" he touched her little hand, wising she would open her eyes.  
  
Now Max's heart was in her throat "I'll get it in time" this go around her voice wasn't as strong as it was before. "Tell her I love her kay?"   
  
"I'm on it." Logan responded "and I love you"  
  
"Me too" Max kissed two fingers and brushed them against the microphone.  
  
Alec appeared beside Max "Get this bitch started" he paused after he got no answer "Max?"  
  
Max ran both hands through her long hair in a jerky manner, growling low in her throat, tears evident on her face. "Yeah, just hang on a sec" she swiped at her eyes angrily  
  
"It's okay." Alec touched her shoulder   
  
"No it's not" Max whipped her head to face him, answering in all honesty. "C'mon got nuts to crack"  
  
"S'what I'm talkin' about" Alec agreed following her.  
  
The front entrance of the hanger had a large sliding aluminum door. The padlock had already been removed from it and the door itself was halfway open revealing a small amount of light from inside the hanger.  
  
Max and Alec passed through the door, hearing the creaking of the hanger as it protested from years of neglect. The place was dimly lit from hanging florescent lighting fixtures suspended from the ceiling. There was a second story above the first accessed by three winding metal stairways.  
  
One of the lights sparked as a round from a gun was fired "So glad you could make it 452" White appeared out of the shadows, his hand locked around his silver Sig Sauer.   
  
"I'm not in the practice of letting my children die," Max spat back approaching the man as he approached her.  
  
Both X5's stopped about three feet away from White. Neither of them actually trusted him to completely honor their deal.  
  
"Such a diligent mother 452-"  
  
"And I'm impatient you son-of-a-bitch" Max growled, "Do you have it?"  
  
White pulled a long silver object from his trench coat pocket, which Max recognized immediately as the thing Deck had given her to use on Case. "I honor my part 452-"  
  
"Not true White" Alec informed, "You lied about how much time this little shit takes to kill people."  
  
"That wasn't part of the deal 494" White told him   
  
"Then get on with the fuckin' deal" Max spat "Slide it over"  
  
"Remember the exchange 452-"  
  
"Not until I get what I want" Max spat back  
  
White slid the device at Alec's feet. He picked it up and tucked it away.  
  
"Sorry White" Max returned after Alec safely had the antidote "But the deals off"  
  
"Doesn't hurt me 452" he pulled out two handguns, aiming them at her and Alec "I wasn't going to honor it anyway"  
  
"I just won the bet," Alec announced.  
  
"And I'm going to win another 494" he broke off to look at his watch "There's exactly three hours left before 452 has to bury her daughter. When I said twenty-six hours, I lied," he took aim on Max "Going to be hard for your husband to loose a wife and a daughter all in one night-"  
  
Max grabbed the gun from him before he could fire "That's why I'm not letting it happen" she flipped him on his back.  
  
He came back up a few seconds later, just like she knew he would, leaping in the air and kicking her to the floor. "When are you going to realize that I can kick your Manticore ass anytime soldier" he put his knee on Max's chest, right on top of her sternum. "Shoulda never hired that kid to do my work." the gun was in her face "Killing you myself is so much more rewarding. Heard you dislike guns 452, not a good trait for a super warrior-"  
  
Max threw him off her, and before White could get up Alec pinned him down, aiming a gun in his face "To bad I don't have a problem with it"  
  
"Not really" White flipped him off in one motion. Alec tried to catch himself, but still wound up on his back. He flipped back up on his feet again.  
  
Tinga, who was behind the closed side of the door, silently gave the signal for Kaja to attack. The German Shepard bared her teeth and took off in a run, leaping right on top of White.  
  
White fought with the dog for a few seconds, before throwing her to the ground. She leapt at him again, going for his throat, but White fired at the last minute.  
  
Kaja whined where she fell, blood coming out of the wound on her side. "Fun times over soldiers" he fired the guns at them.  
  
Krit and Jondy ducked behind the building before firing back.   
  
"This guys more annoying the Deck" Jondy said to Krit in-between shooting at White with an AK-47  
  
"I know" Krit agreed, "Deck was easier to beat" he shot again, finally finding a target in White's leg.  
  
White fell, stunned, but this injury wouldn't slow him down much. "You only have two hours and fifty minutes 452-"  
  
"Shut up!" Max grabbed a long padlock chain and wrapped it around White and secured it to a pole "Now you sit tight like a good little asshole"   
  
Alec backed away from White slowly, keeping the gun locked on him. Behind him, Tinga picked up the dog carrying her out.  
  
Zack sild open the Tracker's passenger door when he saw his sister approaching "Anyone hurt?"  
  
"One" Tinga set the dog on the floor of the tracker. She looked at the wound, shining a flashlight on it. "Just a nick, White's aim was off" she put some paper towels on top of the blood matted fur "She'll be okay"  
  
"Give it to me" Max demanded, grabbing the antidote from Alec "I can get it there faster" she stuffed it into her jacket, jumping on her bike and speed off into the night  
  
*****  
  
MERCY  
2 HOURS AND 15 MINUTES LEFT  
PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit)  
  
Logan came back into Lexi's room. He had been forced out by a team of doctors after Lexi had stopped breathing on her own.  
  
A nurse was checking the oxygen levels flowing into the girl via the respirator. Dr. Hest had her moved into PICU after her breathing became weakened. Lexi was now connected to various tubes and IV's to fight the ravaging infection.  
  
Logan touched her through the metal slits of the hospital crib, watching the clock. There were only two hours left, and Max still hadn't come back yet, nor had she contacted him. /Is she okay? Did White get to her?/ He looked at their daughter "You have to hold on princess. I know you can do it, don't give up on me now." In another ten minutes the nurse would ask him to leave. PICU had visitations in 30-minute intervals and his was almost up.  
  
Rain slapped against the outside window. Logan glanced outside the glass doors seeing Zane and Syl at their posts, watching the halls. Zane kept one hand under his jacket, fingering the revolver tucked inside.  
  
*****  
  
Max spit water from another puddle out of her mouth. The drizzle that had started had turned into a downpour, shorting out her mic, so she couldn't let Logan know she was on the way. She looked down at her watch, wiping off the face to see the glowing hands. "Dammit" She was running out of time. She gunned the engine, going faster, but the front wheel suddenly caught on a piece of scrap metal in the road, unbalancing the bike, and throwing her off and into the road.  
  
Tires squelched, as cars came to a halt to avoid hitting the downed woman.  
  
"Max!" Alec was the first one to reach her, having to shout to be heard above the rain.  
  
"There's a hole in the tire!" Max shouted, feeling the bike's tire with her hand, a slit had been made where the metal met rubber. She felt inside her jacket, finding the antidote still intact. "Can't run like this"  
  
"Ride with me," Alec stated, rain dripping off his hair.  
  
"I can't leave the bike in the middle of the road!" Max called out "Help me move it over"  
  
Alec came around to the other side of the Ninja "One, two, three-" he lifted up the back end while Max had the front. They dropped the bike on the side of the road and climbed into Alec's car.  
  
"Gun it!" Max barked  
  
*****   
  
White had ripped free of his bonds, and now was on his cell phone "There's a situation. Where's the girl?"  
  
"Moved up to ICU Sir," the agent responded. "She won't survive much longer"  
  
"See to that" White ordered  
  
*****  
  
1 HOUR AND 52 MINTUES LEFT  
  
"Syl" Zane whispered beside her, "That guy, ten o' clock" he nodded to a tall man wearing a black trench coat, one who didn't look like he was here to visit a critically ill child.  
  
"I got it" Syl responded, approaching the man "Hey ass, catch" she punched him in the gut, kicking him to the ground when he doubled over.  
  
The man made a reach for his gun. Zane cocked his 47 in his face "Hands down shit. Make a move, I'll castrate you"  
  
Syl grabbed his gun "Why don't you tell us what you're here for? Don't look like your hiding a worried wife and sick baby behind that shit ass g-man suit" she waited all of two seconds before talking again "Know what? Forget it" she punched him in the face, knocking him out "Wouldn't liked what you had to say"  
  
*****   
  
1 HOUR AND 30 MINUTES LEFT  
  
Alec's convertible screeched into the covered area by the hospital doors. Max raced out of the car and up to Lexi's room. The room was empty except for a nurse making up the bed.  
  
"Where's the little girl who was in here?" her heart was beating out a conga against her ribcage /God no, please/  
  
"Poor thing was taken up to the Peds ICU-"  
  
Max didn't hear the rest because she was running to fast  
  
******  
  
PICU  
10TH FLOOR  
  
"Excuse me can I help you?" the receptionist asked, becoming suspicious at seeing Max enter soaking wet and mud caked in her clothes.  
  
Max ignored her moving right passed her desk.  
  
"Hey where are you going?" the woman chased after her.  
  
Max went up and down every hall, looking, finally finding her at the in one of the last ones she checked.  
  
She took in all the tubes and wires that she saw.  
  
Logan stood up when he heard her enter "Max, are you okay?"  
  
"I've got it" Max didn't answer his question. She fished out the metal piece from her jacket, at the same time looking at her watch "There's not much time"   
  
Logan rolled their daughter on her side, exposing the back of her neck  
  
"Back off the kid-" the alarmed receptionist had notified security.  
  
Four guns cocked simultaneously from Zack, Krit, Syl and Alec   
  
"You back off" Zack hissed.   
  
Max passed the device over the back of Lexi's neck; it clicked and whirred for a few seconds. The barcode started to fade "C'mon baby" Max encouraged.   
  
The mark faded completely soon, but Lexi still didn't wake up. "C'mon baby, you can do this" one tear splashed on Lexi's arm. "Please" she made this remark glancing at the ceiling, praying to Blue Lady.  
  
Still nothing, then, a small noise in her throat, followed by half gasping noises as she fought against the machine.  
  
Max removed the tube, having learned how to do it at Manticore. As soon as the long plastic piece was out of her mouth Lexi burst into a loud choking cry.  
  
It was the most beautiful sound that either of them heard in a long time. "It's okay" Max picked her up, holding her tightly "You're okay sweeite" she couldn't fight back her own tears from all the emotions she was feeling.   
  
Logan hugged them both, kissing Lexi first then Max.   
  
The storm outside continued to rage.  
  
*****  
  
THE NEXT NIGHT  
  
The large bon fire glowed brightly on the beach. Syl threw a piece of wood into the flames to keep them strong. The rain from yesterday had passed, and tonight stars peaked out of the clouds.  
  
"That's the big dipper" Max pointed up in the sky, showing her kids the constellations. Lexi smiled in her lap, looking where her mother pointed. She had recovered completely from her ordeal, and the doctors couldn't see any reason to keep her so she was released.   
  
Logan and Max had done a small sting on the hospital and removed the tissue samples Hest had taken from the labs.  
  
"Stars look different here," Cindy said beside her "Guess cause Seattle's so drizzly most of the time." she looked at her boo "Finally feels like a vacation now huh?"  
  
Max nodded, pulling Lexi closer to her. She glanced up, watching Logan toss a stick in the water and Kaja sprang to get it. She didn't seem to mind the water in her wound and quickly dragged the stick up to Logan again. The second time he threw it Millie got in on the act, chasing the stick down the beach with the other dog.  
  
"Be back girl" Max lifted her daughter in her arms "Let's go meet up with daddy"  
  
"Hey" she called out to him as she approached.  
  
Logan turned "Don't just stand there ladies, take those shoes off and come here"   
  
Max smiled at his words, remembering the last time he said that. She took off her black boots and removed Lexi's shoes, setting them aside before joining Logan on the sand.  
  
"Feels nice huh?" Logan knelt next to the baby  
  
"Cold" Lexi smiled squishing her toes in it.  
  
He kissed her, and stood back up. "Let's for a walk"   
  
They took their time, walking down the long strip of beach, jumping out of the way when Krit and Zane picked up Jondy by her hands and feet and threw her into the water.   
  
Jondy came out of the waves soaking wet.   
  
"Got some wet T-shirt action now!" Zane spoke, ducking when Jondy threw a stick at him.  
  
She flipped Krit on his back and shoved sand in his face.  
  
"Don't forget his pants" Zack called out from where he and Asha were sitting on the hood of her Cherokee.  
  
Jondy shoved a clump of dirt by the fly in Krit's jeans.  
  
"I just got very turned on" he wagged his eyebrows at his sister  
  
"Cat-man your sick" Jondy returned, wringing her long brown hair right over his head.  
  
Max laughed at the sight of her siblings. "Jondy, you never grow up"  
  
"Life's a game Maxie" Jondy informed, climbing off Krit "and I'm wining" she smiled at her niece "Hey baby girl, you see me make that tackle?" she touched Lexi's nose with her finger "Uncle Krit got his assets kicked"  
  
"No Uncle Krit did not" Krit defended, flipping back up, and unzipping his jeans to clean out the sand.  
  
"Yeah Uncle Krit did Lexi" Zack called out to his niece "We all know how he lies"  
  
"You guys normally going around referring to yourselves in the third person?" Asha asked beside him  
  
"We're not normal" Zack pointed out "So it's allowable"  
  
Asha climbed down off her car, and stood in the sand facing Zack "Is it allowable for me to make out with you on a beach at night? Kinda a regular activity-"  
  
"Cheesy also" Zack threw out, but at the look she gave him he added "But so long as there's no sappy music blasting in the backround or overly bright sunsets, what the hell" he pulled forward and kissed her squarely on the mouth, feeling her wrap both arms around his neck.  
  
"Whoo!" Zane cat-called "Bring it baby"  
  
"Some night huh?" Alec sat down in the sand next to Cindy.  
  
"Defiantly" Cindy agreed, "Wonder if Normal bought any of that lying crap you told him"  
  
"Probably not" Alec said with a smile. He watched Max holding both of Lexi's hands and walking beside her in the sand. "Wasn't chicken pox. Wonder if he'd believe that a secret government bad ass infected Max's daughter with a toxin in order to lure her into a trap so he could kill her because she was one of the transgenics he was assigned to take down, so she had to turn herself in to save her kid from dying" he said this all in one breath, and looked at Cindy  
"Not a chance in hell huh?"  
  
"Original Cindy stands a better chance with getting down and dirty wid you right here in the sand"  
  
Alec shot her a coy look "Really?"  
  
Cindy hit him "Boy don't start" she threw a twig into the fire  
  
"Joking, relax" Alec defended "So what made you go over to the all girls camp? Cause lets face it you got it going on, and your depriving the other half of your species"  
  
"Just preference Alec" Cindy returned, "Appreciate the props and all, but ain't no goin' back after the time I had with my girls"  
  
"You and Max ever try anything?"  
  
Cindy looked at him with a 'say what?' gaze "My boo is straight Alec. Great body, great style but we don't swing that way. She's just my girl."  
  
"Talkin' bout me?" Max appeared with Logan and Lexi in her arms  
  
"You know it boo," Cindy said as Max took a seat in the sand.   
  
Max stroked her daughter's hair. Lexi yawned and snuggled into Max's lap. Jess and Case were still out with Tinga and Syl walking the beach.  
  
"There's Orion" Max pointed in the sky at the constellation visible in it's depth, and when she saw Zack and Asha approaching the bon fire she added "First thing you ever showed me on the tower"  
  
Zack stopped walking and looked into the sky. "Kept me up there all night Maxie, got zero sleep"  
  
Max shrugged "I never needed it so I didn't think of it" she looked at the sky again "Think Ben's up there with the Lady?" she asked this, effectively changing the topic.  
  
Syl went quiet "Yeah, remember he said everyone goes there, except the nomalies. Bet Eva's up there too"  
  
Zack sighed a heavy sigh at the mention of his dead sister's name. He felt responsible for her fate because he was the one who lead the escape.   
  
"There's a lot to be said from stars" Logan draped an arm around his wife "Just glad she's didn't go to meet them tonight" he looked at Lexi now peacefully asleep before offering Max a kiss.  
  
"Some vacation" Max shifted to face him  
  
"It's not over yet" he reassured, pulling her and their daughter closer.  
  
*****   
  
(FADE TO BLACK)  
  
*****  
  
END  
  
This took a while to finish because as I was writing I realized I had NO real plot, and since I hate that I had to think of a decent one. Couldn't just have them go on vacation and have everything be all fine and good. Dark Angel normal? *blowing it off*   
  
About Alec's car, I know in the last eps of season two he was riding a bike, but I LIKED that car he had, sweet little cherry red thing, so I put it in here.   
  
I couldn't remember what shape that device for Case's antidote was in 'Hit a Sista Back' I thought it looked like a sliver rod, but then I remembered that when Max held it up to Case it was some sort of box, so I just called it the 'device' in here.  
  
Got plenty of ideas for the next installments, so I'll keep rolling them out. R/R on this please and thanks for reading. 


	13. DL in DC

Choices 14-"DL in D.C."  
Author: Mystic25  
Email: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com  
  
Rating: PG13  
  
Summary: A new street drug hits America, with trade ties all the way to Washington, and Eyes Only is enlisted in to find out how deep the cords run.  
  
Disclaimer: James Cameron and his friends have toys, FOX wants to take them away, and I want to play with them.   
  
A/N: I will not be taken down because those idiots at FOX canceled my show, take that you slime. This series will go on and on like the energizer bunny. Sorry for the kinda elusive summary. This idea came to me at 1:00 in the morning, and I decided to run with it. D.C. is a fascinating area b/c of all its governmental ties. And this allows for a good reason for Max and Logan to be in the Capitol. A vacation wouldn't be good enough.  
  
A/N#2: In "Freak Nation" Logan's lil badass side was great. I like him when he's philosophical and romantic, but I also like it when he takes care of business. So I wanted to do more with that aspect. I won't go overboard and make it unreal, make sure and keep in his character scope.   
  
A/N#3: The information on Washington D.C is taken from official websites, and is used only as a backdrop to my fan fic. Having said that please forgive any technical errors on any locations and/or protocols mentioned in here.  
  
DEDICATIONS: Washington D.C. and the people there for inspiring this chapter, but more importantly for their survival of the tragedy suffered on 9-11; as well as those in the great city of New York and all passengers aboard the three airliners.  
  
To the readers, I dedicate this to you as well, for wanting me to go on writing.  
  
*****  
  
SEATTLE  
SOUTHSIDE MARKET  
LOWER DISTRICT  
1:35 AM  
  
The base of a car shook the quiet neighbor hood, the man inside turning it up, but not as loud as he usually did or it would attract attention. As he neared his destination, he cut off the DMX song entirely, stepping out of his 2001 red Viper.  
  
Through his yellow tinted shades the man caught the eye of several streetwalkers out on the curb.  
  
"Some of this baby?" one of them, a wiry girl with an enormous cleavage line popping out of her leopard body hugging halter dress licked her lips in a sultry movement.  
  
The man smiled /Love to do her. Put my thing down on a cat/ But tonight he had business to attend to. He continued his walk to the back of a closed shop booth.  
  
"Transaction made bro?" the man asked in the shadows.  
  
A shorter man wearing a blue jean jacket, carried over a large duffle bag "Taken care of man" he opened the bag, showing his neatly wrapped illegal contents in individual plastic bags. "Got more kilos in here then the British metric system"  
  
The other man picked up one of the baggies, examining the white crystals housed inside "looks like coke"  
  
"That's the beauty of it man" his companion explained, "Junkies out there won't ask questions bout it's unpleasantries if it's like their rock"  
  
The other man did not like to hear about "unpleasentries" "Wrong with it?" he fingered the plastic bag  
  
"Nothin' man" his friend reassured "Just gives a hell of a buzz that's all"  
  
He opened one of the bags, sniffing the powder "Shit, fucker's strong" he snorted at the smell. After a minute the initial effect wore off, and like his boy said the buzz was incredible. He had done meth and coke in the same night and didn't feel half as high as he felt right now. "Good mess though. What's gonna happen? Gonna grow ears out my ass or somethin'?" he laughed drunkenly, but that died after a minute when he heard something pop.  
  
He looked around for the source of the noise, wishing he had his gun, thinking it to be a bust.   
  
Something wet fell down the side of his face. He looked up, thinking for a second it was rain, his hand brushing his check. But when he pulled back his fingers were red "What the fuck?" he jumped back, hearing his friend laugh at him.  
  
"Told you brother, it's freak-kay" the other man approached him sticking one finger inside his ear, and when he pulled back it was drenched in blood starting at the bottom of the nail. "Ain't nothin' too bad happen to my boyz after they messed with the first batch. Just got a headache from the pop for an hour, then the buzz..whoo" he laughed again "Now this is what I'm talkin' bout 'pop off the line'"  
  
*****   
  
SECTOR TEN  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
5:45 AM  
  
Logan's eyes opened, adjusting to the small stream of sunlight shining directly in his eyes from the slats in-between the closed blinds.  
  
He looked at the clock /Damn it's early, why the hell did I wake up?/ He was surprised that he had even awaken earlier then Max, who was still asleep, her body spooned up against his.  
  
/She looks good even when she's asleep/ he messed with some hair by her ear, tucking away loose strands from her face.  
  
He heard a noise outside the room. He waited for a minute, trying to figure out what it was. After a few seconds he recognized the noise as the phone in his office. /Who the hell calls at 5:00 in the morning?/ He decided that it might be an Eyes Only thing, so he sighed and got up. Since Max was pressed up against him she shifted when he got out of the bed  
  
"Phone" Logan told her, giving her a quick kiss, and hearing her muffled "What shit is calling this early?" before he left their bedroom.  
  
He stretched on his way to the office, not having bothered to put on a robe since he had a t-shirt over his boxers. He sat in the swivel chair and reached for the black phone that was ringing incessantly by the computer. /there better a war or something/ "Yeah?"  
  
"Mornin' merry sunshine" came the voice on the other line "You haven't forgotten bout our date now boy?"  
  
"No-" Logan suddenly remembered about the pick up game he had said he'd come to. "Okay yeah, almost, I'm not use to waking up this early to do stuff"  
  
The person on the other line laughed "Yeah sorry bout that man, but early's a great time for b-ball. No crowds, and you claim you're booked for a while after this-"  
  
"I'll be there Chris-" Logan interrupted "Need a chance to get even from last time." he had played with Chris and his friends once before, and enjoyed it. He had always loved basketball, and Chris and his group played a fair game.  
  
Chris laughed "Aiight boy, then get yourself down on the court in twenty so I can kick that white ass"  
  
"Count on the first part but not the second" Logan returned "C-ya" he hung up and returned to his bedroom.  
  
Max was still asleep, but this time she had his pillow to her chest, he guessed to get the smell. He smiled at the site of his super soldier wife looking so innocent, for all the world like a little girl with her teddy bear.   
  
He shed his white t-shirt for a gray muscle tank and pulled on a pair of black track pants, and then snatched his prescription Oakley glasses off the dresser /Look like I could work at Jam Pony/ his reflection in the mirror would certainly shock his Aunt Margo, she didn't like the 'street look' But he personally didn't give a rat's ass about what his snotty Aunt thought of him.  
  
Before he left the room he wrote a quick note to Max, telling her that he would be out, and set it on the alarm clock. He kissed her solidly on the mouth, and watched her smile in her sleep.  
  
"Be back before you go to work," he whispered before heading out.  
  
*****   
  
SECTOR 10  
6:25 AM  
  
"Made it out for my victory" Chris greeted Logan with this when he spotted him as he entered the basketball court through the open space in the fence.  
  
"Chris did anybody tell you you're full of shit? Logan returned  
  
"Hey don't be raggin' on me like that man," Chris stated, slapping Logan on the shoulder "Enough wid the insults, like you to meet my brother. Hey Jamal, meet by boy here"  
  
A young man about the age of 19 approached Chris and Logan. Jamal was a few inches shorter then his brother, wearing a black tank and white baggy track shorts.   
  
"Names Logan, and this is my kid bro Jamal. He claims he got skills on the court"  
  
Jamal blew his brother off "I do got skills man, you just need to recognize"  
  
"Man whatever" Chris returned  
  
"Chris tells me you're a ace on the court Logan" Jamal stated  
  
"I don't know about that" Logan corrected, "I just like the game"  
  
Jamal checked him the ball "Then how bout we get started?"  
  
*****   
  
"Downtown" Chris stated, stealing the ball and heading towards the basket. He was cut off my Jamal, who stole it back and passed it to his teammate.   
  
The other man on the team landed the shot at the three-point line; to the cheers of his teammates "Mean uptown Chris" he leered.  
  
"Get yours boy" Chris pointed at him as they set themselves up to play again.  
  
"Run it through man" he told Logan wiping some sweat away with his shirt   
  
Jamal handed Logan the ball and he checked it to him. Logan looked around for an opening, finding Chris guarded, but Lynx was wide open. He bounce passed to him and re-joined the game.  
  
Lynx dribbled down center court, about to make the shot before a member of Jamal's team members stole the ball.  
  
The ball was intercepted again by Logan, who moved passed the player blocking him and sunk the shot in at mid court.  
  
"Believe that's game" Logan informed.  
  
"Whoo boy!" Chris came over and high fived him "Hell didn't you tell me you could do shit like that?"  
  
"Been a while since I practiced it" Logan returned, wiping the sweat off his face.  
  
"Practiced?" Lynx sounded amused "You'd be ready for the NBA if they didn't become the Association of American Sports in '05. Brother can't make it in sports like they use to, all messed up with government regulations now"  
  
"Shoulda called it the American Sports Society," Logan added, "Then the initials could be A.S.S"   
  
Chris laughed at this "Don't sound like no white boy to me"  
  
"Thanks for the compliment" Logan returned, patting down his upper body with a towel from his gym bag.  
  
"Can it boy, you know I'm just messin'" Chris informed "Ever gonna tell me more bout yourself then what goes on in this court? Cause I hate bein' left out."  
  
"Nothing much to tell Chris" Logan argued "Just an average guy"  
  
"Average guy got a woman?" Chris asked  
  
Logan was about to answer him, when his cell rang in his bag.  
  
Chris found it before Logan did "Let me get that, wanna see the kind of peeps you associate with"  
  
Logan didn't have a chance to object before Chris answered the call. /Couldn't be an informant, don't know the number. Only Asha, Tinga, and Max know it-Oh shit/ He looked down at his watch, which read 8:45 /Shit shit shit, I totally lost track of time. She's leaving for work in ten minutes, and there's no one there, and she can't just leave the kids alone/   
  
"Who's this?" Chris responded to whatever Max has said on the other line. "Calm it girl, yeah he's here"  
  
Logan cringed at how the conversation sounded /She's probably pissed at me/  
  
Chris handed him the phone "For you, some chick, guess I got my answer" he didn't try to hide the fact that he was enjoying this.  
  
Logan took the phone from him "Max-"  
  
"Before work my ass" Max growled at him from the other end "I'm goin' along gettin' ready, thinkin' you'd keep your word, and bam, times up and I'm left holding the bag"  
  
"You don't have a bag," Logan pointed out.  
  
"Wanna push it with me?" Max snapped back  
  
"I just lost track of time" Logan defended "Like it's never happened to you before"  
  
"Logan-" Max's voice had a warning tone, telling him that if he went any further she'd verbally kick his ass over the phone.  
  
"Hey I'm sorry okay?" Logan returned, "I can still make it back there"  
  
"Don't have too" Max's voice softened, but not much "Got our neighbor across the hall to watch them"  
  
"I just forgot to keep a time tab-"  
  
"Forget it" Max interrupted "I'm not THAT upset about it. Just turn around"  
  
Logan was confused at her request, but when he turned he saw her standing along the fence.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Logan stepped over to her.  
  
"Came to find you" Max returned, "Expect me to go out without tellin' you bye?" she shot him a look "Just gonna leave me with a note until five?"  
  
"I already said I'm sorry" Logan defended  
  
"I'm just messing Logan relax" Max offered him a smile to break the mood "Jerry didn't mind watching them, her and Chuck want kids so it's kinda a practice run." she looked him up and down "Play hard?"  
  
"Something like that" Logan returned "Scored the wining shot"  
  
"Cocky aren't you?" Max asked "I can still take you down remember?"  
  
"Look forward to it every time" Logan returned.  
  
"Hey Logan!" Lynx called out to him "Rude not to introduce a lady to your homeboy"  
  
"Homeboy?" Max cocked an eyebrow at him  
  
"Yeah apparently Lynx is cut of the same street mold as you"   
  
"Scuse me? Nothing wrong with the way I do my business." she informed "C'mon, let's go kick it"  
  
"Hey pretty lady" Lynx stated to Max when she approached him  
  
"Hey yourself" Max returned, "Got a name besides Lynx?"  
  
"You know it girl" Lynx returned, "Lynx is just my represent. My real ID ain't much of a name, know what I'm sayin'? You got one?"  
  
"Max" she returned "And I represent my true ID"  
  
"Can see that boo," Lynx returned, "So Max, you involved with my boy here? Cause if your not then we might have something"  
  
"Not gonna happen Lynx" Logan let him know  
  
"Chill Logan" Lynx stated, "I was just checkin' But hey, s'all good if Logan here found somethin' nice as you"  
  
"Appreciate the props" Max returned, checking her watch "Hate to break up the party boyz, but I gotta blaze. My boss has a tendency to fire anything that comes through the door even fifteen seconds late."  
  
"Understand that" Chris told her   
  
"Regular time baby" Max kissed Logan in front of everyone  
  
"Have a good day Max" Logan told her, kissing her back  
  
Max pulled back "Hell hasn't frozen over yet for Jam Pony to be a haven of fun" she turned back to the others "Late boys"  
  
She headed back over to where she parked her Ninja.  
  
"Damn Logan" Lynx spoke up, watching Max mount the Ninja and drive off "That is a fine woman"  
  
"Gotta agree" Chris added "Haven't seen that kind of fire in a while." he looped a towel around his neck and slapped Logan on the shoulder.   
  
"Seems that my boy puts his thing down on more then just the b-ball court" Lynx crossed his arms over his chest, a shit-eating grin on his face.  
  
"Guys Max and I are married" Logan pointed out "I'm not just with her to 'put my thing down'" he took a drink from the bottle of water he had placed on one of the benches. He looked at his watch again "It's been great and all but I really need to get back home-"  
  
"Woman waiting for ya?" Chris shot him a raised eyebrow look.  
  
"No" Logan objected, "Woman's working, and I need to go relieve the baby sitter"  
  
"Baby sitter?" Lynx shot the look now "You have seeds boy?"  
  
"I'll c-ya later guys," Logan stated to the group before turning and heading to his car.   
  
"Man's got moves" Lynx said to Chris as Logan was leaving. He laughed out loud at his own remark. "Boy acts too cool with that hot of a woman"  
  
*****  
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
10:15 AM  
  
"Thanks Jerry" Logan stated to his neighbor, who was snagging her house key off the kitchen counter.  
  
"It's no problem" Jerry responded "These guys are great" she looked over at Jess playing on the floor with his toys.   
  
"Sure you'll make a great mom one day" Logan reassured   
  
Jerry smiled at this "Thanks, sometimes I lie around just picturing the idea" she pocketed the key "Better get going to my own job. Tell Max I said hi"  
  
"I will" Logan promised, stating that just as the phone in his office rang.  
  
He watched Jerry go out the front door as he walked to the computer room. He picked up the phone again /not even noon yet/  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Hey Logan it's Jeff"  
  
"What's up?" Logan asked. Jeff was an informant and he usually didn't call just for pleasure.  
  
"Got some information for ya" Jeff answered "A new street drug hit markets two nights ago, suppose to be triple the effect of marijuana and LSD combined"  
  
"Sounds like good stuff" Logan broke in "I still don't see where you're going with this. Probably a dozen other hard drugs went on sale last night."  
  
"Yeah" Jerry agreed "But they didn't have the backing of the Federal Government"  
  
Now he had Logan's attention "You gonna quit being elusive and tell me the story?"  
  
"Okay check this out. Seems that this shit isn't just a Seattle thing. One of my guys in Nevada says he saw at least a dozen dealers marketing. And it's apparently happening all over the Pulse U.S.A. Raising so much of a stink that Washington is holding a Senate sub committee hearing four days from now. And here's the big clincher. Big wigs in D.C. believe this new drug wave to be orchestrated from one of theirs, that's the reason for the hearing. Government funding to the extreme"  
  
"And what do you want me to do?"  
  
"The hearing was called based on really loose evidence. The speaker only allowed for it because of the party's involved past work in finding the terrorists who set off the Pulse. Both the chairmen and the speaker have made it clear that they will throw out the case unless concrete proof is established before the morning of the hearing. Someone up in D.C. called in a favor, asking to bring a connection to Eyes Only to help get the gears rolling"  
  
"And you brought up me?" Logan asked basically a dumb question  
  
"You are the closet connection to the Big Man I know" Jeff reminded, "But this didn't come from me. Whoever likes the man up in D.C. requested it, and I'm just passing along information. And let me tell you they want it bad. Tab has been picked up fully, two round trip air fares from here to Dulles, accommodations at the Hyatt, rental car"  
  
"Two fairs?" Logan asked  
  
"Yeah two" Jeff answered "I got the call and wheedled them into one more ticket. I thought you'd like to take Mrs. Cale. I mean how many times do you get to go to Washington now a days? You said your wife has family in Seattle, so you can leave the children with them for a few days. It would be a nice little getaway with just the two of you." Jeff was starting to sound more like a travel agent then an informant to one of the most influential underground infrastructures in Seattle. "So can I count on you?" Jeff asked after a minute "Cause I really don't want to turn down a Senate sub committee"  
  
"I'm pretty much sold" Logan informed, "I just have to convince Max-"  
  
"Shouldn't be a problem" Jeff analyzed "From what I've heard she's into defending the down trodden-"  
  
"Where do you get your information from?" Logan broke in "But it'll be fine"  
  
*****  
  
JAM PONY   
  
"What the hell are you doin'?" Max looked over at Alec who was roughly shaking a package in his hands.  
  
"Content check" Alec informed, turning the box upside down. He picked at the tape that sealed the brown paper shut.  
  
"Hey!" Normal shouted to him "Tampering with the mail is a federal offense pal, and if you go down it'll be bad for business"   
  
"Just making sure it wasn't broken," Alec said in a fake reassurance, turning to Max "Ten to one it's drugs, hard stuff."  
  
"Sure you would know" Max returned   
  
"Nothing wrong with knowledge Maxie" Alec told her straight out, dropping the box into his messenger bag.  
  
"So if it is some kilo action you're just gonna drop it off to the dealers and expect a lil green in return?" Max asked him  
  
"You know me too well Max" Alec informed "All about supply and demand-"  
  
"Isn't that the kinda business where they kill the messenger?" Max interrupted, zipping up her pack.  
  
"No that would be the place you work at right now" Normal broke into their conversation from his desk. "Bip, bip, I'm not running a social hour here" he stopped the pissy tirade on Max and Alec to yell at Scott "Since when is that a fast pace?"  
  
Scott just ignored him, and wheeled his bike out of the building.  
  
"Slacker!" Normal called out after him.   
  
Max pulled her bag on her shoulder, about to grab her bike when her cell rang.   
  
"What's up?" Max had read the caller ID on her phone before she answered.  
  
"Just checking to see how you are" came Logan's response.  
  
"Yeah and I'm the Queen of America" Max moved to stand by the lockers.  
  
"I'm hurt" Logan feigned a wounded voice "Okay you caught me. I just received a call from an informant of mine Jeff-"  
  
"Let me guess, he wants you to save the world from the hell it fell into again" she interrupted   
  
"Something like that" he agreed, "Only this world takes on the form of political power all the way to D.C. Apparently some street drug is causing quite a ruckus in the capitol because there may be an insider whose doing some private funding into its distribution."  
  
"Kinda old story Logan" Max reminded  
  
"Yeah" he broke in "but with a slightly different twist. Someone one from D.C asked for Eyes Only's involvement with this directly. Jeff asked for me because I am the closet "connection" to the boss that he knows. There's a formal Senate sub committee hearing in four days-"  
  
"How can there be a hearing if there's no evidence?" Max asked  
  
"It's being held together by loose evidence. The Speaker was feeling a little lenient. But unless something concrete is put together before the hearing the case is going out the window."  
  
"So the infamous Logan Cale is going to be a live wire in D.C." Max did a slight subject change.  
  
"Not without my wife" Logan notified "Jeff grabbed another ticket for you. His logic being good cultural slash away time for us."  
  
"Added bonus that I can kick asses huh?" Max asked  
  
"That's a fact" he concurred "So is that a 'yes I don't mind going?"  
  
"No that's a "yes I'll do you're leg work, but only if we can do a little personal down time in between taking down the baddies"  
  
"I'll try and work it in" his smile was evident on the phone. "Flight leaves tonight at nine. I've already called Lucia and she said it'd be fine to leave the kids with her for the time"  
  
"What about Tinga?" Max asked. She didn't mind leaving her babies with Luc, but usually Tinga or Cindy baby-sat.  
  
"She's gonna be a little tied up baby" he spoke elusively to his wife about her sister for a moment "Seems that she's in heat, and it'll be hard enough to take care of Case by herself for the next twelve hours. Plus it'll give Lucia more time with them."  
  
"Charlie's in for a ride" Max said of his first remark  
  
"Probably use to it by now" Logan stated "So I'll see you at home and we can get this thing underway"  
  
"Are the seats in first class?" Max asked  
  
"Congress is picking up the tab Max"  
  
"Then God bless America" she finished.  
  
*****   
  
UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT 34   
FIRST CLASS CABIN  
12:55 AM (PACIFIC TIME)  
  
"Ladies and gentleman" the head stewardess came over the intercom "We are about to begin our descent. Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened, and your seat backs and tray tables are in their full, upright position for landing. We thank you for flying this United non-stop flight from Seattle to Washington D.C. The local time here in country's capital is 3:55 AM and the temperature is a brisk 64 degrees"  
  
"How can anyone be so damn cheery this late at night?" Max asked Logan  
  
"Comes with the job description," he told her, feeling the plane drop its altitude as it prepped for landing.  
  
"If I was in the cockpit I'd pull this thing into a nose dive and see if the cheeriest chick in the freakin' universe would still hold onto her happy thoughts."  
  
"I'm sensing you're a bit agitated" Logan teased  
  
"Never liked long flights," she told him "Can't even fall asleep to pass the time with all this charged up DNA"  
  
*****   
  
DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT  
WASHINGTON D.C.  
4:35 AM (EASTERN TIME)  
  
Logan and Max collected their luggage from the ever-slow bag check turn style. After finally collecting the bags they brought they stepped outside into the crisp D.C. air.   
  
An airport attendant approached them "Evening, need a lift to your car?"  
  
"Actually we're on vacation, so we don't have one yet. But if you could call a cab that would be great" Logan informed him, his breath slightly evident in the air.  
  
"Sure thing" the attendant flagged down a yellow taxi. After the cab stopped on the curb the attendant loaded the bags in the trunk. "Where to?" he asked the couple.  
  
"It's the Hyatt Regency on Center Street" Logan informed.  
  
The attendant repeated these words to the cabbie before ducking his head inside the passenger window "You're set here sir."  
  
"Thanks" Max spoke out this time.  
  
The man nodded politely to her "You and your husband have a good trip ma'am" he shut the door to the cab.  
  
"Hyatt huh?" the cabbie began making small talk to his charges "Must be nice to afford a place like that in this crappy weather."  
  
"We're use to the cold" Max informed  
  
"Oh where you from?" the cabbie asked  
  
"Seattle" Logan answered, while setting his Seiko watch to the time he had programmed into his cell on the plane.  
  
"Damn" the cabbie cursed "I came from the Bronx originally, but my brother says that Seattle was one of the worst hit after the Pulse. Like extreme martial law above the other states"  
  
"Something like that" Max agreed "Not so bad though"  
  
"Guys here for a vacation?"  
  
"Yeah" Logan lied "Always wanted to see government in action"  
  
"Not what it use to be" the cabbie informed "But still, D.C. is a full of history and mystery." the cab finally came to a stop in front of a white cement high rise building with large decorative fountains lit up by recessed lights built under black marble.  
  
"Here we are folks" the cabbie got out of the taxi and opened the trunk to take out the bags "Want a hand with these?"  
  
"Thanks but I think we can handle it" Logan told him, handing him the cab fair.   
  
"Thank you sir, have a good evening" The cabbie took the money and drove off.  
  
Max and Logan walked up the white marble stairs to the risen platform, by-passing the bellboy who stood outside in a coat in the cold to assist with anything. All together they only had four bags, two were overnight bags with personal items, one had Logan's IMac laptop and portable surveillance equipment, and the third was Max's double sided black suitcase with her "cat burglar" gear.  
  
Logan held the door open for Max, and the night clerk became animated at the potential guests. "Good evening, and welcome to the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Can I have you're name please?"  
  
"Cale" Logan stated to the man "Max and Logan Cale."  
  
The clerk checked his computer guest list for a few seconds "Ah yes, here it is. We had a gentleman just confirm the room this morning." he reached under his desk for a minute, and pulled out a bulking manila package. "The man who reserved the room left this for you."  
  
"Thanks" Logan took the package from him "Does the room have a DSL connection port?"  
  
"Can't tear him away from work for even one day" Max tsked to the clerk, trying to play the part of the neglected housewife.  
  
"This is suppose to be 'our time'" Logan played along as well, making the desk clerk smile.  
  
"I understand how that is Sir. You're in the business section of the hotel, so there is an Internet connection. But don't let the name fool you. The room is quite large, has a balcony with a view of the Potomac River and the Washington Monument." he laid the key card in it's small manila envelope on the counter. "Here's you're key, I'll have a bell boy take your luggage up"  
  
"That won't be necessary" Max told him "We don't travel too heavy."  
  
"As you wish ma'am" the clerk was a little disappointed at the loss of more tipping to the hotel, but he kept up his cheery attitude with the guests. "But allow the bell boy to at least show you to your room. This hotel has twenty-six floors, and it's easy to get lost"  
  
"That'd be fine" Logan agreed. "Thank you"  
  
The clerk smiled "Then have a good night sir"  
  
*****   
  
Room 834  
  
"Here we are" the bellboy opened the door wide for the pair. "The bathroom is just to the left, and the balcony is straight forward just beyond the French doors"  
  
"Thanks" Logan handed the man some money. Even though he didn't carry the bags he did them some service.  
  
"Thank you sir. If you or your wife needs anything, just dial '253' on the phone and it will connect you to the front desk. Have a good night" the man left as fast as he came.  
  
Logan dropped his bags on the large queen size cherry wood bed while Max threw her stuff on the high back dark red chair in the separate sitting area.   
  
"Bet Jeff requested one bed on purpose" Max spoke out, looking at the bed covered by a golden yellow comforter. "Doesn't he know that it's business before pleasure?" she smiled when she said this.  
  
"That's how it is really?" Logan returned the fire.   
  
Max looked around the room. It was decorated in furniture that looked like it originally belonged in Louie XIV's palace. A half wall divided the "bedroom" from the sitting area complete with a plush, over stuffed burgundy colored sofa, and flanked on either side by two high back red chairs. Just beyond the sitting area the carpeted floors gave way to a small tiled section where a counter, mini fridge, microwave, coffee pot and the complimentary samples that existed in every hotel stood. Max stepped through this area, and opened the French doors that lead outside.   
  
"Nice digs huh?" Logan sat in one of the chairs, and opened the package Jeff had sent.  
  
"Place is poshed up" Max agreed "Might even live up to your Aunt Margo's expectations" The air was a little cooler then down on the ground because of how high up they were. The sky was a crystal clear midnight black filled with stars, and the air was rich with the sounds of the high-powered federal city that never slept. The tall triangle topped silhouette of the Washington Monument broke the pattern of stars where it met the sky, it's bottom slightly illuminated by the lights under it. And the waters of the Reflecting Pool that stood in front of the monument were a tiny bit visible from the vantage point on the balcony.  
  
Max stepped closer to the French style railing, listening to the traffic below. /Not as high as the needle, but the Potomac could substitute for Puget Sound/ "Great view too" she came back inside, but left the doors opened.  
  
"What did Jeffery send?" she flopped down onto the burgundy sofa.  
  
Logan started to remove the contents of the envelope "Parking pass to the garage here at the hotel. Rental's already here, whoo, Mitsubishi Meada"  
  
"Nice" Max agreed, "Just because we're in D.C. don't mean we have to get stuck with some black escort g-man crap."   
  
"Also has a note" Logan pulled out a piece of paper, reading what it said out loud "Senator Richard Patterson wants to meet up with you tomorrow for a briefing. The appointment is at noon in his Washington office, parking clearance has already been taken care off. I've given you some reading material on this new drug, which Congress is calling "Narcotic X1", but that the street level dealers refer to as "pop grass" Do your homework, tonight so there will be something new to work with in the morning. Oh and you and Max enjoy the sleeping arrangements"  
  
"He doesn't know a thing about me does he?" Max asked straight out. "What's sleep?"  
  
"Got me" Logan returned with a smile, folding the letter and putting it on the oak coffee table. He pulled out the six-page file from the envelope "Guess I got some reading to do so I don't look like an ass tomorrow in front of a US Senator"  
  
"You look like an ass?" Max raised her eyebrows at this "Somebody stop the world"  
  
He threw a cushion at her.  
  
Max pushed the pillow aside "You do know I have a first strike rule?"  
  
"I'll give you a first strike" Logan dropped the files on the coffee table, and "attacked" her on the couch, throwing her on her back.  
  
"Um baby" Max broke off from the kiss he gave her "I don't think this is what Jeff meant by homework"  
  
"No of course not" Logan bent low and started kissing a trail from her neck to the ending cut of fabric in her v-neck blue sweater "This is extra curricular."  
  
"You know it's homework before play" Max scolded lightly, finding it hard to keep her attention focused on the task at hand with what he was doing to her neck.  
  
"It'll get done in due time" he analyzed "Not like I'm going to sleep tonight anyway."  
  
*****   
  
U.S. SENATE PARKING GARAGE  
CAPTIOL DOME BUILDING  
WASHINGTON D.C.  
11:43 AM  
THE NEXT MORNING   
  
Logan drove the dark blue Meada into the basement entrance of the large government concrete parking garage. An MP dressed in fatigues stood at the erected gate, lowering the barricade to keep the car from entering. Even though there was a parking permit on the dash it was the MP's duty to clear every person who entered the capital building.  
  
"Morning Ma'am, Sir. Need to see some photo ID please" the soldier leaned his head inside the window.  
  
Logan pulled out his Washington State driver's license, handing it to the MP along with an ID Sebastian had made up for Max; who normally kept no documented evidence of herself because that would just be too easy to fall into the wrong hands. Even her ER records and OB files were sealed in Sam's office.  
  
The MP checked both cards, handing them back through the window, and picking up a clipboard to begin to run through a checklist that had become standard procedure after the Pulse Attack of 2009. "Do you or the lady have any weapons on you or in the car at this time Sir?"  
  
"No" Logan answered the question  
  
"In accordance with the DOD Anti-Terrorists Jurisdiction of 2010 I am authorized to issue a full vehicle and/or body search of you and your passengers should I find anything in your possession that may be a threat to United States national security. Do you have any objections to this?"  
  
"No" Logan repeated again   
  
"Have you or anyone you know been arrested for, but not limited to exploiting the Federal Government of the Untied States, or plotting and/or committing acts of terrorism on U.S. soil?"  
  
"I assure you no soldier" Logan reassured, answering the question, even though he knew it was a lie. /I wonder if harboring a known transgenic escapee from a secret government military facility counts as 'exploiting the Federal Government'/  
  
"Ma'am, same question" the MP addressed Max.  
  
"No sir." Max answered back/I also have a nice wooded area in Wyoming to show you/  
  
"And what is the purpose of this visit to the Capital?"  
  
"We have an appointment with Senator Patterson" Logan answered  
  
"Is he expecting you?" the MP asked  
  
"That's why we have an appointment" Logan pointed out again, slightly annoyed, but didn't show it, not wanting to deal with military arrest and interrogation this morning.  
  
"This is all standard procedure Sir" the MP reassured, "I know it can sometimes be an pained process to wrap your head around all the regulations, but-"  
  
"We understand Sgt." Max broke in "Rules are in place for a reason" she glanced at Logan briefly when she said this. "M16 Automatic?"  
  
"Ma'am?" the MP responded to Max's remark.  
  
"Your rifle" Max pointed out, nodding over to the black weapon that was strapped across the man's back in a holster.  
  
"Yes Ma'am" the MP agreed "Army governmental issue." he patted the butt of the rifle "You in the service?"  
  
"Use to be" Max informed  
  
"What branch?" the MP became interested in engaging a fellow soldier in some verbal exchange "Army?"  
  
"Special forces" Max stated elusively   
  
The MP looked down at his clipboard for a moment "Everything checks out," he handed Logan a sign to hang on the rear view mirror "Put this on your mirror, says you've been through the checkpoint, and don't remove it until you've cleared capital hill sanction"  
  
"Thank you Sgt." Logan took the sign from him.  
  
"Have a good day Sir" the MP responded, pushing a button the black remote control he was holding to raise the barricade.  
  
After the Meada cleared the checkpoint, Logan looked around for a place to park. Finding no available spaces on the basement level he went up to the second, and found a spot by an outer concrete wall with a sign that read:   
  
VISITOR PARKING: Must clear permit at checkpoint to park anywhere this sign is posted. Permit must be visible on dashboard at all times.   
The penalty for violation is a 300-dollar fine and possible detainment by Military Police.  
  
Max stepped out of the passenger side, "Looks like we work here or something" she remarked to Logan. "If Normal could see me now he'd die a proud man."  
  
Max's usual urban street attire wouldn't swing in the capital building, so she had donned a black single breasted pants suit, cleaned lined, but the pants were slightly longer then issued cooperate dress, ending just below the tops of her half inch healed black boots, creating a slight flair pattern. /Just because I'm in G-man capital don't mean I have to loose my style/ A grayish sliver lycra tank top peaked out from the 'V' the suit jacket made, showing a bit of Max's well tanned and toned body, but not enough to make her look like trash for hire.  
  
She admired the way Logan's suit fit him. It was a deep black, single breasted topped with a medium blue shirt and gray silk tie that matched the gray in Max's tank top. "Apparently I got myself a g-man" she gave a slight eyebrow raise.  
  
"No way" Logan disagreed "Underground's more fun" he locked the car door, opting to leave his coat inside the car because it wasn't as cool as it had been the previous night. He checked out his wife "You look great, very government issue" he realized what he had said after the words came out "I didn't mean it like that Max"  
  
Max just shrugged it off "Not a big dealio Logan, didn't do it to 'break what's left of this frail spirit" she made a light joke of it.  
  
"Frail? You?" he smiled "If that's what's left, then what was taken out?" he asked as they descended the stairs to the ground level.   
  
They walked across the concrete, which was filled with people dressed in proper business attire, most with cell phones, walking briskly as they talked. There was a grassy area that flanked the concrete entranceway, and a few tourists had spread a blanket on the grass to enjoy the nice day. Some of the travelers, and a few men in power suits were seated on the benches that lined the area where the concrete met the grass.   
  
After climbing the three levels of stairs Logan held the glass door to the Senate house open for Max   
  
"Chivalry huh?" she questioned passing through the door  
  
"You know it" Logan agreed, coming inside behind her.  
  
*****   
  
SENATE HOUSE  
WEST OFFICE WING  
OUTSIDE OFFICE OF SENATOR RICHARD PATTERSON  
11:55 AM  
  
"Senator Patterson is on a conference call, he'll be with you in one moment." Patterson's secretary informed the couple by her desk "Just have a seat please"   
  
Logan sat on the two-person leather couch that was against the wall of the room. Max slid in beside him, doing a quick check of her watch. From outside the window above the secretary's desk there was the tail end view of the Lincoln Memorial, two white structure pillars visible from the angle.  
  
Logan glanced through the files Jeff had left him. He had read them over late last night with Max, finding out more about X1 then he ever wanted to know. The drug was a hot seller on the black market, going for as much as 100 dollars a hit.   
  
"Mr. Cale" the secretary's voice broke Logan away from his reading "The senator will see you now"  
  
Logan thanked her and collected his files "Get this bitch started" he whispered to Max, borrowing her phrase as they stepped through the cherry wood door.  
  
"Senator Patterson" Logan addressed the man seated at a large oak desk in a high back black chair.  
  
"Mr. Cale" Patterson rose from his seat and came out from behind his desk. "I want to thank you for coming all the way out from Seattle. I hope it wasn't too much trouble to get here"  
  
"Not at all" Logan assured "I'm grateful for the opportunity your office has presented me." Logan shook the hand Patterson offered "Senator this is my wife Max" he introduced her.  
  
"Pleasure Mrs. Cale" Patterson smiled at Max.  
  
"I can say the same Senator Patterson" Max informed.  
  
"Well, now that the formalities are taken care off, let's get down to the nitty gritty. Please-" Patterson directed them to sit down.  
  
"Thank you" Logan replied politely, pulling up an oak chair.  
  
"Now Mr. Cale" Patterson leaned on his desk "I understand you are in close association with the president of the cyber journalist under grounder "Eyes Only"  
  
"You're understanding is correct Sir" Logan answered, "I work in very well knit quarters with Eyes Only"  
  
"How well knit are we talking about Mr. Cale?" the senator asked.  
  
"Extremely Sir" Max broke into the conversation "No information is broadcast from the Informa Net mainframe without first being cleared through him"  
  
"Are you an avid player in your husband's job Mrs. Cale?" Patterson asked her.  
  
"Try to help when I can Senator" Max asked, briefly glancing at Logan /that's the understatement of the year. Ranks right up there with Renfro was just a little bitchy/  
  
"This case" the Senator switched gears "Washington is in a very delicate situation with this. Any new drug presents a problem, but this new one, where it came from, you can understand our concern."  
  
"Has the composition been mapped out?" Logan asked, "There wasn't any sheet in the file I received"  
  
"That was my orders Sir." Patterson admitted "Sorry to hold back from you but the Department of Health was afraid of a security leak if the chemical papers left the lab. It would be too easy for someone to get a hold of the papers and make more of the drug."  
  
"From what I know there is enough of this mess already on the streets Senator" Max broke into the conversation."Street dealers are dishing it out for a hundred a pop"  
  
"Which is why I want to cut it off at the source Mrs. Cale" Patterson informed "We need to get a strangle hold on this before we see another narcotics rise like the LSD phase of the 1960's"  
  
"The term the street dealers named X1" Logan looked down at the file "pop grass-"  
  
"Most likely given because of an unfortunate side affect" Patterson sat on the end of his desk. "The drug is mostly made up of melted cocaine crystals, LSD powder and, belladonna. We're calling it X1 because it contains some kind of chemical component that acts as a catalyst with the narcotics to speed up the reactions, making it easier for users to get high. But the chemical also has a direct effect on the sensory organs, most particularly the ears. It wears away at the blood vessel that connects to the tympanic membrane, which doesn't have much of an effect after only one use except for a headache. But the chemical wears away at the vessel and after a while it ruptures-"  
  
"Makes people go deaf" Max finished for him   
  
"Does it affect both ears?" Logan asked  
  
"Depends on how hard the user is" Patterson responded "Sometimes its only one ear sometimes it's both. But the last thing America needs now is deaf citizens needing medical treatment. DOH doesn't have that kind of setup for that level of treatment. This catalyst drug isn't from anything here. I don't have its chemical make-up, but it came from non-domestic suppliers. I have been appointed by my superiors to head the research on this case, and present it at the Senate hearing. However, as you read in the memo I gave you, the case against this isn't a very strong one, and my worry is that it'll fall apart beforehand, because my position as a senator doesn't count for shit in Narcotic research, which is why I asked for outside help. All my sources indicate that Eyes Only is on top of his game, and if you work as closely with him as you claim Mr. Cale then I'd say we've got the gears going"  
  
"I agree Senator" Logan stated, "So what do you need?"  
  
"With your connections Mr. Cale you can access places that even I can't, this job comes with power but it's only as strong as the government that created it. So I need you to cross reference department files here in the Senate, and conduct any private investigations you need to, only don't go too far from Federal Government jurisdiction. Congress granted sanction for these investigations, but any thing too far off the mark and they're not covering our asses anymore. And I don't think I have to tell you what it would do to your boss's network with full exposure of a failure from the Washington press corps"  
  
"Right" Logan agreed "Then I'll get on it right away Sir"  
  
****   
  
Max pulled out her cell once she was out of the Senator's office. "Hi Rick, this is Max, from-" she paused "guess you remember. Can I talk to them? Thanks"  
  
She waited for Lucia's husband to put one of her kids on the other line.   
  
"Hey babe" she was now speaking to Jess "How ya doin'?" she smiled as he regaled her with the stories of what he did in the past day. "Sounds like fun. We'll be home in a few days baby. Yeah I miss you too-" she was about to go on with something else, when she realized she came out of Patterson's office with one less item. "Hey sweetie, talk to daddy kay? I'll call you again tonight, love you too." she handed Logan the phone, whispering "forgot the file" before heading back to where she came.  
  
*****   
  
Max stepped through the door the secretary opened for her, with a quick "Thanks" before entering the office. She spied the manila file folder on the seat of the chair where she had been sitting.  
  
"Something else Mrs. Cale?" Patterson was seated at his desk typing on his laptop, and looked up when she came in.  
  
"Just a little on the absent minded side today Senator" Max picked up the file from it's resting place, observing Patterson typing on his report, and took stock of the pictures that were on his desk. Even though she hated it, she was Manticore bred, taught to be very observant of new surroundings.   
  
Patterson caught her looking at the photos "Cute aren't they?" he stopped in his typing to look at an image of three smiling kids, two of them long haired dirty blonde haired girls with green eyes, and the other a light brown headed little boy with brown eyes. "The girls favor my wife more. Austin's the one that looks like his daddy." he glanced up at Max "You have children Mrs. Cale?"  
  
"Yes Sir" Max agreed, addressing him in almost military precision politeness. "We have one of each"  
  
Patterson's lips gave way to a tiny smile. "Bet you miss them"  
  
"As much as any other mother would Sir" Max answered back "But I'm getting by" she tucked the file closer to her body. "I gotta get going" she started to leave  
  
"One more moment of your time please ma'am" Patterson's words halted her movements. He stood up and joined her where she came back in the middle of the room. "Tonight there's going to be a charity ball in the ballroom of the Watergate, the proceeds of which are going to help the World Aids Organization, one of the only remaining charities that's still on the level. But don't let the name fool you. There will be a lot of people there I feel your husband should meet, and the members of Congress would turn the dance floor into a bull pen at the mere wiff of something dirty. I managed to get two of the last remaining tickets, and I believe it would be a great asset for you to attend, get a sense of what's going on in the big picture"  
  
"I accept the invitation Senator" Max informed "For both of us. But you might find me a little dressed down for this occasion. I don't come with much baggage when I travel, so I didn't bring anything ball room worthy"  
  
"I can take care of that Mrs. Cale," the Senator informed, heading back over to his desk and picked up his phone. "There's a Giorgio Armani boutique on 32 Ave. My wife goes there all the time for her dresses and business suits, she's on the residency board at Georgetown hospital-" as he talked he dialed the number for the store "Hello? Yes this is Senator Patterson calling, may I speak to your head of sales please?" there was a few moments of silence as Patterson waited "Yes hello. I'm sending a Mrs. Max Cale down to your store today. She will be attending the World Aids Charity ball at the Watergate tonight. Now Mrs. Cale came all the way from Seattle and this invitation was sort of last minute so she has nothing suitable-" he smiled "I agree. What?" he took a glance at Max, seemingly sizing her up "about 5'7, Hispanic descent, very long dark brown hair, beautiful-yes." pause "I appreciate that. And anything Mrs. Cale purchases, have it charged to my account. Yes thank you. Good-bye" he hung up, looking back at Max "You're all set." he paused again for a moment "I hope I didn't overstep my bounds by my remark of you ma'am"  
  
"I consider it a compliment Sir" Max reassured "And thank you, for sticking your neck out for this Sir. It was unnecessary."  
  
"Well I feel that since you flew three thousand miles you should enjoy every minute of your time here." he smiled at her, handing her a small white envelope "It starts at 6:00"  
  
*****   
  
WATERGATE HOTEL  
WASHINGTON D.C.  
5:55 PM  
  
Logan drove the Meada through the entranceway of the Watergate, driving up the manmade hill to the covered pass at the entrance to the building. A valet attendant beside the car, opening Max's door before even she could object.  
  
Logan handed him the keys, and joined his wife on the curb. He silently admired the way she looked in a floor length dark navy Chanel evening gown, the neck styled so that it hooked around the back in a halter-top fashion, enough that Max didn't have to use makeup to conceal her barcode. The bodice was covered with hand sewn glass beads that made intricate patterns of spirals. Her shoulders and back were left bare. Her long was pulled into a loose French twist with two wisps hanging down to frame the sides of her face. At home she didn't wear much make-up and tonight was no exception even at this extravagant of an event. There was just a trace of wine coloring on her lips and a touch of eye shadow and mascara.  
  
With the style of dress she was wearing Max's silver and black, slightly chunky, waterproof, sports style Fossil watch looked out of place on her wrist. It was the kind that gave military time one a smaller face inside the larger one. But to Logan it also said something about who she was, a down to earth female soldier, even under a chanel evening dress at a black tie gala. She was true to who she was, which was one of the things that first attracted her to him in the first place.  
  
"You look great" he finally voiced his admiration out loud  
  
"Since Patterson was footin' the bill, I thought what the hell" she returned in a quip. She had it in her mind to make the most of Patterson's offer, opting for the most expensive gown in the store; one that she could easily fence on the Black Market back home for enough green to help Ju-Yin buy the parts to get her clunker running; and also add a little to the bribe fund for her girl when the sector cops came by to shake the place down. Turns out the most expensive gown was a five thousand dollar fire engine red tango dress with the top and the bottom of the skirt decorated with tiny diamonds, but Max personally thought it looked too much like that hoochy number that she had worn when she and Logan had first hooked up. It had too many memories of Anselmo being all over her. Plus she wanted to look nice for this event, a little sexy, but not like a slutty whore.  
  
So she had opted for about the fifth most expensive gown, cashing in at sixteen hundred. The sales lady and the owner gushed on anything she chose because of the powerful connection she had apparently made in the city.  
  
"Hope you didn't break his account sweetheart" Logan commented when they reached the landing of the stairs.  
  
"Have I ever been a high maintenance girl?" she asked, glancing at him briefly.  
  
"I'm opting not to say anything to that," he answered, handing their tickets to the armed guard in the blue beret standing outside the hotel lobby. He really didn't want to wear a tux and look like every other g-man here, so he had chosen instead a black double-breasted suit and a dark blue vest over a white linen shirt and charcoal black silk tie; which all put together resembled a tuxedo, but was slightly more casual and a hell of a lot more comfortable.  
  
The ball was in full swing when the couple stepped through the double-sided French door entryway. Servers in white dinner jackets carried trays of Champaign among men in tuxedos and women in formal gowns, and a few female members of congress in a well-tailored business suit. There was also a fair amount of military uniforms from Army generals, decked out with their metals and bars, and some with three stars on the shoulders.  
  
"Posh" Max surveyed the scene before her, turning towards her husband "Nice to know with all the suffering in the world today the government still diverts tax dollars to these parties so their own can whoop it up because they claim they want to save stuff."  
  
"They claim it's going for a good cause" Logan agreed "But then again this is the same government that was unaware that U.S. tax dollars were also being diverted into a secret military project to make transgenic super warriors." his voice got lower at the end, because standing in a room with senators and top military personnel was not a good place to blurt out about the existence of Manticore.   
  
"So where's Patterson?" Max changed the subject, looking around for the man who invited them there.  
  
They didn't have to look for long, because soon Senator Patterson, dressed in a black tuxedo waved them over.  
  
"Some people I would like you to meet" Patterson first turned to the blonde woman on his right. "This is my lovely wife Dr. Regina Patterson, a resident with the pediatric ward at Georgetown."  
  
Regina Patterson, an attractive early thirty something blonde in a red strapless gown, smiled "My husband talks about you all the time Mr. Cale. Don't worry its all good things." she gave a laugh, which was light, but not airy, a real indication that she knew how to make a joke.  
  
"Senator Joseph Cain from Massachusetts" Patterson made the next introduction, addressing a middle-aged man, with fair skin and brown hair, which was thinning out in the back. "And Private First Class Aaron Kirkland with the Army's 95th Airborne" this time the introduction was made at a young man, not much older than Max, wearing a full army green dress uniform. His brown eyes were clearly visible with the minimal amount of crew-cut light brown hair on his head.  
  
"Pleasure ma'am" Private Kirkland addressed Max  
  
"Same Private" Max returned the greeting, her voice falling into the street style tone she used back home.  
  
Kirkland smiled at her pleasant enough, but there was a lingering look towards her, a glance that was long past the normal unspoken rule of eye contact between two strangers. It was something that would easily be missed by someone not observant of such minute changes, but with what who and what Max was, she was always one to pick up on small things.  
  
A second or two of silence passed between the transgenic solider and Boy Captain America First Class.  
  
"Your husband tells me you're on the residency board" Max broke the quiet with this remark aimed at Patterson's wife, using a diversion technique to keep the others from having time to analyze the silent exchange.  
  
It worked "I've been there three years Mrs. Cale" Regina informed "But I only just got on the board last fall, one of the senior members just became an attending so it left a spot open"  
  
"Sounds like a demanding job" Max stated  
  
"It can be at times" Regina agreed "And what do you do if you don't mind my asking?"  
  
/Well by night I kick ass, and fight off members of this whacked out breeding cult who like to mess with me 'cause I kinda came from this transgenic solider family, but by day-/ "I'm a bike messenger Dr. Patterson" Max answered, honestly, but with no trace of shame. "Pay sucks a lot of times, but I was on the streets until I was about fifteen and I needed the cash flow, small as it was. Place just kinda grew on me after a while so I stayed."  
  
"Sounds like a very interesting profession." Regina returned with this, completely sincere, not meaning it as a snub. "I wouldn't be surprised if you accidentally wind up handing off some of that damn new drug that's out now."  
  
"Regina has seen her share of addicts pass through the ER" Patterson clarified his wife's statement   
  
"At first it was just a few isolated cases" Regina went on "One or two young kids came into the ER. But then it was two more the next night. All together I've treated twelve separate cases, and it's only been two days."  
  
"What did you outline for treatments Dr. Patterson?" Logan asked  
  
"Cochlear Implants" Regina stated this to point out how much damage the drug actually did to the ear. "But most of the patients were street level addicts with no means of funds to afford such an expensive hearing aid. Nothing I could do but bandage them up and send them to the free clinics for antibiotics, but it's a time game with how long deaf addicts will survive on the streets."  
  
*****   
  
Max had moved out on the veranda, stepping over the marble floor, the heels of her shoes making a soft "clunk" where she stepped. A soft breeze tossed the loose tendrils of her hair.   
  
The dome of the Capitol building was visible in the sky, and the waters of the Potomac River magnified the sounds of the nightly rush hour.  
  
Logan was still inside to snag some Champaign. In reality he was doing people surveying, wanting to hear different opinions on this new drug wave. Max had decided on the change of scenery the veranda offered, wanting to do her own surveying on the layout of the building.  
  
Max turned from looking at the view because she had a sensation someone was watching her. Her gaze quickly settled on the form of Private Kirkland leaning against the railing about four feet away from her, to the right of where she was standing. He wasn't staring at her, but she got the distinct impression he had followed her out there.  
  
"Came out for the air Private?" she called him on his motives, wanting to see if her assumptions were correct on what he was doing out here.  
  
Kirkland turned slightly to face her "Mrs. Cale" his voice was innocent, like he had just now realized that she was there. "Actually yes. I'm not too big on confinement indoors." he took a step towards her. "Always feel like a trapped bird, like a raven in a cage not being allowed to prowl"   
  
Max looked at him funny for this, because it was an odd analogy to give for just a simple question about taking a breather.  
  
"I have a unique way of thinking about things" Kirkland sensed her uneasiness from his statement. He slid his hands into his army issued pockets. "If you don't mind me saying so ma'am, how'd a good looker like you get mixed up with this Eyes Only fanatic?" after he said this he gave her a look that wasn't exactly a roaming one, but defiantly one that let her know he was checking her out.  
  
At the word "fanatic" Max immediately became defensive /boy that's my man you're talkin' about/ "The Informa Net does good work in Seattle Private" she called him on his military status with emphasis in a display of hostility to what he just said. "Eyes Only wants to help, there is no fanaticism"  
  
Private Kirkland effectively shut up about it after that, dropping the subject for whatever reason; somehow seeing her as a competitor with a game equal to his. "I apologize ma'am" the military crispness in his voice put Max's to shame.  
  
Max didn't respond to his statement. There was no reply she could give that wouldn't have its fair share of cursing.  
  
Thankfully Logan joined her a few seconds later before Max had the chance to test her theory.  
  
"Here's to the cause" Logan held up his Champaign flute, saluting to the toast he just thought up.  
  
"Make it sound like we're on a crusade" Max drank half of the light colored Champaign in one breath.  
  
"We're fighting for a purpose" Logan remarked to her statement. He turned to the view Max had been taking in before her meeting with Private Kirkland. "Place is one of the few I've seen that seems almost unaffected by the Pulse" he sipped again from the flute in his hand.  
  
Max stepped closer to him, close enough to his body that only an inch of space existed between them to let the cool wind blow through. "The broken effect is still there" she rested her right hand on the rail "They just do a better job at covering it up"  
  
Max's view suddenly became not to her liking, and in a full length evening dress, she jumped over the veranda's railing to sit atop it's ivory surface, her feet clad in black stiletto healed sandals dangling freely in the thirty or so odd feet to the ground. "But if you look close enough" she continued on the same topic she had been on before her graceful maneuver "you can still see it, just takes a little longer."  
  
"Think people like that concept" Logan again stepped closer to his wife, admiring the way she was so at ease on the railing, like a cat on a back alley fence. "If they can't see the broken parts then they can believe they don't exist"  
  
"Their reality check" Max turned to face him, placing one arm behind her back to support her weight so she wouldn't fall.   
  
"Speaking of reality" Logan went in another direction "Patterson's wife got paged when I was inside to handle another case of "pop grass" ingestion."  
  
"Guess these people don't have off nights" she turned her body back around so that now her legs were above the veranda floor.  
  
"Apparently not" he agreed "I mean not when there's snorting to be had"  
  
She smiled at his choice of words "Maybe we should pay her a visit while we're here. Get a up close angle on this mess"  
  
"You read my mind" Logan agreed  
  
*****  
  
SALAZAR DRUG CIRCLE  
WASHINGTON D.C.  
8:30 PM  
  
"Yeah man" Pico Salazar spoke into his silver wireless sitting at one of the tables set up for his "business" in the abandoned warehouse  
  
"Got a shipment coming in tonight" he leaned back into the aluminum-folding chair. "Good?" he laughed at the man on the other line "Man shit's the extreme." he listened for a few seconds "Deals legit boy. Meet up tonight behind Lincoln aiight?" Salazar made sure his courier understood where he was going "Aiight" he repeated again before hanging up.  
  
He pocketed the wireless before returning to his previous task, filling small baggies with crystal meth to distribute at his Georgetown hang.  
  
*****   
  
HYATT REGENCY   
1:02 AM  
  
Max quietly zipped up her black leather jacket, grabbing her black leather gloves from her overnight bag. She kept the light off, using her night vision to see in the dark so she wouldn't wake up Logan. She moved to silently sit on the bed after she had pulled on her shoes. She stuck a hand written note on the mahogany end table by the bed, much like Logan had done to her when he had left early to play basketball. The note simply read:  
  
Went on the prowl to scope out some of the monuments baby.  
I'm on foot and I'll behave myself if D.C. does  
  
Max  
  
She kissed his neck on the spot where a barcode existed on her own before climbing off the bed and leaving through the front door.  
  
*****   
  
LINCOLN MEMORIAL  
1:34 AM  
  
The hotel was centrally located for all the museums and monuments, making it not that far of a trek to the memorial of President Lincoln, plus with Max's tracking ability she managed to get their faster then the average pedestrian. She was thankful for the late hours, which meant minimal people out except for those who only came out late to work.   
  
She cut across the grass to the entranceway to the Lincoln Memorial glad to be out of view of the road. In the last twenty minutes she had to politely refuse three cabbies offering her a lift, and reassuring them that she could take care of herself, and knew full well of the dangers D.C. posed to lone women wandering the streets so late at night.   
  
Her shoes were noiseless as she ascended the white steps to Lincoln Memorial. The large pillars that held up the structure stood like a surreal forest of concrete. Max stepped through the gap in them created as they gave way to the entrance, coming to a stop before the engraved statue of Lincoln sitting in the vast chair.  
  
She silently read the inscription at the base of the statue, paying quiet respect to the slain president. Her soft footfalls now were the only noise that sounded in her ears as she slowly walked around the expanse of the memorial to take all of it in. She finally completed her circle and stood once again at the erected statue of Lincoln.  
  
"Would've been coo' to meet you" she spoke to the statue, and Lincoln offered her quiet silence in return.  
  
The calm atmosphere that the memorial brought was changed when her heightened sense of hearing picked up the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs to the monument.  
  
/Who the hell comes out here this late? I mean besides me with my lack of needing sleep/ Quiet voices now echoed slightly through the open area of the structure.  
  
"Glad you showed" one voice grew louder as whoever it was drew closer to where Max stood.  
  
Without a sound Max climbed up the statue, moving higher until she finally came to a spot where she could shield herself behind Lincoln's right arm /Don't mean any disrespect, just not many other places to lay low/ Max pressed herself on her stomach, keeping her hearing on alert to find out exactly what was going down.  
  
"Bring what I ask?" the same voice as before asked  
  
Whoever he was transacting with didn't talk, but Max's ears picked up the sounds of a zipper being open. With cautious movements she lifted her head in time to see a lanky Hispanic looking man with a goatee peer into a blue duffel bag.  
  
"Looks good," the man informed the other tossing him a paper bag "eight double zero's, what we agreed on."  
  
Max honed in her vision to see the other man checking a rubber-banded stack of twenties that he had pulled out of the paper bag.  
  
"Keep it comin' boy and the green will still be rollin'" the first man stated, before turning and heading out of the memorial, presumably to his car.  
  
Max watched him leave, also keep one eye on the man's buddy. She watched him go the same way as the other before he disappeared from her range of vision. She wondered where the hell he went for about ten seconds before she felt the blow of something hard knocking her in her side, throwing her off balance. She had just enough time to grab a hold of the statue before she fell, her earlier maneuver angling her body so that she landed hard on her feet on the concrete floor.  
  
She didn't have time to process what had just happened before she was thrown to the ground by the same man she had lost sight of leaving the memorial.  
  
"Hell kinda first impression is that?" Max rebounded from the blow, facing her adversary, who like herself was dressed all in black, a ski mask shielding his face from view. "You and your buddy don't do the day job thing huh?" she side kicked him throwing him on his back.  
  
The man rebounded with amazing ability, throwing a punch at Max, who dodged it expertly.  
  
"Might actually survive my ass kicking" Max informed her unknown competitor "Still gonna make you scamper away in the night with your tail between yo' legs"   
  
The man caught her leg before she could kick him and with hard force he threw her back into the statue.  
  
Max felt the impact of the granite smack into the side of her head. The blow caused her to slide down the statue's base, too dazed to get back up. She felt rather than heard the man approach. His fist connected with her body, and with the effect of the other attack, it was enough to engulf her in blackness.  
  
*****   
  
He looked at the woman he had just knocked out. She had been spying on him and Salazar; he had sensed her when he was leaving. But there was something about her. She wasn't just some girl off the street, she had put up a hell of a fight; they didn't teach moves like that in a damn self defense class.  
  
/Girl's almost my match/ he knelt down next to her, wanting to find something out. He started to lift up her hair when the sound of a car reached his ears.  
  
*****  
  
Logan parked the Meada on the curb. After reading Max's message, he had gone back to sleep since it wasn't uncommon for her to go prowling at night. But then a few minutes later he was wide awake with a strange sense that he needed to go check on her. At first he shrugged it off. Max was a super soldier after all, she could handle herself; but something kept nagging him. So he finally gave in. She had said she was going to check out the monuments, and he had already been to The Wall, the Washington Monument, and The Jefferson Memorial with no luck.  
  
He climbed out of the car and locked it with the keyless remote. /Probably sitting on Lincoln's lap thinking, good substitute for the Needle/ He started to climb the stairs when someone smacked into him going the other way.  
  
/Where the hell's he going to in such a hurry?/ Something tickled his hand. He pulled back, finding a hair stuck to his leather jacket. It was long, brown, defiantly not his /Probably Max's/ He looked closer for some reason this time noticing a faint trace of blood near the hair shaft.  
  
"Max" he spoke these words just as a dark colored Camero pulled into the street. He ran up the stairs, taking them in twos.  
  
"Max" he called her name again, before he found her on the ground.   
  
She was lying motionless on her side, slumped against the base of Lincoln's statue. A gash an inch long was opened across her scalp, oozing blood. Logan was relieved to note that she was still breathing, but was worried that she still made no attempt to get up.   
  
"Baby it's me" he gently shook her; being extremely careful, not knowing the force of the blow she had suffered. Head injuries were nothing to mess around with, even with hyped up Manticore genes. "You gotta wake up"  
  
After getting no response he tried again "C'mon Max, don't you dare crap out on me"  
  
"Logan?" this time he got a response from his wife as she came back into consciousness, opening her eyes to half slits. "What are you doin' here? Damn" she broke off to curse at the pain in her head. "Feels like I got hit with the moon stick"  
  
"Just lie still for a second sweetheart" he ordered gently "What happened?"  
  
"There were these two guys hangin' round here. Doin' a transaction, think for "P.G." one of them got a lil pissy for me listenin' in"  
  
"What did he hit you with?" Logan asked, taking in the information she gave him.  
  
"Nuthin' cept his body" she answered, "Bitch was when he landed me against Honest Abe" she grabbed a hold of her head with one hand and sat up.  
  
"Slowly" Logan helped her into a sitting position, one hand behind her neck, directly over her barcode hidden by the collar of her leather jacket "Follow my finger." he held out his free hand in front of her.  
  
"You my MD now?" she made a light joke as she did what he said  
  
"Do you know who the President is?" Logan asked a question to test her lucidity.  
  
"Hilary Clinton's half baked friend McKimson" she answered  
  
"You know who you are?" he let go of her neck, resting his hand on her leg  
  
"An idiot for letting some low life nail me one, when I'm the one with the hyper active soldier genes" she returned, looking him in the eye "Everything check out doc?"  
  
"Good as can be expected" he returned, "I'd ask, but I already know a doctor's out"  
  
"Defiantly" Max agreed "Ya know, exposure and all." she touched the laceration on her scalp, wincing slightly "don't feel too deep. Probably can just butterfly it, hotel should have a kit"  
  
"You also should be watched for a few hours. Ya know make sure nothing broke upstairs, but I think I can do as good a job as a doctor at Georgetown."  
  
"Man of a thousand faces" Max stated, pulling herself on her feet.  
  
Logan put a hand on her shoulder to steady her "Can you make to the car on your own?"  
  
"Think so" she informed. But as if to prove her wrong she tripped going down the stairs.  
  
Logan caught her by the elbow "How about I get your back just in case?" he held an arm across her shoulders, helping guide her down the rest of the way to the parked car.  
  
*****   
  
HYATT REGENCY  
1:55 AM  
  
"You sure that's all you need Sir?" the night desk clerk came in the room with the first aid kit from the lobby. He took in the young woman seated on the bed holding a wet rag to her scalp. "If your wife needs a doctor I could call a cab to Georgetown-"  
  
"It's good Sir" Max reassured him herself "I just tripped going down the parking garage stairs. It's nothing really" she switched the rag to a clean section, scalp lacerations tended to bleed a lot because of the close proximity of the blood vessels to the skin.  
  
The clerk still looked uneasy at Max's reassurance, but had to take her at her word, mainly because he needed to get back to the desk because he was the only one who worked it this late at night. He dropped the hefty first aid kit on the sofa and left the room.  
  
Logan headed over to the metal box after the door closed, lifting the aluminum lid to reveal scords of first aid tape, bandages, gauzes, splints, and even a few hypodermic insulin needles. After a few seconds of searching he unearthed a small pack of preformed butterfly bandages, and headed over to where Max was now sitting on the over stuffed burgundy sofa.  
  
"How's the headache?" he sat down next to her.  
  
"Don't feel like I'm gonna explode anymore" she turned to face him slightly "Been down graded to an ache I felt the time an X7 kicked me in the head with his combat boots on." She took the four 200 mg Tylenol tablets he gave her, downing them all with a half glass of water.  
  
"Don't ever tell me this X7's whereabouts Max" he wiped of the dried blood that had coagulated on her scalp. "Cause if I find him I'll kick his transgenic ass." He didn't even raise his voice when he said this, but there was a quiet fierceness to his tone.  
  
"Last time I saw him I was nine, and that was only long enough to kick me in the head" Max engaged him in his change of conversation, "He got called by Deck for bad execution." She was silently pleased at Logan's sudden stint into badass territory. Made her feel good to know he had her back that much.   
  
"Guess whoever nailed you tonight didn't have that problem" Logan applied the last bandage.  
  
"Life's a bitch sometimes" Max came back, flinching as he smoothed the bandage adhesive to her skin.  
  
Logan didn't respond to that remark "Done" he pulled his hands back from her face.  
  
Max felt along her skin at her husband's handy work. "Not bad" a second of silence "But you forgot to kiss it and make it better"  
  
Logan offered a smile in response before kissing her lightly on the forehead where the butterfly bandages were. "Better?"  
  
"Should become AMA certified," she answered, before he kissed her for real.  
  
The kiss grew passionate. But Logan pulled back when he felt her hands sliding under the back of his sweater. "Sorry baby, but I don't think you're up for this tonight."  
  
With any other guy Max would be pissed off at being told what she was up for, but Logan was right. She undoubtedly had a minor concussion, and he was just looking out for her well-being. "I'll stop if you will" this wasn't as easy as it sounded.  
  
"I'm stopping" Logan pulled her hands down from his shoulders, kissing her quickly on the mouth. /She's tired and hurt/ he calmed his rise down /She's your wife, not like she's up and leaving after tonight/  
  
"Bathroom" Max spoke one word before heading through its entrance on the left side of the room. Once in there she splashed some water on her face to cool off. /Damn looser screwin' up my evening./ She pushed her damp fingers through her hair and exited the bathroom, unzipping her leather jacket on the way out.  
  
"Surprised no one asked about the ensemble" Max pulled the jacket and leather pants off her body, standing in her lingerie only long enough to slip back into the white tank top and gray drawstring PJ bottoms she had been wearing before she left the hotel.  
  
"Can't say that I blame them," Logan informed "A beautiful woman wearing all black leather, who would complain?"   
  
She gave him a slight look before climbing onto the bed, sitting cross-legged near the center atop the rumpled sheets and comforter. "Bugs me that I have no idea who I was fighting with tonight, under that ski-mask he could've been Shaft and I wouldn't have known it."  
  
"The fact that he handed you your ass means he had skills in fighting." Logan pointed out. "Think it could be one of White's Familiars?"  
  
"He didn't beat down the way I've seen White's freaks do, it was almost matched."  
  
"So we're looking for someone about like you," Logan concluded.  
  
"Means there might be some pissed off lil transgenic running around D.C?"  
  
"It's possible," he agreed  
  
"There goes the vacation." She sighed  
  
"Right now I'd settle for some sleep" Logan looked at her "Think you could use some too."  
  
"Since when do I sleep?" she asked straight out, a yawn contradicting her question "Okay maybe for a lil bit" she agreed.  
  
"You're right about that." Logan looked at the alarm clock reading "2:15" "Senator Patterson put in a call to Lt. Mark Walsburn, one of the co-heads of bio and chemical warfare at the Pentagon, which apparently has some information on where this drug came from. Military officials are keeping a stranglehold on this case themselves because one of theirs brought up the term "bio-warfare" and scared this shit out of some of the higher ranks."  
  
"What time does he want to meet up?" Max asked, arranging the pillows behind her back.  
  
"9:00 Apparently Lt. Walsburn has to over see test runs of some covert operation in Nellis AFB tommorow afternoon."  
  
"Did you know in 2008 Deck sent an X unit to the Pentagon to take out one of the Generals? He was one of Deck's old CO's when he when he was in the Army and he needed to make sure the General didn't talk about why the Cornel never came back from one of his cover assignments" Max said this in an almost perfectly executed detached voice, almost.  
  
"Did they succeed?" Logan was surprised at Max's declaration. Not that for one second he believed that Manticore soldiers didn't have the capability to break into the Pentagon, even with all its high security. He just wondered why she never mentioned it before now.  
  
Max shook her head "Mission was aborted due to error-"/FLASH: The structure of the Pentagon was dark and luminous. MP's stood poised at the front entrance and at the metal detectors.  
  
Perched on the roof were three of the X series chosen to undertake this mission. The others were on the ground level, watching until General Ryad came out of his chauffeured car and entered the base. The MP at the entrance held the door open for the General, saluting him as he went inside.  
  
The X sniper on the roof took aim with the laser sighted M16 automatic. But before the shooter could squeeze off one of the MP's picked up on a noise and took aim with his gun.  
  
The shot rang out from the snipers gun, missing the General, but hitting the MP guarding him. Other MP's rushed to the area, shouting out orders.  
  
"Abort" an X5 on the ground called into the receiver in her ear "Target is a miss"  
  
A soldier, an X7 ignored the remark, dropping to the ground from his black rope about ten feet from the MP's, flying by him to take the MP's gun. Two shots rang out this time hitting the General and the second MP.  
  
"Abort the mission soldier," the X5 sniper ordered to the X7, sliding down her rope to the Pentagon's ground floor "You'll get us all killed"  
  
"I completed the mission" X7-241 spat back "We were not suppose to fail"  
  
"Leave his weapon, lessen the suspicion," the X5 returned  
  
The X7 suddenly executed a lock hold on the other soldier "You off centered your aim soldier, and it compromised the mission. You will be dealt with at base." He released the X5 and left the building, hearing the sounds of backup enter the Pentagon.  
  
All X series regrouped thirty minutes later at the Black Hawk hidden in the Virginia forests.  
  
"X5-452" Col. Lydecker's voice reached the intercom on the helicopter "Success of mission?"  
  
"Negative Sir" 452 replied into the mouthpiece "Target is down, but so are two unintended, bullet ricoched."   
  
"Pack it up at return to base." Lydecker ordered, malice in his voice "You will be dealt with on this matter upon touch down soldier"  
  
"Yes Sir" it was all 452 could say.  
  
The helicopter lifted off the ground and left D.C. air space, and headed for Gillette/   
  
Logan noticed how Max's eyes changed when she said this, as if she were re-living in another time, most likely a memory from her less then normal childhood.  
  
Max caught him looking at her "Guess we should sleep then, got an early morning"  
  
Logan didn't say anything, not wanting to push this issue with her tonight. He switched off the light and lay down beside her.  
  
*****   
  
PENTAGON  
WASHINGTON D.C.  
8:45 AM  
  
Max and Logan came through the glass door entrance of the Pentagon, two people admits about a hundred others, all moving around in typical military pace.  
  
Max took in the military base. Almost nothing had changed since that night. She could remember exactly where everyone had been positioned. Before she came inside she caught sight of the vantage point she had been at as the sniper of the mission.  
/FLASH: Max loaded the bullets into the M16, laying flat on a stairwell near the roof, dressed in all black. Two bullets went into the barrel, one main one for the single, fatal shot, but one other for back up./  
  
Her eyes fell to the Pentagon's official seal painted on the floor /FLASH: the crimson red blood from the general and the downed MP's covered a portion emblem painted on the floor. X7-241 quickly placed the M16 in the dead MP's hand, careful not to leave bloody tracks in the puddle.  
  
Max watched him, ready to move out to the hidden helicopter, hearing the sounds of more soldiers coming./  
  
Max handed her cell to the MP at the metal detector, and headed through the device, which still beeped when she passed through it.  
  
"One moment ma'am" the MP ordered, halting her with his hand "Do you have anything else metal on you?"  
  
The alarm had been triggered by the Red Series implant embedded in Max's neck; but she couldn't very well tell the solider that. "I was in a motorcycle accident a year ago, had to have a pin put in my radius."   
  
"Oh, okay then" the MP believed her lie. He couldn't very well X-ray her on the spot, some things he had to take at people's word. "You're clear then ma'am" he gave her back her phone.  
  
After Logan went through the metal detector he turned to the MP "Sgt. Did Senator Patterson come in yet? We have an appointment with him and Lt. Walsburn-"  
  
"Senator Patterson? Yes-" the MP interrupted with the answer. "He should be in the Lieutenant's office. Take the elevator to the second floor, go left, and Lt. Walsburn's office is the fifth one on the right."  
  
"Thanks" Logan took back his phone and his keys when the MP handed them to him.  
  
"Motorcycle accident?" he teased Max once they were out of the MP's earshot.  
  
"Better then tellin' the truth how I nearly blew my brains out" she returned as they reached the elevator.  
  
Logan went silent for a moment, thinking about how close she had come to dying, sticking that implant in her neck to save Cindy's life. He'll never forget the feeling of having to blow more then 200 volts of electricity into her to short circuit the device, or how it took nearly five and a half of some of the longest hours in Logan's life for her to wake up from the shock.  
  
The elevator dinged open, and the pair got on with about six other people. The doors soon opened again on the second floor, and Max brushed passed a Navy Captain in full dress uniform, completely ignoring the way he checked her out when she got off the elevator.  
  
/Pricks in every branch/ Max's half inch healed black boots clicked on the floor as the couple headed down the hall until they reached Lt. Walsburn's office.  
  
"Can I help you folks?" they were greeted by the Lieutenant's secretary, a Staff Sergeant in an army dress uniform who was sitting behind a cherry wood desk.  
  
"Senator Patterson set up an appointment for us with him and Lt. Walsburn for nine this morning"  
  
"Your name?" the Sgt. Spoke out   
  
"Cale" Logan responded and waited for the Sgt. to verify it.  
  
"Here you are" the Sgt. announced, finding the name "The Senator and the Lieutenant are expecting you, go on in."  
  
"Thanks" Logan stated  
  
"You're welcome Sir." He responded "Ma'am" the Sgt. went on, addressing Max out of politeness as she passed his desk.  
  
"Mr. Cale you made it" Patterson greeted Logan with this when he opened the door to Walsburn's office. The senator was standing beside the Lieutenant's desk, and the man himself was in front of his oak wood furniture, in his uniform, minus the hat.  
  
"Lt. Walsburn let me introduce you to Logan Cale one of the trench diggers in this case; and his charming wife Max."  
  
"Mr. Cale" Walsburn shook Logan's hand "Appreciate you're work on this" a pause  
"Mrs. Cale, a pleasure as well" Walsburn's eyes moved up to the bandage on Max's forehead. "Forgive me for staring ma'am-"  
  
"Had a moment of awkwardness last night Lieutenant, nothing to write home about"  
Max reassured him  
  
Walsburn smiled a this "Charming and sharp, a dangerous combination. But D.C. can never have enough of that." a pause "Well Mr. And Mrs. Cale, take a seat and the Senator and I will brief you on the information we've obtained"   
  
After Max and Logan were seated Lt. Walsburn began speaking again. "There had been a development of new information on Narcotic X1. Further evidence now suggests that this drug was almost certainly manufactured domestically"  
  
"That's a big feat in funds for that kind of supply and demand" Max spoke out   
  
"That's correct ma'am" Lt. Walsburn agreed "Lab manufacturing doesn't come cheap, but if an individual were to present the right figures to a few techs, they might be tempted to engage."  
  
"What about the catalyst Lieutenant?" Logan asked "Senator Patterson said DOH believed it to be non-domestic"  
  
"The assumptions of the DOH would appear correct Mr. Cale" Lt. Walsburn agreed "Hell I believed it for a time, but some new digging into this drug's back drop brought up the name of a South African chemist who has had credentials here on US soil for the past thirty years. So it could be possible that the replication for this drug started across the Atlantic, but the manufacturing is all American. What with the Pulse and all everyone's trying to make a little extra money."  
  
"Do you have the name of the chemist on hand?" Logan asked after hearing the Lieutenant's information.  
  
Walsburn answered his question by handing him a folded piece of paper. Logan opened it to see a single name written on Lt. Walsburn's official stationary.  
  
"Kind of an old fashioned delivery method, but we can't run the risk of people hacking into this information" Lt. Walsburn sat on the end of his desk "Keep that as close to you as you keep your wife Mr. Cale" a looked passed between Max and Logan as the Lieutenant said this.  
  
"You have backgrounds on him?" Max asked after a few seconds had elapsed.  
  
"No ma'am" Walsburn informed, "As I said this is a new development so we haven't been able to run a full check on them. Got two of our intelligence officers working on it now. You and your husband are welcome to do your own digging. This being the computer age and all, sure this knowledge is everywhere if you know where to look"  
  
Max looked over Logan's shoulder at the names of the scientist Lt. Walsburn had written there.  
  
Deret Mecheetah  
  
There was something about the name "Mecheetah" that seemed familiar to Max, but she couldn't quite pinpoint where she remembered it from.  
  
"Is there anyway to get in touch with your intelligence officers?" Logan asked Walsburn "Kinda get an idea on how far they've come?"  
  
"It would require you being iris scanned for security measures and added to the department's lists of entrees, but I think the protocol can be met easily" the Lt. Informed.  
  
*****   
  
PENTAGON OFFICES OF MILITARY INTELLIGENCE  
THIRD FLOOR  
  
"Look straight into the device, no blinking" Captain Mara Reinhardt typed a few clicks on her keyboard, waiting as the iris scan completed on Logan. She typed in the blank data field for the new entry.  
  
Reinhardt then began to do a background on Dr. Mecheetah. An official file came up a few seconds later.  
  
"Deret Mecheetah-" Capt. Reinhardt read the information brought up on the computer monitor "Immigrated from Ghanti, South Africa in May of 99. Citizen the US since August 2000. Resident of the state of Maryland. Biochemist in the field of genetic research. Official operation 112"  
  
Max's senses perked at the words the captain was saying. She drew closer to the computer screen.  
  
"Think we have a hit" Capt. Rodgers notified the group   
  
Max's eyes finally settled on the file photo of Dr. Mecheetah, and she finally realized where she remembered his name from.  
  
/FLASH: The three doctors entered through the steel door, dressed in surgical gowns, caps and masks. One of them, the head geneticist approached the child strapped to the exam table.  
  
The male doctor peered at the girl, only five years old, wearing a thin blue hospital gown. She was tied down in arm restraints with six tiny electrodes strapped to her head to record brain wave patterns. "Let's start of with three injections of the level two series."  
  
Another doctor silently handed his collogue, Dr. Deret Mecheetah three pre-filled syringes, inserting one of them directly into the girl's auditory canal at the back of her inner ear. He waited after the injection was made, observing as the girl's expression became pained, trying to rip off her restraints to grip her head at the sudden extreme pressure in her ears.  
  
After about another minute she eased up, and Dr. Mecheetah took out an otoscope, placing the device in her ear. "Tympanic tissue is intact," he observed as one of the other doctors made a note of it "No signs of bleeding or other trauma. Proceed with the next injection-"/  
  
"Scuse me" Max turned and brushed past the officers, stepping out into the hall, leaning against the wall that faced away from the two large windows looking into the Intelligence office.  
  
"Is she okay?" Capt. Reinhardt looked to Logan, curious as to Max's sudden departure.  
  
"Yeah" Logan reassured "She's just not too big on confined spaces" he left the office to find out where she went.  
  
"Max" he spotted her standing in hall, leaning against the wall. "What is it?" he sensed something wasn't right.  
  
"Mecheetah-" Max tried to explain to him what she was feeling right now, but her brain wasn't working with her mouth.  
  
"What about him?" Logan broke in, trying to get her going on what she was wanting to say.  
  
"I remember him" she went on in a simple statement.  
  
"From Manticore?" Logan asked another question  
  
She nodded "He was one of the geneticists on base. Gave us body building injections every week, make sure all the transgenic stuff we had wasn't goin' haywire"  
  
"You sure he's the same one?" Logan didn't want question her judgment, but there must've been tons of doctors on that base.  
  
"Operation 112" Max answered with this statement "Manticore sometimes needed the expertise of other officials, geneticists, chemists, sometimes had to go through main channels to bring the people in. 112 was the cover-up to put on their official transcripts. Name of a side project Dr. Vertes had going, using synthetic DNA injections to treat children with genetic abnormalities. How Manticore got some of it's funding when their own green got a little seedy. Investors thought it was for the children." She looked at him "Never forget a face"  
  
"So maybe we should track this guy down"  
  
"Be the best bet" Max agreed "Sorry for going AWOL"  
  
Logan put his hand on her shoulder "It's okay to stand down once in a while"  
  
The office door opened, revealing Capt. Reinhardt "Got some bad news on Dr. Mecheetah"  
  
Logan turned towards the Captain "What is it?"  
  
"He's dead" Reinhardt watched the civilians' expressions change "Shot execution style at his high rise apartment three days ago"  
  
*****   
  
2:20 PM  
  
"Bitch just keeps getting harder" Max looked out at the cars coming to a stand still in D.C rush hour. "Say whoever killed Dr. Mecheetah is the one continuing to market his work"  
  
"But if what you say about him is true, then the average street dealer wouldn't know where this stuff comes from" Logan pointed out in the seat beside her.  
  
"Maybe it's not the average street dealer" Max argued "Might be someone with trade ties to Manticore"  
  
"That might explain how this catalyst drug is still on the market. Which means we've got less then twenty four hours to build up a case against this guy, whoever he is, and a drug from a top secret base that on any official channels doesn't even exist, and present this all with Patterson at the sub committee hearing tomorrow"   
  
"Hey a lot can happen in 24 hours" Max argued   
  
Logan turned to her "So how do we play this?"  
  
"Say we do some recon with Patterson's wife, might come across someone who got strung out on the stuff, friend who knows a friend who knows the courier"  
  
"It's not likely they'll divulge to total strangers about where they get their fix" Logan informed  
  
"Will with the right kind of persuasion" Max stated straight out  
  
*****   
  
GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER  
EMERGENCY ROOM  
3:30 PM  
  
"What's his BP?" Dr. Patterson asked while checking the young man on the gurney with a stethoscope. He had been stabbed in the arm, which was seeping out blood from the gauze tapped to them  
  
"180/70" an ER nurse answered her question, sticking an otoscope into the kid's ears  
"Dr. Patterson, I'm seeing corrosion to the tympanic membranes"  
  
Patterson came around to the nurses' side and looked through the instrument she was holding. "Run a tox screen, and let's do a blood work up"  
  
"More pop grass junk?" the nurse asked a question  
  
"Yeah" Patterson agreed "Looks like it" she spotted Logan in the hall outside the exam room "Start him on 20 cc's of saline and let's get an Ear, Nose and Throat guy down here to take a look at this" she came out of the room via the double doors, stopping in front of Logan.  
  
"Mr. Cale" Dr. Patterson removed her protective goggles and placed them atop her head "Is there something I can help you with?"  
  
Logan didn't answer right away, looking into the hustle of the ER "Is that a pop grass case?"  
  
"Looks like it" Patterson agreed "He came in for a stab wound, some sort of back alley brawl, one of the nurses found the same wound patterns we've seen before"  
  
"Did he tell you where he got it from?" Max asked  
  
Patterson shook her head "We're still trying to get his name out of him"  
  
Max looked at the man through the doors, not really a man, a kid, about seventeen  
"Probably doesn't want to get rode for breaking out his dealers name"  
  
"Bet your right" Patterson informed "All the cases we've had from this drug are all kids, all keeping their mouths shut for whatever reasons, fear of exposure, having their supply taken away if the dealer is arrested. They are actually the closest ones we have to catching the main man whose been funding this, and we can't get anywhere with them"  
  
"Did your husband ever mention Dr. Deret Mecheetah?" Logan asked  
  
"Once" Patterson answered, "Last night, he told me about his murder, but he wasn't too well known to me, even when he was here-"  
  
"He was on staff at Georgetown?" Logan interrupted  
  
Patterson shook her head "He mostly worked in the labs, but yeah he was here for about two months, then he said he got some offer from a private medical company, to go and work for them"  
  
"Then his file should be in your system" Logan said  
  
"Normally it is" Patterson corrected "But because of the murder investigation all records of him have been submitted to the local PD as evidence. Your best bet would be there"  
  
*****   
  
43RD PRECINCT  
WASHINGTON D.C.  
4:30 PM  
  
"Dr. Deret Mecheetah-" Det. James Carmichael read the open case file on Mecheetah's death "Twenty year citizen of the U.S. after immigrating from South Africa. Doctor of genetics, unmarried, no children, found in his Maryland apartment shot once very cleanly in the back of the head, most likely from a small automatic hand gun" The Det. sat down at his desk.  
  
"Pentagon worker claims it was execution style-" Max brought up  
  
"Looks to be " Carmichael "There was a sign of a break in, but no finger prints were found at the scene. The lock had been picked by very precise and precision tools, all done with very little noise. Whoever murdered the doctor knew exactly what he was doing"  
  
"Did they take anything?" Logan asked  
  
"That's the shitty part, they took nothing to cause a paper trail. They only came to assonate the doctor, and that's all that they did" Carmichael answered "We got squat" he looked at Logan apologetically "I'm sorry we're not able to give you anything in time for that hearing tomorrow"  
  
"Worth a shot" Logan reassured  
  
*****   
  
"Tick tick" Max looked to her husband once they were in the halls of the police station "Go time's gettin' closer and everything's dead ending"  
  
"Excuse me ma'am" a police officer pushed past Max with a handcuffed man in front of him. The arrestee took a moment to look Max up and down  
  
/FLASH: "Eight double zeros" Salazar threw the cash at the nameless man "what we agreed on"/  
  
"Hey," Max's voice halted the police officer's movement "Where's your friend?"  
She stepped closer to the man  
  
Salazar scoped her out "Girl you could be my friend-" he was cut off when Max locked her hand around his neck  
  
"You made an exchange at the Lincoln Memorial with some MIB courier" she stared him down, completely ignoring his lewdness "Who was it?"  
  
The officer with Salazar yanked him away from Max's death grip "Back it off!" he looked to Max "What is this about?"  
  
Salazar ignored the officer "Girl even if I KNEW, I wouldn't tell you shit-"  
  
"So he didn't leave his card?" Max went on "How you suppose to connect with him when ya runnin' low?"  
  
"Dealers have to keep things DL bitch" Salazar spat back "He gets in touch with ME, I go where he sets it up. Boy's like the army, all bout secrecy"  
  
The word 'army' caught Max's attention for some reason  
  
/"And Private First Class Aaron Kirkland with the Army's 95th Airborne" Patterson introduced Max to the young soldier/   
  
/FLASH: "How'd a good looker like you get mixed up with this Eyes Only fanatic?" Private First Class Kirkland threw this out at her/  
  
/FLASH: "Always felt like a trapped bird, like a raven in a cage not being allowed to prowl"/   
  
"Better not be lying to me" she growled to Salazar, releasing his neck and storming out of the hall.  
  
Logan started to follow her, but at the last second turned back to punch Salazar across the face and slam his back into a wall "Don't you EVER call my wife a bitch again, understand?" he backed off when the officer pulled them apart, and went in search of Max.  
  
"Kirkland's the connection," she stated to Logan once he caught up to her in the parking lot of the police station.  
  
"His army training most likely helped him be almost undetectable," Logan agreed  
  
"Fact that he came from Manticore probably helped out more" she threw back, finally realizing why Private First Class Kirkland had such an interest in her.  
  
"Lieutenant was right about EVERYONE trying to make a little money"  
  
"So what's Eyes Only plan of action?" Max asked  
  
"Private Kirkland's stationed somewhere nearby, probably at work still, I mean why blow his nicely backed up alibi?"  
  
"So where would somewhere be exactly detective?"  
  
"Kirkland's CO, Lt. Col Jamison was at the party last night." Logan notified "Told me he how proud he was of the work the Private was doing as a weapon's technician at Fort McNair."  
  
Max raised her eyebrows "Impressive"  
  
Logan smiled at her compliment "Just do what I can"   
  
"Any suggestions on how we get to Kirkland before he scampers off into the night?"  
  
"You have a thought right?" Logan asked her  
  
"Yeah" she agreed  
  
"And that would be-"  
  
"Kick his ass," she answered   
  
"Okay then" Logan said, "We got a plan" he paused "Just don't kick his ass too badly, he needs to be alive to face criminal charges"  
  
"Not gonna make any promises" Max informed "But I'll see what I can swing"  
  
*****   
  
METRO DINER  
14TH AND ARLINGTON  
8:02 PM  
  
Logan pulled up to the small restaurant "The Private apparently comes to this diner   
Every Friday night at eight" he looked through the window, and into the building's window.  
  
Max checked her watch "8:02, bet the creature of habit's chillin' right now."  
  
"Feel like some coffee?" Logan turned to his wife  
  
"Ya know suddenly I kinda do" she opened the car door and climbed out onto the sidewalk.  
  
"I'll make the call in ten" Logan informed to her "Should be enough time to get things rolling"  
  
"Get this bitch started" Max turned back and stuck her through the passenger's side window, and before he could say it she added "Promise I'll be careful" she flashed him a smile before backing out and turning to walk in the diner.  
  
The entrance door squeaked slightly when she opened it. Booths lined the walls, where a few patrons sat enjoying a half decent looking meal. A large wall clock lit with green neon lights ticked away above the door.  
  
"Something I can get for you?" the night waitress approached Max, wiping her hands on her apron from behind the counter.  
  
"Just black coffee" Max told her.  
  
"Sure thing" the waitress went to fill the order   
  
While Max waited she scanned the room looking for him. A young man and woman sat in a far booth, and beside them a single middle-aged man reading a newspaper.  
  
The waitress returned with Max's coffee, and set the Styrofoam cup on the counter.  
  
"Let me get that"  
  
Max turned at the sound of the voice, seeing that Private Aaron Kirkland had found her.  
  
Kirkland paid for the coffee "Small world Mrs. Cale" he sat in an empty stool at the bar that she was standing at.   
  
"Came for the coffee" Max sipped the steaming liquid in the cup. She turned to the man "You here for the same thing?"  
  
Kirkland nodded "Yeah, it's cheap. I can't cook worth jack and it beats starving to death" he looked up at her "Your husband here?"  
  
"I came out for some air" Max lied "Weather started bittin' my extremities so I made a pit stop" she took another swing at her coffee.  
  
Kirkland leaned his arms across the counter, bare from where he rolled up the sleeves from his black v-neck sweater. He tilted his head to look up at Max from his now lower angle "So this is a time out session for the two of you"  
  
"No I said I came out for the air," Max corrected, "My marriage is my personal business Private" there was almost a hiss in her voice  
  
*****   
  
OUTSIDE METRO DINER  
  
Logan again looked at his Seiko watch. Eight minutes had elapsed since Max had gone inside the diner, leaving a two-minute gap of time from when he said he'd make the call. He looked up at the door and the face on his watch simultaneously.  
  
/Shoulda had her wear a wire, like that would actually work/ his conscious interrupted his thoughts /Guy's from Manticore, he'd find it on her then it'd really blow wide open/ He checked his watch again /One minute, dammit, screw it/ he picked up his cell phone, dialing a number on the keypad that was glowing a translucent green in the darkness.  
  
"Forty Third Precinct" there was a moment of silence as the dispatcher on the phone waited for a response "hello?"  
  
"There's something going down at the Metro Diner-" Logan informed, hoping his lie sounded convincing.  
  
"What's the address?" there was a clicking of keys in the background as the dispatcher began recording the information  
  
"On the corner of 14th and Arlington-"  
  
"And what's the problem?" the dispatcher asked  
  
"Some looser won't stop harassing my wife. He keeps messing with her. Just get here-" Logan tried to sound upset, and unwilling to answer the dispatcher's question  
  
"Sir can you tell me more about it-?"  
  
"What?" Logan stuck a portable voice scrambler over the receiver, creating static on the line "Your breaking up-"  
  
"Sir-" the dispatcher's voice spoke again before Logan ended the call. He implicated Max as the 'victim' side of things because he knew once Kirkland caught on to who she was, the shit would hit the fan, and the PD would arrest them both, not knowing the whole story.  
  
*****   
  
METRO DINER  
  
"Sorry ma'am" Kirkland apologized to Max after her defensive snap back "Guess it's just my nature as a soldier to think that everyone has their secrets" he pulled back from his leaning position a little.  
  
Max turned to look him full in the face "So what secrets are you hiding soldier?" her gaze was unwavering /FLASH: "The mission was sound up until the error made by the sniper, X5-452" X7-241 reported to Manticore's director Renfro.  
  
"Was it in your opinion that 452's error was one that could have been avoided?" Renfro asked 241.   
  
"Yes ma'am it could've" the X7 agreed.  
  
"Return to your operations" Renfro told the boy, looking over at Max who stood beside him "We'll take it from here"   
  
The X7 saluted her and then turned sharply on his heel and walked out of the room.  
  
"We cannot abide fatal slips like this 452" Renfro glared at Max who stood at attention in front of her "Slips cause messes that we can't always clean up!" she was shouting at Max, who remained silent for the ordeal. Renfro went around to an intercom system "Unit 02 report to hall four" she turned back to face Max   
  
"Maybe a week in VC12 will help clear this up" her words were ice cold.  
  
A few seconds later a two-unit op group entered the room.   
  
"Take 452 to the vise chamber" Renfro ordered to the ops that stood before her "Keep her on level three for one week"  
  
The ops nodded, and hauled Max out of the room. She caught the sight of X7-241 watching her be dragged to the chamber/  
  
"Sorry, but that's MY business ma'am" Kirkland answered, tilting back more to look at something behind Max.  
  
"You don't have to look" Max stated, "You already know what you'll find" she flattened Kirkland's hand on the counter top that had been in her hair.  
  
"Just wanted to see what the barcode of an X5 looked like" he yanked his hand back "Since I didn't get the chance to do it when I beat you down last night" he stood up to his full height, and Max did the same. "Been a long time" He looked her up and down very slowly "Years were great to you though 452-"  
  
"The names Max" she growled back "Better get my represent right or I'm gonna take the "private" out of First Class Aaron Kirkland"  
  
"Street life has corroded you into a bad ass MAX" Kirkland emphasized her name "Whyda think I joined the 95? To be more then just all talk"  
  
"No" Max returned "You joined because you knew your shitty self could make it in blindfolded and become up enough in government ties to be allowed in the special rooms instead of having to steal the key"  
  
"Hey I rather like being let into the special places" Kirkland agreed, circling Max to stop at a standing position behind her. "Beats the hell out of scalking around back fences"  
  
"Then how come you were all secrete slinking over to the Lincoln Memorial for the shack up?"  
  
"Cause these people expect that" Kirkland returned "No seasoned rock seller in his right mind would palm off the blings to some blue colored lookin' white guy even if I can lay his nuts. They want all the hype, black and little baggies. Keeps the skills from gettin' rusty."  
  
"So does puttin' a bullet in your supplier's brain" Max returned, realizing that their conversation was starting to draw some attention from some of the other patrons.  
  
"Mecheetah didn't want to play the game" Kirkland stated "So I took him out of it. Not like the man didn't deserve it with all the shit he laid out on us"  
  
"Ain't our place to play God" Max spat back "And don't include me in your 'us group' I'm not like you"  
  
"What did you suddenly wake up one day and ignore all that genetic junk in your body? You can't turn it off any more then I can." Kirkland looked her full in the face "You know the second you get an M16 or 30 off 6, or the grip of someone in your hands you have to be who you are-"  
  
"The only thing I am is impatient" Max broke in, ignoring his remark about who she was  
  
"Oh sorry ma'am" Kirkland suddenly addressed her politely "Didn't mean to keep you from the party-" he jumped up and side kicked her in the stomach, throwing her to the ground   
  
"See your form hasn't improved at all" he taunted Max who rebounded from the blow a few seconds later.   
  
She circled him, seeing a few of the patrons rise from their seats, but none bothering to help out, most likely too wary of getting caught up in the middle of something they think they'll regret later.  
  
The sounds of sirens could be heard outside the diner, the Washington PD being alerted to the location after the cut off on Logan's phone call.  
  
"You called the boys in blue?" Kirkland taunted Max, staring her down "You of all people should know that it ain't that easy. I'm not running a cake walk" he grabbed her by her neck a few seconds before the front door opened as two officers streamed in, guns at ready. Kirkland took out a hand held automatic, most likely the same one he used to take out Mecheetah, aiming it at Max's temple.  
  
"Drop the weapon!" an officer screamed at Kirkland "Let her go!" the officer's partner called out the same thing.  
  
"That the same thing you used to blow the doctor away?" Max threw over her shoulder, knowing that Kirkland was pointing his gun at her strictly as a show for the officers. He was so hyped on Manticore protocol that if he really wanted to kill her he would've done so already, plus the fact it wouldn't be this easy to take one of his own down.  
  
"Shut up" Private Kirkland ordered  
  
"Drop your weapon NOW!" the officer repeated   
  
"Hope you wiped your finger prints off that Private" Max continued to taunt him  
  
"Your out of line solider-" he dug the maw of his gun in her neck, his finger poised on the trigger.  
  
"DROP IT!" the officer called one last time, aiming his gun to shoot Kirkland to prevent him from shooting Max. But before he could fire Max had whirled on Kirkland, knocking the gun out of his hand, pointing it at him   
  
"No I'd say that was you" she dealt him a blow right across his face, knocking him to the floor. "Now we're even from last night" she stood above him from where he laid.  
  
"Not completely" Kirkland reached into his jacket for something, getting cut off when an officer shot a bullet into his leg. The private retracted his hand, dropping a second gun to the floor.  
  
"Clear!" the officer called out, moving more into the diner, kneeling next to Kirkland, and removing the gun from his side, checking the status of the downed man at the same time "Unit 12 requesting EMS to the Metro Diner at 14th and Arlington"  
  
Max backed off the scene that was forming around Kirkland, throwing the gun she was holding to the officer's partner, quickly, wanting to get it's weight out of her hands. She hated with a passion what feeling its metal body brought back for her.  
  
"Ma'am" the officer who had dealt Kirkland the shot was now talking to her "Did he hurt you anywhere?"  
  
"I'm fine" she reassured the man   
  
"Glad you got moves ma'am" the officer continued "Could've been a lot worse"  
  
"Yeah" was all Max said, turning her head up at the sound of someone coming out of the crowd.  
  
Logan touched her shoulder "You okay?"  
  
"Piece of cake" she stated in a non-emotional voice  
  
*****   
  
CAPTIAL DOME BUILDING  
WASHINGTON D.C.  
CONGRESSIONAL SENATE HEARING (TWO HOURS INTO)  
1:00 PM  
  
  
"Senator Patterson" the Speaker removed his glasses for a moment to rub the bridge of his nose "All of the evidence you've presented to us is quite impressive. It is in the opinion of this committee that you and the team that you assembled were successful in finding the origins of this new narcotic, as well as the supplier. First Class Aaron Kirkland will be held under military arrest until a formal court marshal hearing can be conducted by the Pentagon." The Speaker paused for a moment "However, there is one question that neither you or any of your people have been able to answer Senator. How the former Dr. Deret Mecheetah was able to continue the work on Special Operations 112, the genetic therapy of children with abnormalities up until his death two days ago when the project had been disbanded after the murder of it's top researcher Dr. Angela Vertes in May of 2019."  
  
"Respectfully" Senator Patterson began from his seat at an oak table with his notes laid out in front of him "That questions remains unanswered Mr. Speaker because I or any my people could not find a plausible answer ourselves. A search was conducted in Dr. Mecheetah's Maryland home, finding only one remaining reference to Operations 112, that notes the death of Dr. Vertes, but also names a successor to continue the project, even though official records state the fall out"  
  
"And does this person has a name?" Chairman Jacobson asked  
  
"Special Agent Ames White" Max spoke out from her seat beside Patterson, calling out the name of her new Anti-Christ "An employee of the Federal Government-"  
  
"What branch is that Mrs. Cale?" Chairman interrupted  
  
"I am unsure Sir," Max answered "Senator Patterson put in several calls but Agent White's official records have been sealed"  
  
"And do you know what this Agent White motives were when he named himself as the head of this operation?"  
  
"There were rumors that Agent White and several others were part of a secret government branch to find some escapees from a secret military base-"  
  
"We've all heard the rumors Ma'am" the Speaker interrupted Max "But surely you don't believe that government tax dollars are being diverted to catch a bunch of mutant freaks that got out of their cages?"  
  
"You'd be surprised what I believe Sir" Max returned into the microphone, her voice impassive.   
  
From under the table Logan's hands moved from his lap to rest on Max's knee.  
She slid one hand under the table and linked it with his.  
  
"In any case" The Chairman broke in "The evidence presented, even minus the lack of information on this special project, is enough to launch a complete Congressional department investigation into Narcotic X1 and those behind its distribution." He turned to the Speaker briefly before looking back at Senator Patterson "Your work has hopefully now pulled us in a forward direction." A pause "I move we close this hearing."  
  
"I second" the Speaker agreed, and after getting approvals from the rest of the panel he turned to Patterson "Your time on this was appreciated Senator" he banged his gavel down "This hearing is adjourned"  
  
*****   
  
OFFICE OF SENATOR PATTERSON  
  
"Once again I thank you for your help on this" Patterson sat again at his desk, talking to Max and Logan who stood in front of it. "Except for that little thing about that Agent White character the outcome is almost flawless"   
  
"Nothing in life is perfect Senator" Logan shook the hand Patterson offered, "I appreciate you giving me the opportunity"  
  
"I wish you a safe flight home" Patterson shook Max's hand next. "Sure you're anxious to see those kids"  
  
"Counting the hours" Max informed with a slight smile "Goodbye Sir" she turned and with Logan left his office.  
  
"White seems to always be there to bite me in the ass" Max stated after they left Patterson's office "Along with my past"  
  
"Wasn't a real bad time though" Logan argued gently, brushing the healing laceration on her hairline "get to go home with a souvenir"  
  
"Settle on a White House soap dispenser" she returned.  
  
Logan didn't say anything, giving her a soft kiss on the mouth "You ready to go?"  
  
"Got one more thing to do before" Max informed  
  
*****   
  
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMENTARY  
2:29 PM  
  
"I didn't know you" she stared at the headstone, tucking her hands into her pockets "What I did was orders" she paused for several seconds "Didn't find out till later that I could've screwed them" she knelt next to the stone, laying a miniature American flag beside the inscription:  
  
GENERAL EDWARD RYAD   
UNITED STATES ARMY  
April 24, 1979- May 2008  
A DISTINGUISHED SOLDIER AND LEADER AMONG MEN  
  
She stood back up after depositing the flag in the soft grass that grew around the headstone, a tiny momentum among dozens of red, white and blue flowers and other flags surrounding the general's grave.  
  
She stood staring at the headstone for a few more moments. Logan came up beside her, his feel almost noiseless on the soft grass. He touched the back of her shoulder.  
  
"They say dead man tell no tales" Max began, looking up to Logan "So why does it feel like he's trying to tell me something?"  
  
"Maybe he is" Logan informed, not saying anything further to this, making the remark cryptic "Our flight out's at four, should get going"  
  
She nodded silently "Let's go home then" she fell instep behind him feeling him slipping an arm around her waist as they walked back to the car.  
  
*****   
  
FORT MCNAIR  
WASHINGTON D.C.  
STOCKADE #24  
  
"Got a visitor Kirkland" an MP opened the door to Private Kirkland's cell "On your feet"  
  
Kirkland did as he was told, seeing a tall man in a business suit enter his cell.  
  
"Good evening Private" Ames White addressed Kirkland after the door closed,  
"I take it your mission failed"  
  
"What mission was that Sir?" Kirkland had never seen the man before.  
  
"Don't play games with me kid, it's not attractive for that whole disciplined soldier thing they taught you"  
  
"All missions I undertake I've completed Sir" Kirkland went on.  
  
"Except for the one preventing X5-452 from speaking out against me at a senate sub committee hearing this morning."  
  
Kirkland looked surprised at the knowledge this stranger possessed.  
  
"Don't looked so shocked Private" White went on "You should've seen this coming. There's a lot more at stake here then you being thrown out of the army, mainly the explaining you're gonna have to do to ME for killing one of my top researchers so you could rack it up"  
  
"It seemed like something to do" Kirkland spat back  
  
"Manticore always has mouth" White suddenly threw Kirkland into the wall of his cell and stuck him with a syringe, knocking him out. "Glad I brought something to shut it up this time" he pounded on the door to be let out.  
  
Once out of the stocks White dialed a number on his cell "Yeah, the X7's being held at Fort McNair. 452's testimony did some damage. He's under now. Bring the transport tonight. I want him back at HQ asap" he disconnected, and climbed back into the car a driver held open for him.  
  
*****   
  
END  
  
Sorry for the long wait, but this took some time to write. I researched on D.C. locations to make this more real. I don't know in DA's world of 2021 if the Federal Government is run the same as it is now, that's why I kept it mostly the same, except for the clearance checks in the capital. I apologize for any technical errors though.  
  
The name of the diner Max met Kirkland in is taken from an X Files episode (so it might sound familiar) The ep was called "Kill Switch" and there was this whole scene at the beginning where this computer cranked called all these drug dealers who were all packing, and two US Marshals, telling them all that there was someone they had a score with at the Metro Diner on 14th and Arlington. After they all got there-fireworks hit. Also Pico Salazar was the name of a dealer in that ep. So that's why I put it in here.  
  
Also I wrote this before MW went for the buzz bald cut..heh..he looks okay, but it's weird. Like when David Duchovny buzzed his hair after a season of looking good with it longer..oh well their life, their hair.  
  
R/R please. Return to Innocence is coming too; I didn't update this one in a while, so I worked on it more.  
  
peace 


	14. Deep Woods Scrabble

TITLE: Choices 15 "Deep Woods Scrabble"  
AUTHOR: Mystic25  
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.   
  
SUMMARY: Zack convinces Max to join him on a "skills" retreat while she and Logan are vacationing at his parents cabin. But 12 hours in the Washington woods draws out longer then they expected.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Cameron. FOX. Mystic. Suing not included in the deal.  
  
A/N: This came to me after watching an ep of "John Doe" Turning out to be a good show. My other idea for this chap was getting about as far along as yanking a chain that's attached to the wall, so I gipped it.  
  
A/N #2: I had this scene in my head one night about Logan, Zack and Max in the some sort of forest, and stuff happened to them (not gonna tell what, that would give the plot away) But it was so clear, and detailed, and now I FINALLY found a way to incorporate it into a story line. Short deal..enjoy.  
  
*****  
  
ISSAQUAH, WASHINGTON   
  
The water slid over her body like a thousand knives gliding over her skin. Her eyes remained open under the frigid water. Above her head, she could still hear them, talking.   
  
"Any signs?"  
  
"No sir, we covered most of the tree line"  
  
"What about the other one?"   
  
"Nothing."  
  
"There can't be nothing soldier, otherwise we wouldn't be out here."  
  
"I know sir" the soldier responded "I just meant-"  
  
"You think I give a damn about what you meant?" Ames White cut the man off.  
  
(cut to: shot of Max under the river water, grasping at stones to keep herself submerged. White and soldier are seen through her view under the water. Shot returns to profile view of White and sergeant a few seconds later)  
  
The sergeant went silent, feeling the sting of White's remark. "Noted sir"  
  
"Good" White continued "Obviously they didn't come through here, but they're somewhere in the surrounding area." he looked out over the tree line of pine and maple, some going into their golden hues with the impending fall weather.  
  
White turned back to the young military man in green fatigues "Start checking northwest, northeast, and due north. Mark my words soldier, we will stay out all the live long day until we find'em"   
  
"Yes Sir" the sergeant answered back crisply, barking the command in his radio.  
  
White scanned the gaggle of trees again, looking, listening for the sound of startled animals, birds, waiting for nature to give away their location. Nothing happened. White turned sharply, pissed there was no find. The sweep of his trench coat created small ripples in the shallow water of the river. He stepped over the rocks and water reeds, glancing over his shoulder again before leaving the clearing.  
  
The water remained still for minutes after White left with the soldier, but soon it erupted from something rising to the surface at a high speed. Max's head bobbed in the water, her hair sticking to the sides of her face, the cold making her shake as she watched, waited until White pulled out in the black car, until it vanished from her vision completely.   
  
After she was sure he was gone, she swam to the shore, long strenuous movements because of how long she had been under 68 degree water.   
  
"Max" the voice belonged to Zack, who came out from the undergrowth he had been hiding at and now stood at the shoreline. "Did they see you?"  
  
Max didn't answer him with words, but shook her head 'no' "They've gone-" her voice trembled as she struggled to stand up on the soft shore.  
  
Zack grabbed her hand, and pulled her up the embankment. The hand being used was wrapped twice in a makeshift bandage with slight traces of blood seeping out.   
  
"He's going to check up river," Max hissed and sat down in exhaustion. She checked a piece of white fabric tied around her calf muscle. Like Zack's hand it was leaking blood, but in a much larger amount. The cloth was now stained in blood and soaking wet from the water.  
  
"You're loosing too much blood" Zack examined her wound with his eyes "Shouldn't have dragged you into this"   
  
"Last time I checked I had a mind of my own Zack" Max reprimanded him gently   
"Like you asked for all of this crap to happen"  
  
"Probably gonna comeback here for a final sweep" Zack began to analyze "Need to get out of this clearing"  
  
"What about the blood in the water?" Max hissed as Zack tied off her bandage.  
  
"Osprey and Hawks drop fish all the time after they kill them" Zack informed "White won't know its human unless he has a genetics lab with him"   
  
"With our luck he probably does" Max informed, "Where's your phone?"  
  
Zack pointed to the woods behind him "Back there. Couldn't risk the chance it would reflect on something and blow my cover"   
  
Max didn't respond to that statement, instead she held out her hand "Pull me up and let's get the hell outta here" she balanced herself on the muddy embankment after she was completely upright.   
  
"Sir!" the loud shout of a soldier caught their attention "I think I found something!"  
  
Zack scanned the tree line like a hawk, putting a finger to his lips.  
  
Max nodded, motioning back to the woods with her hand.  
  
Zack gave another command with his hands, telling her to first move to a tree fifty or so odd feet before the real woods. He then gave the command to move out.  
  
Before Max moved she took off a diamond ring from her finger and tied it around her neck with a section of loose cloth ripped from Zack's shirt, and tucked it under her army green long sleeved cotton shirt so that the shine wouldn't attract anyone they didn't want to find them.  
  
With inhumanly fast movements the brother and sister duo moved to a 200 year old maple tree bordering what use to be an Issaquah national forest.  
  
"Sir!" the voice seemed to be getting louder when they stopped at the tree. Max glanced beyond it's boundaries, still seeing no one, but looking for a unnatural color or form for the forest. Leaves blew, birds still sang, nature going on as it should.  
  
From behind their heads a caw arose. Both turned and saw a raven perched on a high branch of the tree. The bird cawed again. Zack scanned the tree line, not seeing anything moving, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. He spotted the cave where he had been before in the brush and branches.   
  
"Move!" he whispered these words to Max. They ran at the same speed it took them to reach the tree, not looking back.  
  
"Stop!" the man, the soldier called out.  
  
Zack looked over his shoulder, he saw him with a M16 rifle, aiming it them "Stop or I'll open fire!"  
  
Zack reached into his jacket, pulling out a gun, Asha's silver colt with a silencer.  
  
Shots rang out from both directions  
  
*****  
  
10 HOURS EARLIER  
ISSAQUAH, WASHINGTON  
  
"Mommy, daddy it's morning!" something soft warm and son-like landed on Max's stomach   
  
Max opened her eyes to see Jess sitting on her stomach in his camo pj's.  
  
"I'm up babe" Max roughed up his hair. She looked over at Logan who was either still asleep or faking it. "Don't think daddy is though."  
  
Jess smiled at the opportunity Max presented to him. He slid over the king size bed and got right up in Logan's face. "Hey daddy!" he hit him with small fists.  
  
"Okay okay" Logan opened his eyes, pulling his son's hands away from his face "You got me" he pushed himself into an upright position as Jess crawled back and sat more near the middle of the bed.  
  
"Vacations mean you get to sleep in Jess" Logan informed him, looking towards Max "He's getting more like you every day"  
  
"That a problem?" Max threw back  
  
"Never said it was baby," Logan answered back  
  
"What's that?" Jess looked away from his parents, pointing to something on the end table.  
  
Logan turned to see what he was talking about "That-" he began after he knew what it was "is something for mommy."   
  
"What for?" Jess asked with all the curiosity of an almost four year old child.  
  
"The anniversary of me and daddy bein' hooked up for three years." Max answered his question. Today was their third wedding anniversary. As a pre-anniversary present Logan had decided to take Max and the kids up to his parents cabin for the weekend.  
  
Jess didn't look that confused, being his mother's son he picked up the meaning under Max's street slang. "Happy anniversary momma"  
  
Max smiled "Thanks sweetie" she kissed him on the head.  
  
Jess looked to Logan "Are ya gonna give it to her?"  
  
Logan laughed lightly at his son's persistence "I will, but can I have time alone with mommy before I give it to her?"  
  
"Will you make pancakes?" Jess had his mother's habits down for bribery.  
  
Logan laughed quietly again "Deal"  
  
Jess climbed down off the bed in a state of happiness then, padding back through the bedroom in bare feet.   
  
Logan watched him go, looking so much himself coming in here at five years old when the king size bed was occupied by his parents Robert and Sara Cale. His mom would always ask how he slept, what he wanted for breakfast, if Marie was up yet.   
  
It was coming around to full circle now. He was the one sitting here with his wife, watching their son leave with the promise of food, and the knowledge he would probably soon wake up a sister asleep in the room they shared.  
  
He turned towards his wife "My turn to say it" He leaned closer to kiss her "Happy anniversary momma"  
  
"That's a new one" Max told him after they broke apart. "But happy anniversary to you too" they kissed again. "So about this thing you have for me-"  
  
"Why do I suddenly have the strangest feeling of déjà vu?" Logan referenced back to the time he was able to stand for the first time without his wheel chair. She had been impatient about what her "surprise" was. He grabbed a red velvet box from off the night table.   
  
"Thought I didn't wear jewelry" Max took the box he handed to her. Déjà vu all around. She pulled back the lid to see three diamonds set in a band of white gold. Now Max was not a "girly girl" so she didn't squeal and cry, but the sight of the ring did get a genuine smile to spread across her face. "It's beautiful"  
  
"Figured it's a perfect match" Logan took the ring from the box and slid it on her finger above her purple jade wedding band. The white gold and square cut diamonds matched well with the other band. "Beautiful ring on a beautiful woman" never mind his Eyes Only Brigade or the fact that he was married to a super solider, he was forever a romantic.   
  
Max looked at the sparkle of the diamonds "How much did you drop?"  
  
"300" Logan told her "The diamonds were mom's, well actually they were from Aunt Margo's hideous diamond studded chocker. The thing had a loose clasp that she never got fixed. Margo had this black tie gala one day, and a servant or someone I can't remember bumped into her and broke it off so it fell into a fountain and broke off four diamonds. Mom and Margo had this huge fight that night about dad and money, old argument about mom not being a "step up" on dad's economic road to the top of the payroll. So mom just kept them to stick it to her. She had one made into a solitaire necklace for Marie, and she loved it, she was the envy of all the seven year olds on the block-" this made him smile in remembrance of his older sister. "And the rest, she gave them to me, told me to give it to someone special. I took it to the jewelers and had them attach it to a band. Total cost $300.21" he paused and looked at her "So I take it that means you like it?"  
  
"Defiantly" Max agreed, "Kinda makes what I have for you look like stick figures next to a Van Goth"  
  
"I wouldn't say that" Logan disagreed with her remark "I'm sure it's something worthwhile, money doesn't equal value"  
  
Max took this as her cue and climbed off the bed, reaching for something on the pine dresser that sat against the opposite wall the bed was against.   
  
She came back a few seconds later with a small glass jar, the kind used for herbs and homemade medicines that closed with a cork lid. Inside the jar were three obsidian black slate stones. The neck of the jar was tied with a simple red ribbon.  
  
"Manticore never gave us birthdays, so none of us really knew how old we were" Max started to explain the significance of her gift "Zack came up with this system. He figured our age by adding onto the first time he saw us in his unit. Usually we were placed in a squadron when we were two. We collected some old tin cans, beer cans, whatever we could find. The new year for us always began with a complete, prodding physical exam, so the night before we'd put a pebble or a rock in the can and count the others there, tell us our age."  
  
"Three" Logan counted the number of stones in the jar "for three years of marriage"  
  
Max nodded "Could've gotten you something sweet and hot off the Black Market, but when I saw some jars in this chinaware store window it made me remember this." She smiled a bit "It wasn't much, but it connected us to more then just our designation, kinda was our family time."  
  
"It's great" Logan told her "Has a lot of significance" he smiled at her "Thanks for sharing this with me"  
  
"Thanks for giving me your mom's diamonds" she returned.  
  
He touched her face with his hand, pulling her in for another, more passionate kiss.  
  
"Daddy, you promised" Jess's form appeared through the doorway, a reprimanding look inherited from Max on his young face.  
  
Logan and Max broke apart. "Be right there"  
  
"Don't forget your word daddy" Max told him "Still be here after breakfast"  
  
"Oh I'm counting on it" Logan told her, kissing her once more before climbing off the bed "Okay" he walked over to where his son was standing in the doorway "Blueberry pancakes coming up."  
  
Max got out of bed, and got dressed. In about five minutes she joined the rest of her family out in the dining/breakfast area.  
  
"Look momma" that voice belonged to Lexi who was sitting on the kitchen counter top, watching Logan cook breakfast. She pointed to a plate with a pancake already on it. "Smile" Logan had taken butter pats and used the syrup to create a smiley face on the surface of the pancake.  
  
"Makin' you smile" Max returned, stepping over to her daughter and kissed her. She held out her hand "See what daddy gave me?"  
  
Lexi stopped looking at the food and gazed at the sparkling ring on her mother's hand. "Sparkles"   
  
"No I think that's just the sparkle shining off your eyes princess" Logan stopped in his cooking and kissed Lexi right on her nose.  
  
She laughed, "That tickles daddy"  
  
"I know" Logan set down the spatula He grabbed the girl off the counter "This tickles too" he started to tickle his daughter's sides. She squealed with laughter, trying to get away, but not that hard, because she liked the game. He quit after a minute and put his face to hers "Okay tickle girl time to eat" he kissed her and grabbed one of the four plates of food, carrying it and her to the table.  
  
"Here babe" Max handed Jess a plate "follow daddy" she snagged the other two off the counter.   
  
"Why are you going away today?" Jess asked around a mouthful of pancakes  
  
"I won't be gone that long sweetie" Jess's question was directed at Max. "Uncle Zack just wants me to do some stuff with him"   
  
Zack had asked Max a week ago to stay overnight in one of the forest areas of Washington. The intent wasn't for camping. Back at Manticore each X unit would spend four or five days in the Gillette Woods, dropped off at a location blindfolded and with very minimal supplies, water only. They weren't allowed to return to base until they found their way back from the thirty-mile drop away from the main Manticore facility. It was to test their endurance in combat situations. If they failed to reach the base checkpoint before the sunset of the fourth day, they would be locked out of Manticore, forced to spend another week more then fifty miles away and try to reach the complex again.  
  
Zack's overnight retreat wouldn't be as near as intense, it would only be one day and night, but they still would have only bare necessities food rations, water, no compass but the stars. The only exception was that Zack was bringing one cell phone, his, and only in case someone tried to reach him at his contact number.   
  
"You'll come back tomorrow?" Jess asked, hoping for the right answer from his mom.  
  
"Bright and early" Max reassured him.   
  
After breakfast and a few dishes were done Max packed up a few items in a small back pack, a canteen, matches, the trees were wet in Washington now and finding dry sticks to start a fire would be impossible. Manticore training be dammed, she wasn't about to freeze. Dried fruit and nuts she had scored off the Black Market were the last items to go inside.  
  
"I'm set" she came out of the bedroom with the pack on her shoulder, dressed in black cargo pants, a long sleeved boat necked army green shirt underneath a chocolate brown suede jacket. She opted for this instead of her leather jacket because the colors blended in more with the woods, she was always cautious. She stepped over to Logan seated at one of the two couches in the living room in black cross trainer clad feet.   
  
"Leave it to Zack to do this on our anniversary" Logan sipped from the coffee mug he was holding.  
  
"Don't think it was underminin'" Max pointed out steeping around to the front of the couch so that she was facing him.   
  
"At least not intentionally" Logan returned.  
  
"You gonna give me a kiss good bye or do I have to live off your beautiful pleasantries until I see ya tommorow?"  
  
As an answer to her question Logan yanked her down by her arm to sit beside him on the couch. He pulled her into a long, breath-stopping kiss that lasted around fifteen seconds.  
  
"See that's what I'm talkin' bout" she smiled, her lower lip swollen from the kiss.  
  
"Be good for daddy guys" Max hugged each of her children separately.   
  
"Don't be gone too long momma" Jess told her  
  
"Yeah not forever" that was Lexi   
  
"Promise" Max reassured with a smile, pulling the pack back on her shoulders. "Love ya guys" she blew them another kiss.  
  
"Be careful" there was Logan's familiar line  
  
"I'm on it," she told him  
  
"Love you" her husband threw at her.  
  
She smiled "Love you too baby"  
  
*****   
  
BORDER OF FORMER ISSAQUAH NATIONAL FOREST  
ISSAQUAH, WASHINGTON  
  
Zack walked alone, stepping on and over the undergrowth of small plants and mosses on the forest floor. He checked his watch again. It had been about an hour since he started walkin' from where he ditched his Vulcan in the woods. Max was out here already with Logan, but Zack had to drive out here. He had covered the cycle with large canopy leaves and fallen branches and had left a small marker so it could be found again.   
  
He had mapped out the area a few days before hand and knew of a natural cave that was hidden in the trees. He had given Max the coordinates, and told her to meet him there.  
  
This would be the first "skills test" he would do with her since she was nine. A couple years back he had tried to convince Zane to go with him, but he had tickets at some Metalica concert. And he almost asked Max to come one time too; in fact he had broken into the high rise she and Logan lived in. But he found his baby sister eight and half months pregnant with his niece, and in no condition to trapes all over the forests. So he lied about why he had come, told her he was just stopping by. She told him he was full of shit, but after he spent a few minutes massaging her back she fell asleep, and he left a short time later.  
  
Now they were finally doing it. Him and Maxie, like when they were kids back at Manticore. He loved Asha, enjoyed her company, and the change she had brought into his weird life, but Max was always his girl, and they had this connection when they were with each other. Nothing incest involving about it, just something strong.  
  
He veered off to the left after spotting the cave embedded in the old remains of some mountain.   
  
Max was waiting by the edge of the small clearing before the cave. She turned when she heard him coming.   
"If I'd a known it would've taken you this long I'd a washed my hair."  
  
"Cut the crap Maxie" Zack walked behind her, peering into the cave he had chosen as their makeshift home.  
  
"Home sweet home had few deer markings I had to clear out" Max completed her task of clearing away the dead leaves and branches in a small section of the ground to keep the fire that would be burning there from setting the woods ablaze.   
  
She came over to Zack and looked with him "What if whatever lived here gets pissed off we crashed his crib?"  
  
Zack showed her a gun he had tucked in a side holster "Just scare the shit out of him"  
  
Max looked at the weapon "Thought we agreed on bare supplies"   
  
"It's Asha's" Zack told her "Told her I'd bring it-"  
  
"You told her or she convinced you?" Max returned with amusement.   
  
The look on Zack's face was her answer. "You build a fire yet?" he went for a change in subject.  
  
"Don't think we need one now, got hotter in here all of a sudden" Max teased. "So what are the rules, we live like barbarians short of roasting each other on spits?"   
  
"You know the rules Max" Zack started piling small branches in the clearing Max had made. "Except, and Deck can kiss my ass on this, I'm not going caveman on fire making" he looked over at her "you got any matches?"  
  
To answer his question she held up a pack of red tipped matches "Confiscated them off the Black Market, the guy who was sellin' them was messed up with his asking price"  
  
Zack caught the matches when she threw them to him and dried off his hands before breaking off one of the matchsticks and striking it on the back. The spark ignited and he threw the whole match into the pile of wood.  
  
Max threw some larger branches into the small fire and soon had it grown to a large healthy mass of orange heat.   
  
Zack added one more fallen branch to the fire to keep it from going out. "There's a small lake in a clearing bout half a mile or so from here-"  
  
"For water or food?" Max interrupted him  
  
"Both" he told her "Plenty of herring in the water, and it beats the hell outta magnesium sulfate ration bags." He stood up from his crouched position over the fire.  
  
"So much for going by the Manticore handbook" she dusted some dirt off her pants.  
  
Zack noticed something shining and picked up her left hand to examine it "You know the handbook says no jewelry" he examined the ring above her wedding band.  
  
"You'll get it when you pry it out of my cold dead hands" she informed  
  
"Nice rock though" he dropped her hand "Was it like an 'I love you present' or something?"  
  
Max shook her head "Anniversary"  
  
Zack did a double take at that "Bet he got pissed that I decided to do this now" Logan was his brother-in-law, but that slight aggressiveness from when they first met was still there. He had a fair amount of respect to the man who had married his baby sister, but old habits were hard to break.  
  
"A little" she admitted "But we still got the rest of the time to celebrate" she paused "Sides I wanted to come"  
  
"Who are you and what have you done with Maxie? You hated this back at Manticore"  
  
"Zack EVERYONE hated this back at Manticore" Max reminded, "Kids out here fought for their pseudo lives in X Boxes, we were really fightin' for ours" she spoke with experience in her voice, remembering all those missions, all those times. Breaking her hip, lacerating her legs, falling through the ice-that last one was a killer. If Jondy hadn't been there-  
  
A screech cut through the air. Both looked up to see a raven fly overhead.  
  
Zack raised the gun he had to shoot it. He hated those damn birds.  
  
"No-" Max grabbed his arm "It's just a bird, C'mon show me this lake"   
  
*****   
  
INTERIOR OF A BUICK SKYLARK  
  
"Sir" the driver of the car turned to face the man in the black trench coat. "There's been a sighting"  
  
"A sighting of what soldier?" Ames White looked up from the manila folder of papers lying across his lap. "A UFO?"  
  
"No Sir" the driver responded "A man, blonde, young-"  
  
"You mean an X5?" White cut in.  
  
"Yes Sir" he confirmed "Hover Cam photos in Seattle Sector 17 show him leaving the checkpoint out of the city driving a black motorcycle, most likely a Kawasaki Vulcan model number J4-"  
  
"A, B, C, D-" White snapped "I don't care what the hell it is soldier, where was he headed?"  
  
"He was seen getting on the State Road to Issaquah-"  
  
"Do we know where in Issaquah?"  
  
"Negative Sir" he told him   
  
"How far away are we from there?"  
  
"About four hours Sir"  
  
"Good," White finished "Keep heading towards it, we'll do a preliminary search when we get there"  
  
"Yes Sir"  
  
White got on his wireless phone, hitting the button to raise the tinted divider glass between him and his driver.  
  
"Good morning Sir" White spoke into his phone "This is Agent White. I have good news, we're in pursuit of a possible X5 sighting." "Yes Sir, I know possible isn't one hundred percent, but it will be when I get done. Yes Sir. I promise I'll deliver. Have a good day Sir" he disconnected the call  
  
*****   
  
Logan watched his children who were chasing each other outside in the front of the cabin. The air was chilly outside, about forty-two degrees, not enough to have any snow on the ground, but cold just the same. He had gotten them both into the warmest clothes they had brought with them, a little bit of debate for Jess, who was starting to have more of his mother's attitude and his bull headedness.   
  
"No fair!" Jess shouted above the bark of Kaja, who had tackled the boy onto the ground. Not hard mind you, but more like the roughhousing she would do if they were her own babies. Jess laughed as she tickled his face with her wet nose.   
  
From behind the dog Lexi ran up to them, "Here" in her small hand she held a stick, and Kaja became rapt at the limb. "Go doggy" she threw it as hard as her small force could hurl it, which was surprisingly far, about fifteen feet ahead of the dog.   
  
Kaja ran after the toy and Lexi ran after him. She beat the dog to the stick, picking it up in her small hands, seeing a stranger standing there.  
  
It was a woman, about in her late thirties, blonde hair that was still rich, without a hint of gray.   
  
Lexi smiled at her "Hi"  
  
"Hi" the woman responded in kind, her voice pleasant, but surprised at finding a child here.   
  
"Who you?" Lexi asked in what could be described as her 'interrogation voice' when she grew up.  
  
"My name is Allison-" the woman responded, "What's your name-"  
  
It was around that time that Logan stepped out from the kitchen where he was watching the kids and came out on the small porch. "Guys, come on in its cold"  
  
The woman turned her head at the sound of the noise, looking up to the porch "Logan?" her voice sounded unsure for a moment  
  
Logan heard his name, and looked to its source, shocked at who it belonged too "Allie?" he came down the stairs that were connected to the porch.   
  
"Hey" Allison's face broke out with a smile when her hunch was confirmed "I didn't recognized you at first" she took in his adult features, crystal blue eyes, and sandy brown hair. "Damn boy you grew up" she didn't say it like she was coming onto him but like a sibling would to another, like Marie use to say to him. And in a sense Allie was almost like Marie. In fact she had been one of Marie's best friends growing up, and the Cales would sometimes entrust Allison to baby sit ten year old Logan when he didn't want to go to his sister's piano recitals or school drama functions.   
  
"So did you" Logan agreed to his former baby sitter, her hair was in pigtails, a style he remembered she wore a lot during his youth. Except now her hair was longer, and streaked with bits of mud brown and tiny lines of red.  
  
Allison seized the opportunity to hug him when he didn't   
  
"What the heck are you doing here?" Logan broke apart from his old friend   
  
"Me?" Allie returned "I got into town yesterday for an exhibit-" Allison was a landscape artist with quite a widespread popularity in California. "And I ran into your Aunt Margo-"  
  
Logan cringed at the mention of his aunt's name.  
  
"Yeah" Allie agreed, seeing the look on his face "My feelings exactly, she looks like she hasn't changed much in twenty years, still tight lipped and glass doll-ish, anyway Margo INSISTED that I join her for lunch to catch up, so I got sucker punched into spending the afternoon with her-"  
  
"Ouch" Logan stated  
  
This time Allie gave him the look "So anyways Margo said that you were still living here, apparently someone told her servant who told HER you were up here-" Allie laughed dryly "She practically forced me up here to see you-"  
  
"Daddy" a small hand tugged at Logan's leg.  
  
Logan looked down at his daughter, who was rubbing one eye with her free hand "What's wrong?"  
  
"Jesse pushed me!" now they were old enough to begin the age-old tradition of sibling rivalry. She showed Logan the small bit of mud on her clothes from where she apparently fell.  
  
"I did not!" Jess argued, "You were running too slow!"  
  
"Jesse Trevon Cale" Logan looked at his son sternly, picking up his daughter at the same time "You don't make your sister fall even if she's running too slow" he looked at him "Got it?"  
  
Jess didn't answer with words, but nodded his head in agreement  
  
"Good" Logan told him "Now get Kaja and come inside to warm up"  
  
"And now I know why" Ally finished her remark from earlier   
  
"Margo's tried everything short shoving annulment papers in my face" Logan agreed "Come in for a while"  
  
"Am I safe?" Allie asked, she didn't want to make his significant other uncomfortable. That was so strange, little Logan Cale, a married man.  
  
"She's not here now" Logan told her "And if she was she wouldn't care, c'mon" Logan didn't wait for her response and started walking inside.  
  
"Feels like I'm in a time warp" Allie looked around the living room, taking off her blue scarf. "Rob and Sara had good taste" she waited for a moment, hoping it wasn't offending Logan to talk about his parents using their first names, or mention them at all considering what happened.   
  
"Defiantly" Logan agreed, he set Lexi down on her feet in the living room, and started to remove her outerwear.  
  
"I'm sorry about what happened Logan" Allie spoke up. She had been at her after school art class the day it happened. Her mom came to pick her up early and told her. Allie cried for days, Marie had been one of her closet friends. She begged her mother to let her go to the funeral, but her mom had to tell her that Margo and Jonas had only invited family. She saw Logan only for a brief while after that when he was in the middle school where she did her tutoring at. She had run up to him and hugged him; he was like her little brother, even though she was the oldest and only girl out of three boys. Poor Logan looked so shell shocked, and tortured. He was even wearing his mothers old locket, with the pendant tucked into his shirt, because he was young and insecure, and as emotional and artistic as he was, he was a growing teenage boy and couldn't deal with the names people called him for wearing women's jewelry.   
  
He stayed at that school for only three weeks, then after legal guardianship had been fully transferred to Margo and Jonas they had sent him to a private school, and she lost contact with him.   
  
Logan finished undoing the buttons on Lexi's jacket and told her to go play until lunch. The look in his eyes about killed Allie again. He was grown now, a man with his own family, a damn handsome man at that. But his eyes still had that haunted sad look in them when she said that.  
  
"Want some coffee?" he broke the thick mood with that, using a tactic he had perfected during his early days Max, the emotionless thing. He was glad for her absence now because she would be able to read right through him.  
  
"Yeah" Allie sensed his walls coming up, something he seemed good at doing. She followed him into the kitchen, watching him pour out the black liquid into two green stoneware cups.  
  
"Wish I could've been at your wedding" Allie took the cup he handed to her, sipping from it.   
  
Logan smiled a bit at her remark "Would've helped if you left a forwarding address"  
  
Allie looked at him sheepishly "Sorry" she paused "Would've been interesting to see you decked out in tails"  
  
Logan took a drink from his mug "I didn't wear a tux" he corrected her "Just a suit"  
  
Allie looked surprise "And-"  
  
"Max wore a silk slip dress" Logan finished for her "About the same color as this mug"  
  
"Max huh?" Allie tested out the name. "Your family didn't pick her out for you I bet"  
  
He nodded in agreement "She came to my door with a sales pitch, use to some odd jobs for me"  
  
"What kind of jobs?" Allie was always curious  
  
/FLASH: "Be in and out in ten minutes," Logan told Max sitting beside him in his Aztec  
  
Max looked at the building "Piece of cake" she climbed out of the car/  
  
/FLASH: Max came back inside the car, covered in mud from head to toe. She slammed the door shut.  
"Not one word" she warned to him with a low growl/  
  
"It varied" he finally answered her  
  
"Was this mutual?" Allie asked, "I mean, did you ever return this woman's favors?"  
  
/FLASH: "Hey this is Linda Eastman, I'm looking for my husband.." Max tied her shoelaces sitting on the concrete floor./  
  
/FLASH: "I believe you Logan, if you say she didn't do it, then she didn't"/   
  
"Without getting too much into it, yeah I did" he agreed, leaning against the counter top.  
  
"So you got a photo of her?" Allie asked, "Would be nice to put a face with a name"   
  
"Yeah-" Logan hesitated for a moment while he thought about it. He found his wallet lying on the counter, and took out a photo that had originally been a three by five, but one that he had shrunk down to a wallet. It had been taken during that trip to San Francisco that night at the beach. Jondy just happened to bring her camera and snapped a photo right after the couple had finished kissing. Since the photo was candid, neither one of them was really looking at the camera, but Max's face was clearly visible. Jondy had sent it to them via a Pentagon-esque DSL security connection, thinking that "Maxie looked cute" She had kept one copy for herself and had destroyed the negatives.   
  
"Taken a few months back-" Logan handed her the photo, describing it at the same time "In San Fransciso where her sister lives"  
  
Allie examined the picture "She's hot Logan" she turned to look at him "Pictures say a thousand words, but really this one only says that one to me" she gave it back to him "what she like?"  
  
"She's-" Logan tried to think of an accurate description for her "smart, strong, stubborn-"  
  
"What about sweet?"  
  
"You don't know Max," Logan told her "She's not- "he didn't want to sound like he was insulting her "she'd do anything for the people she cares about, but as far as sweet, she's not that kind of girl"  
  
"Woman after your own heart" Allie gave him a knowing look "Sounds like you love her a lot"  
  
"I do" Logan agreed  
  
"How long you guys been together?"  
  
"Three years today"  
  
"Oh" Allie noted the announcement "Congratulations"   
  
"Thanks"  
  
"Daddy" that was Jess, who had taken off his own coat and mittens and now stood in the kitchen with them "I'm hungry"  
  
Logan looked down at him "You're hungry? Well I can take care of that. Why don't you say hi to my friend Allison" he walked over to the fridge to get lunch started  
  
"Hi there" Allie started the conversation to the boy  
  
"Hi" Jess answered back  
  
"You're Jesse right?"  
  
He nodded  
  
"I'm Allie" Allie told him with a smile "I'm a friend of your daddy's. I knew him when he was only a bit bigger then you"  
  
"What was he like?" Jess was curious just like Max  
  
"Loud" Allie answered back, smiling at the memories it brought back. Logan was indeed artistic and intellectual, but put that boy on a half court with a ball and he turned into Charles Barkley Jr. Allie sometimes let him win when they played one-on-one, just to keep it fair since she was captain of her girls team in middle and high school. But as the years went on he started taking her game for a ride.  
  
Jess laughed at the adjective Allie used "Loud like he does at night?"  
  
Logan nearly dropped the plates he was getting down out of the cabinet at Jess's remark, but he managed to maintain at least some of his cool "Jess why don't you go play with Lexi until I call you to eat?"  
  
Jess simply turned then, without uttering another word.  
  
Allie watched him go before turning her gaze back up "For God Sakes Logan, you're a grown man, you're married, you have the right to shake things up. Quit acting like you got caught fooling around with the girl who sits next to you at lunchtime" her voice sounded almost exactly like it did when she use to watch him. She spoke the words, but it was kind of hard to believe that the tall, skinny high toned voice boy who use to ask her about her own dates would grow up so nice. She had pictures of him in her mind driving up here, but the end result was nothing like them. He had more rough edges, his eyes were harder now, but they also held the wisdom and experience of a man, not the kid she remembered.   
  
"So your son is named Jesse Trevon?"   
  
"His middle name was a contribution from one of Max's closest friends"  
  
"What about your daughter?"  
  
"Alexis Marie" he looked at her when he said this  
  
She went silent, thinking remembering. Marie loved Logan, she teased him, and tormented him like any other older sister, and there was that transition when she became a teenager and became "too cool" to hang with her little brother. But, she would always try to watch out for him.  
  
"What about Jess?" she tried to break the mood "Any contributions there that are special?"  
  
"Name of one of Max's sisters" Logan told her "She died when Max was nine"  
  
"God Logan" Allie gave him a hard look, which he gave back, understanding what she meant. "One of her sisters? So she has two?"  
  
"Not exactly" Logan corrected "Six" he watched Allie's eyes get bigger "And three brothers" he left out Ben because he had already explained that Jesse died, it would a much deeper issue with Ben  
  
"Da-am" she drew out the word "So you had to get in with three brothers?"  
  
"Hey whoever's gonna get with you has the same thing with your three" Logan reminded  
  
"Logan have you ever seen Ian try to act tough and macho? It's like Joan Rivers in Fight Club"   
  
"Wish it was all bark and no bite for me"   
  
"They have something to back it up?"  
  
"I guess" Logan stated  
  
"Any of them single?"  
  
"Well Krit and Zane are, but Zack-" just at that moment Logan's cell phone that was lying on the coffee table rang. He headed over to it and answered the call  
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"Hey Logan" Asha's voice was on the other line "Listen I'm sorry to catch you on your vacation, but I just wondered if Zack has any way of connecting with the rest of us-"  
  
"I think he has his phone" Logan told her "I don't know, he didn't stop by here before or anything"  
  
"You're a big help"  
  
"Hey you're dating him not me"  
  
"Fair enough" Asha agreed "I shouldn't be like this, its just a little antsy when you have someone who's got a good reason to be paranoid most of the time"  
  
"Hey I know the feeling" Logan returned "Don't worry about it, he'd let you know if something major was going on, he's not that paranoid"  
  
"Alright, I'll take your advice, but I'm holding you responsible if the evil space minions come down to earth and decide to take only those people with barcodes"   
  
"Asha if that was true, I'd be right there with you blasting the crap out of them" he paused for a moment "I gotta go now, bye" he hung up, turning to face Allie again "Sorry, THAT was a friend of mine, Asha Moore, who happens to be dating my wife's oldest brother Zack."   
  
"Is that where you're wife is?" Allie asked "With her brother?"  
  
"They're camping out together, kind of a test of your metal stuff"  
  
"Was he in the service or something?"  
  
"They-" here he had to lie a bit "both use to be in the army"  
  
"Both?" Allie didn't sound that convinced "How old is Max?"  
  
"She's twenty-one" Logan informed, "She did the basic plus two for school stuff"  
  
"Oh" Allie finally understood how it could work "So their close?"  
  
"Yeah" Logan admitted, saying it with all the experience of a man who was certain that Zack had once tried to win over Max in more then just a brotherly way. Deep in his gut, he couldn't really blame the guy for it. They were isolated from the world, and expected to "breed" with each other. Their only close bonded relationships were with their units. But Manticore wasn't dictating their life anymore, and out here it was incest no matter how you sliced it. Zack must've realized it too, because he started backing off. He still looked at Logan like something he stepped in for a while, but he was Max's brother, and that's what big brothers did. After Zack spent enough time outside he saw his other options, not like Max would allow anything anyway, he was her brother, and she loved him as such.  
  
*****   
  
"Got anything?" Max stood on the bank of the lake, shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand   
  
"Would I let you down?" Zack held up an improvised spear made out of a branch sharpened with his switchblade. A silver herring clung to it, stabbed through its middle.   
  
"Get off your "Hunter provider guy moment" before you loose feeling where it counts"  
  
Zack came out of the water with his prize, the water soaking his skin and his black boxers. He grabbed his white undershirt off the rocks and used it to dry himself off.  
  
"Lucky for you we're transgenic" Max noted, holding out his jacket.  
  
Zack finished slipping back into his black sweater and black jeans and took the leather jacket she gave him, pulling it back on his body. "You feel like sushi, or southern blackened?" he looked at the Herring still on the spear.  
  
"Burnt is good," she told him "I'm not too fond of sea food, so if it tastes less like itself and more like charcoal, I'm good"   
  
"Head back then" Zack stood back on his feet after re-tying his boots. He grabbed his find, and went to catch up with Max who had gotten ahead of him. It was now early afternoon. The sun shone high in the sky, the forest foliage casting very little shadows on the ground.   
  
Zack caught up to Max "This isn't the path we took-"  
  
"It's shorter" she interrupted, pointing to a old dead tree, resting on its side "We passed this going to the first path, we just can cut around it" she jumped up and over the dead tree and back onto solid ground. But when she made the small jump she didn't notice that the ground was on a slight incline. The slope wasn't anything monumental, just a small rise in the packed earth of the forest floor. But it was still enough to make her loose her footing, and before she could catch herself, she pitched forward, hearing the solid snap of an steel animal trap close before she felt it.  
  
"Maxie!" Zack was beside her in three seconds. "Dammit! Hold still" his cursing was not directed at her but at seeing the jagged jaws of the fur trap locked on her thigh. Blood was seeping through in patches on her cargo pants.   
  
"Max you have to turn over" Zack told her after a minute of trying to pull the jaws off her leg. Without waiting for her response, he grabbed the trap with one of his hands and shifted her body at the same time to keep the metal trap from ripping her flesh even more.   
  
Zack searched for the trigger to unlock the trap, but after a minute he cursed again "One of those fuckin' new traps-" he referenced to the new kind of animal traps, a new line introduced in 2015. These kinds weren't spring-loaded; they had a bolt system that would only be unlocked by a key.  
  
But Zack didn't have a key, or that kind of time. He held Max's leg down to the ground with one hand, and pulled with his other at the jaws, his super human strength wining the battle. When he got the trap up enough he grabbed underneath the blade with his hand to get a better grip. He was on too much adrenaline right now to feel the effects of the tempered steel blades cutting into his hand, but he could feel the small trickles of blood sliding down his palm.  
  
After around fifteen seconds of struggling, Max's leg was freed from the trap. Both her and Zack now were heavily panting, Zack from all the energy it took to pull the steel jaws apart, and Max from the pain shooting up her leg and from the shock.  
  
After a minute of looking at her brother, Max's head dropped back to the ground.  
  
"Max!" Zack shouted at her "Don't you fade out on me now dammit!" while he was speaking he tore off his jacket and sweater and all but ripped off the under shirt he had beneath them.  
  
"Still here" Max finally responded, her voice low and weak "Don't you give me CPR, I don't need to have my key memory on my anniversary being having my brother on my mouth-"  
  
"Get out of your pants" Zack told her, strict, and completely non sexual. He helped her pull the legs of her pants down, carefully peeling it away from the injury. Zack then pulled off his jacket and draped it over Max's lower body as far as he could without covering up the jagged wound. Part of this action was done to help ward off shock, but most of the reason for this was to give her back some dignity. It's not like Max was a very prudish and uptight person about these things. None of them were from being brought up at Manticore where unisex was the norm everywhere. Zack had seen all his sisters at some point in time over there, in the exams, in the showers, but this was different. Max wasn't nine anymore, she was a woman, and she deserved a certain amount of decency in times like this.   
  
Zack bent closer and examined the point of impact made by the steel trap. Two set of neat puncture marks oozed blood down her leg, some smaller trickles dripping onto the ground.  
  
Max placed both her hands on top of the wound, keeping direct pressure on it, feeling her own blood sliding down her hand, and she tried to remember her Manticore training to separate herself from the injury so she wouldn't wind up heaving all over the forest floor.  
  
A few seconds later Zack removed her hands and replaced it with his white undershirt he had taken off. He wound it around her leg tightly, causing her to hiss, but he needed to keep firm pressure on her calf to stop the bleeding.   
  
Max examined the makeshift bandage, before grabbing her cargos from where Zack threw them beside her. With some help from Zack she managed to pull the article of clothing over her body. The blood from the wound, her blood, was still on her hands. She grabbed some large fallen leaves from the ground and wiped away the stain on them.   
  
After she stood back on her feet, somewhat shaky, she noticed the blood on Zack's hand. "Looks like a deep slash Zack"  
  
Zack didn't even look at his injury "It's like a paper cut Max"  
  
"Let's just hope no little furry animal carrying a bio warfare disease got caught up in this or we're both gonna be in a lot of shit" she looked around for something to tie off Zack's wound. He claimed it was like a paper cut, but it was still bleeding, he most likely nicked a capillary in his hand. She finally gave up on finding anything on the ground, and instead ripped off a top section of the cloth covering her calf.   
  
She handed him the torn cloth "Paper cuts don't bleed like that-" she broke off for a second, loosing her mind over injury battle, and proceeded to vomited on the forest floor.  
  
Zack took the fabric from her and proceeded to wrap the cloth around his hand in an over and over fashion, securing it at the end by tucking the loose corner inside the wrap. Once his task was completed, he turned to Max who was still kneeling on her haunches. "More concerned about you Maxie" he stated to her earlier remark.  
  
Max spit a few times to get the after taste of vomit out of her mouth "Appreciate it bro, but I can handle a lot worse remember? It was me who fell through the ice that night-"  
  
"I remember Max" Zack cut in. He defiantly remembered that, watching as Jondy tore out over the ice to get to Max, who despite her Manticore genetics and soldier training, was thrashing around in the freezing water. He thought she was gonna die that night. If Jondy had come out a second too soon or too late, they would've both gone under the ice.  
  
Max took a moment to regain her bearings before pulling back up on her feet. "Grab those leaves," she indicated the stained foliage that she had wiped her blood off on. "We'll throw it in the fire" she didn't really suspect someone was tailing them. It was just with who they are EVERYONE was tailing them, and it was better to be cautious.   
  
Zack grabbed the leaves with one hand, and the fish he had caught earlier, shifting it to his good hand. He stepped in front of Max, almost protectively, scanning the trees for a moment "Bout a one mile trek back to camp" he turned back to look critically at his little sister "Can you make it that far?"  
  
"We'll just have to see" Max returned   
  
"I'll lead" Zack said in a take-charge voice. He didn't wait for a smart mouth response from her and started down the trail Max had been leading him on before her accident.  
  
*****   
  
The driver glanced out his window at the green sign that was erected on the side of the road   
  
Welcome to Issaquah   
"The Majesty of Washington all in one Place"   
  
"Sir" the driver spoke into the intercom that connected to the back "We just passed into Issaquah city limits"   
  
"Is that all?" White inquired, expecting something more out of his driver  
  
"I was wondering on your plan of action Sir" the driver returned "It would take more then a day to search out one individual in a place with as much acreage as this. Like a needle in a haystack"  
  
"Stop in the populated area soldier" White informed, "We'll question some of the citizens. All the X5's were created to be good looking. I'm sure this one caught the attention of some slutty women in town"  
  
"Slutty women Sir?"  
  
"You're in the service," White snapped back "Don't tell me you don't know about slutty women"   
  
"Yes Sir" the driver answered back in the way of a solider, even regarding a question like this. "Do you have a photo for ID?"  
  
"That's the thing soldier" White returned "You see all these X5's tend to be a little camera shy, they usually don't keep Polaroids of themselves lying around for us to find"  
  
"So that's a 'no' Sir?"  
  
"I didn't say that" White interrupted "He was spotted leaving Seattle by a Hover Cam. All that's needed to be done is to run it through an enhancer and he's a poster boy for the 'Find-A-Freak' campaign." As he spoke White uploaded the feed from that particular Hover Cam, bringing up the shots of Zack driving on his motorcycle. He cropped the image to a headshot and ran it through the enhancer program, finally printing it out on the small portable printer laying beside him  
  
Soon the driver pulled the Skylark into the parking lot of a local bar. Even though it was mid afternoon, there was a fair amount of cars already in the lot.  
  
"This seems like a good a place as any Sir"  
  
White didn't answer, and opened his non descript black briefcase, revealing about ten different phony badges from government agencies, such as the National Security Association, Food and Drug Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Central Intelligence Agency. He pulled out one from under the pile, an ID badge for the FBI, and tucked it into his black trench coat.   
  
"Wait in back" White climbed out of the car, giving these instructions to his driver  
  
"Yes Sir" the driver responded, pulling away after the back door was shut.  
  
White pushed through the glass entrance door to the bar. Dozens of people were inside, some seated at the long bar on one side of the room, and others either spread around the rest of the modern decorated bar, or around two red and black pool tables located in the opposite corner of the bar.   
  
"So what can I get you?" the bartender, a young twenty something woman with very long red hair curled in a funky feathery upsweep on her head, and dressed in a black polo shirt addressed White when he approached her.  
  
White immediately showed her his phony badge "I'm Agent Ames White with the FBI"  
  
The woman looked a little shocked at the sudden shift in the situation.   
  
White took this opportunity to show her the image he had just printed out in his car. "Do you recognize this individual?"  
  
The bartender took a moment to look at the photo of Zack "Him? Yeah. He came through here about five hours ago-"  
  
"Did he say where he was headed?"  
  
"No" she answered, "He ordered a shot of tequila with lime, slammed it down, paid for it and left"  
  
"Did you see where he went?"  
  
"I didn't" the woman returned, pointing at herself with a hand to her chest "But a coworker of mine sorta-" he she broke of to stifle a small laugh "Kinda followed his every move until he was outta her sight. Said she saw him taking off east"  
  
"What's down there?"  
  
"Not much" the bartender answered White "I mean not much in the way of people, it's a whole lot of woods. Mostly the former Issaquah National Forest-" She broke off to look at White "Is he wanted for something?"  
  
"I'm not at liberty to give away top priority government information to a civilian" White told her straight out. "Now I suggest you go on with your business and forget this conversation." He turned and left.  
  
The woman looked like she just got slapped, watching the retreating figure in black.  
  
The Skylark pulled up to meet White in the front of the bar.  
  
"Anything Sir?"  
  
White lowered the tinted divider window "Head east solider. To the Issaquah National Forest"  
  
"That's been disbanded Sir" the soldier informed in a crisp military manner "The US Wildlife Federation ran out of funds ten years ago-"  
  
"It would be in your best interest to shut your trap soldier" White barked back "I am aware of the politics involved, but the land is still there. The little martins didn't come down and snatch after Federal funds got sucked up"  
  
"Yes Sir" the soldier answered   
  
"Now as per my LAST order, head east, to the Issaquah National Forest. Any part of that you'd like to question some more soldier?"  
  
"No Sir." the car pulled back out on the main road.   
  
*****   
  
6: 15 PM  
  
Allie took one last bite of the lemon mint risotto on her plate "Damn Logan" she put down her fork "Where the hell did you get such good culinary skills? Last time I saw you managed to scorch pots boiling water"   
  
"I had some practice since then" he informed her, sipping the red Merlot he picked to go with the meal.  
  
"I'll say you have" Allie agreed, taking a swig from her own wine glass. She turned her head a moment to look at Jess and Lexi now romping around on the floor with Kaja. They had been fed earlier by Logan because they tended to get hungrier earlier then him. This was partially due to the growing stage they were in like most children their ages, but more of it came from being Max's children. She constantly ate to keep up with the high metabolism Manticore saddled her with.  
  
Jess stopped in his wrestling with the dog for a moment and looked up at Allie looking at him. He grinned only the way a little boy can and waved at her.  
  
Allie waved back with a smile "He's gonna be just like you when he gets older"   
  
Logan looked at his son "No I think he'll be more like his mom, he's already getting there"  
  
Allie looked down at her red faced Casio watch "Getting late."  
  
"You don't have to leave yet" Logan reassured her.  
  
"Thanks Logan" she responded, "It's been great, actually wonderful's a better word to describe seeing you again. But I really should head back into Seattle. I have this exhibition at 9:00 tomorrow morning. So-" she got up from her chair, and Logan stood up too. She looked at Logan and laughed briefly, not knowing what to do next "It was nice" she finally settled on that and offered him a friendly hug.  
  
Logan returned the gesture "It was great to see you again Allie"  
  
"Ditto" Allie agreed, pulling back to look at him "You grew up real nice Logan Robert Cale"  
  
"Thanks Allison Ladealia Mancaster" Logan threw back  
  
"Ah Logan-" Allie's tone was half wounded, half disapproving "You know how I feel about 'Ladealia' -"  
she made a face.   
  
"That's the fun it in" he threw back.  
  
Allie shoved him back a moment "Shut the hell up" there wasn't a trace of anger in her voice, and she was smiling. "I got your cell number, so I'll call you-" she paused "maybe day after next. When that wife of yours comes back I'm sure you'll be-" she cleared her throat "occupied" she slipped on her coat, walking through the living room, saying one last goodbye before she was out the door.  
  
  
*****   
  
FENTEL AVE  
SEATTLE  
  
Asha absent-mindedly flipped through channels with the silver remote to the Phillips 23 inch TV. She wasn't' really watching what was on the screen, she had just gotten remote control trigger finger. Finally after going through all seventy-five channels three separate times she gave up and cut of the television entirely. With a sigh she leaned her head against the back of the couch she was sitting at. She rubbed her tired eyes with both hands, stretching a moment later.   
  
The small clock on the metal end table ticked away in the now quiet room. Asha sat up from her earlier position and stood up to go find a drink in her small kitchen. She stepped over the pristine white tile floor and snagged a clean cup from out of the rack in the dishwasher. She opened her fridge to the cool air and bright light that always greeted people, searching for something to drink. She wasn't really thirsty, if she were she would've chosen the bottled water she stocked up on. She was looking more for a "drink" drink. She looked past the bottled Sam Adams and Heineken she kept for herself and grabbed the medium sized white bottle of Barcadi Gold Rum that Zack had showed up with one night. She took that along with a can of Coke from the fridge and closed the door. The coke fizzed in her glass, and she added a healthy amount of ice and Barcadi, not enough to get her wasted, but enough that showed she wasn't a lightweight.  
  
She closed the door to the fridge, and picked up her glass, intending to leave, but her eye caught something that was clipped to her fridge with a magnet. It was a photo, 3 x 5 of her and Zack, the only one she had of them together, hell the only photo she had of Zack. It had been taken by Zane the last time they all met up at Crash. Zack had leaned in to kiss her, and Zane had snapped the photo then. He sent it to her, getting her email address from his underground list of all the information of citizens in Seattle. There was also a small note written to her in the body of the email that read:   
  
From: Master_of_Puppets lookdownmyM16andsaythatagain@trinet.com  
CC: Iron_Clad_Chick vanityisnotanoption@xpmweb.net   
Subject: see the pretty puppies   
  
*To Asha,  
  
The only other person besides Deck who got to help Zack blow the hell outta things*   
Rock on girl.   
  
This message can't be traced  
  
Zane.*   
  
The subject line was Zane's hook. He had it set up where his addy or email screen name would not show up on the front page of email accounts he was mailing them to. It could be too easy that way to back track and find out his account. The email given at the front was listed as any one of a number of things. He would always type in this subject as something starting with the words "see the" ("see the puppies, "see the savings at Radio Shack..") letting his sibs know that it was him. It would prompt them for a passcode, which was 102346464345, and would change every time they opened it with each last number replacing the first (i.e. 1023464345 would become 5102346434 the second time they would get mail from him) THEN after all that, and the code was right Zane's real email addy and alias would appear normally, but it was locked out from ANY form of trace. He was a through man.  
  
Asha looked at the picture a moment longer. Zack never was a carefree person because of all that he was burdened with, and the amount of hard ass-ness he had, but in that moment he actually looked-happy. She smiled; glad that she could have that affect on him. Like Logan to Max she was his "moment of weakness" He made her happy, pissed, bitchy, all the things a man does to a woman who's in love with him. Her past relationships had more stability in the fact that she KNEW where they would be, and what they did when they weren't with her. But in spite of all of it, she would take the chance of exposure, death, and capture by the government her boyfriend presented with now then all the stability and normalcy she had with the others.  
  
A few seconds later she came around to her small iron legged dinning table and sat in one of its matching chairs. She took another swig of the rum and coke, playing with a piece of ice in her mouth, letting it slide over her tongue before crunching it in her teeth.   
  
Rain pelted against the closed window beside her sofa, and she looked up to this for a moment. Not because it was something so spectacular to see rain in Seattle, but she remembered that Zack would be outside all night, and had the sudden rush of emotions on his safety. It was very sudden however. /He's a freakin' solider for cryin' out loud..a little rain won't hurt him, "Not the fuckin' Witch of the West"../ She smiled at that remark Zack had dropped on her, the day Max had been shot at Southside Market. It sounded so..domestic? no, Zack wasn't some guy she roped in to have a million babies with and dry the dishes while she washed them. It was like a relationship, just not that way. She didn't think any X5 would fit into that domestic thing one hundred percent. Tinga, Zack told her, kept a gun hidden in her wall, and Max's way of doing the dishes was to shove them all in the dishwasher and turn it to "on" Having children and husbands didn't change who they were first. Now they were just transgenic female soldiers who have families. There was no "settling down" involved. White and the others didn't leave them alone after the rings were exchanged and the babies were born.   
  
On that train of thought, Asha suddenly was struck with another. Only the X5 women in this "squadron" besides Zack had committed relationships. Marriage for Logan and Max and Charlie to Tinga, which left Syl with her elusive boyfriend and Zack the only male in with his sisters. Krit, honestly it would surprise her if he decided to go relationship searching, he was more of a live wire single guy, and Zane, he had that whole "solitary, last angry man" thing going on to be anything but a brother, in law and uncle to his niece and nephews.   
  
Maybe it was a sign?   
  
Her drink was finished during her contemplation. She left the glass where it was and went to grab her cordless phone. She stood in the middle of her living room and dialed the number. It picked up, giving her that famous message:  
  
"If you dialed this number, you know who this is, leave a message"   
  
"beep"  
  
"Zack it's me. What the hell's the point of having a cell if you don't use it?" she pushed some hair behind her ears. "Just calling to check things. But you're not around, so I'll hit you again, be careful. Bye" she hung up, not realizing until the last moment that she sounded like Logan.  
  
The rain continued to drip on her window. /Yeah, maybe it was a sign/  
  
*****   
  
ISSAQUAH   
2323 HOURS (11:23 PM)  
  
The fire flickered in the growing darkness, embers, falling onto the wood below. A few scattered fish bones were thrown beside it. The light from the flames illuminated the small clearing, the fire not going out because of a cleverly crafted tarp made of fallen leaves and branches to keep the rain off it.   
  
Max was leaned up against the outside of the cave, covered by the leafed roof. She was busy cleaning her wound with salt from mini packets she found at the bottom of her canvas bag left in there by Cindy after grabbing a bite to eat on their lunch break.   
  
The wound was caked around the edges in dried blood, and fresh blood was seeping out over it. She ground salt above it all, gritting her teeth at the sting, but taking it because the salt would help keep the wound clean. A piece of cloth hovered over her face, and she looked up to see Zack topless, holding another remnant of his torn shirt for her to use as a fresh dressing.   
  
Max took it from him, tossing her the soiled cloth that had been wrapped around the wound earlier into the flames. "You not just trying to see my reaction on this?"  
  
"Max your disgusting" Zack complained, grabbing his sweater from where he had it drying by the fire because of it getting soaked in the rain. He pulled it on and soon sat beside her.   
  
"Hand bleeding still?" Max shifted to him after he got settled.  
  
Zack looked at his palm with small blotches of blood leaking out of the cloth "Yep" he looked back to her re-wrapping her leg "But I'd stake my reputation on the fact that yours is worse then mine"  
  
"Zack you don't HAVE a reputation" Max reminded him jokingly, a quiet hiss coming out at what she was doing, finishing a short time later.   
  
Zack let the remark slide, and looked up to the small amount of stars that were peaking out through the clouds "Rain's finally letting up"  
  
"So no ark?" Max complained   
  
There was a pause before Zack spoke again "There's the north star"  
  
This time Max gazed to at the familiar spot where Zack was looking. "Surprised any stars are out at all"  
  
"You know things aren't always easy to predict" he spoke in the way of a CO. "Remind you of our nights on the watchtower?" this time his tone dropped, more like a brother then a soldier.   
  
"Best social event going at Manticore" she said with a small smile, remembering like him. From as far back as three Zack use to sneak her up on the tower to look at the constellations. Sometimes it was Jondy, when she found out and complained about it, but mostly it was him and her.   
  
"Except for that time you didn't make it"  
  
Max looked at him, wondering what he meant.   
  
"I saw you that night-" he paused to clarify "When you went into Sgt. Mayder's quarters. I was asked to deliver a 'urgent package' to Mayder."  
  
She was alert then "How come you never dropped this on me before?" her voice rose   
  
"Oh come on Maxie, when the hell would think there would be a "right time?" When they were doing it to you and the others, or after Jesse got taken away?"   
  
"I deserved to know the truth!" she spat back at him.  
  
"Not when you're better off without it" his voice as a low growl.  
  
"I'm sorry, I guess I AM a better woman since I didn't know my brother was watching me commit self-abortion even though it didn't erase the fact that HE was the uncle and the father. Maybe I should've gone into a dance instead of seizures after it was done." Her eyes shot daggers at him.   
  
"You think it was a picnic for me Maxie? I knew about that weeks, fuckin' WEEKS before any of you did! And I couldn't do a damn thing except watch as each one of my baby sisters get dragged off and inseminated by my shit "for the good of the project" After I tried to buzz myself they took me back to fix it, but they did a hell of a lot more then that. They pumped me full of more testosterone to shoot up my sperm count and make me larger and more "efficient" I had to jack off into a fuckin' catheter that would measure the amount of sperm I was making. Three hours they strapped me to that for ten days, until I hit it somewhere around the billion mark." His eyes were on fire with rage. This was something they never really talked about before, only hitting on it occasionally.  
  
Max was stunned, she never knew about that. Like with hers, he never told her. He was a private man, that's what Manticore taught all of them. Their shit was nobodies business but their own. She touched his shoulder. "I could tell, would've been a boy-"  
  
"That suppose to make me hand out cigars?"   
  
"All I'm saying is that it's MY shit too. What happens when Jess asks where his name came from? 'Oh honey it was your aunt, but she died having mommy's brother Zack's baby's. And while we're on the subject-" she drifted off, getting her point across. "Manticore just screwed us with some things Zack, and I don't know how the hell else to deal with it"   
  
Her anger was reflected in Zack's eyes. "Same way we always deal with it"  
  
"When has that ever worked?" she spoke this softer, and looked back at the stars "Light is billions of years old before we see it, oldest thing in the universe-"   
  
"What about the date of Zane's last hair cut?"  
  
Max laughed quietly at the joke. He had effectively changed the subject, and for now she was going to let it slide. For now.  
  
Zack stretched for a moment, at least that's what it looked like to Max. But she was proven wrong when she saw that he was actually pulling something off the ground. She saw what it was a moment later when he handed her a long necked glass bottle of Coronas.   
  
"Is there an occasion?" she took the bottle from him.   
  
"Does there have to be?" he returned, breaking the cap off with his teeth "Stole them from Zane, not like he's gonna miss'em" he spit the bottle cap on the dirt, holding up the bottle a moment later "Here's to the kids who are fucked up-" he quoted a changed line from an old poem, 'Here's to the kids who are different'   
  
"May they quit bein' screwed over as adults" Max finished the toast and clinked her bottle against Zack's before taking a swig of the tan colored beer.   
  
Zack did the same, slamming almost half of his down in less than five seconds.   
  
"Suppose to have your wicked way with me now-" Max joked lightly  
  
"Sorry I don't incest on the first date" he took another swig his beer.  
  
"Wow, chivalry's still alive," she informed as Zack stood up.   
  
"Turning in?" she herself wasn't tired, she didn't have to sleep. She had slept regularly now since she and Logan got married but it wasn't necessary, it was more out of comfort and pleasure to share a bed with the man.   
  
"Starting to remember what happened the last I drank a Coronas too fast-" he trailed off as he went to go mark some territory.   
  
Max twirled her anniversary present on her finger. The diamonds sparkled in the firelight. She took off the ring for a moment, and there was something on it she hadn't seen before. It was an inscription written on the inside of the band:  
  
"Somebody's Angel"   
  
She smiled quietly to herself and slipped the band back on her finger.   
  
"You miss him don't you?" Zack's voice reached her before she saw him coming back from his 'retreat'  
  
Max had déjà vu at his words, remembering that time when Logan almost died, before she even knew it. Zack had offered a drink then to, and said that same thing.   
  
"It's only been one day-"  
  
"But you DO miss him soldier" he stepped closer to her  
  
"Sir, yes Sir" she said this lightly, not at all like a CO would expect from a soldier, but defiantly the way brother would expect from his baby sister.   
  
"Leg hurting much?"  
  
"Positive Sir" Max answered back  
  
"Cut the crap Maxie"   
  
"Hand hurting much?" she threw back  
  
"Stings like a bitch" he answered back  
  
"Stings like a bitch-" she was waiting for something  
  
"Ma'am" Zack played into her game  
  
"Straight up" she returned "So you gonna sleep or what?"  
  
"Not tired" Zack informed  
  
"You're a sucky liar Zack"  
  
"Fine, then make Max"  
  
"You don't want it to come to that"  
  
He arched an eyebrow at her "Really?"   
  
"Want me to spill out the history? Who kicked who's ass more?"   
  
A beat  
  
"I'm sitting, but I'm not sleeping"  
  
"Fine"  
  
Zack took a moment to settle back down in a sitting position on the forest floor.  
  
Max watched him in the half-light "You value yourself too much"  
  
"Max that's my flashlight" Zack showed the item in his hand "Does Logan know you have this much of a dirty mind?"  
  
"Cut the crap Zack" this time she was the one that said it.  
  
*****   
  
2415 HOURS (12:15 AM)   
  
The Skylark came to a halt in front of an old hunting lodge on the outskirts of the forest.   
  
"Suggest we regroup in the morning Sir" the soldier/driver looked at White in his rearview mirror "Darkness will impair the search"  
  
"Did you know that X5's were spliced with feline DNA so they can see in the dark?" White threw back from his seat in the back.  
  
"No I didn't Sir" the soldier answered back "But our capabilities are not that advanced. Setting up base at this lodge tonight will give prime advantage for a full scale search in the morning"  
  
"You've made your sales pitch soldier" White spoke out "Set up house for the night here and reconvene at 0600 hours"  
  
"Yes Sir" the engine soon cut off and both White and his driver came up to the abandoned lodge. The place was dark. A small single table lamp was soon switched on, but provided minimal light to the large room. The interior walls were made from the stacked logs that built the entire structure. The air inside was musty and trash and fallen leaves littered the corners on the concrete floor.  
  
White headed over to the tiny folding card table standing in the center of the room by one of the two small square windows. His black briefcase hit the plastic tabletop with an unreasoning smack, and the snap of the hinges and the creaking of the case being opened followed it soon after.   
  
"Set up more lights" White opened up his Dell Notebook and flicked it on, the screen illuminating the darker areas of the lodge  
  
"Yes Sir" the soldier responded, and went to get the portable halogen lamps packed in the trunk of the Skylark.  
  
White's fingers clicked away on the computer keys. He mapped out the portion of the Issaquah forests that were still standing after the fires of 2011, dividing this portion into five separate sectors each spanning six miles.  
  
Light soon flooded the room as the nameless soldier set up four portable halogen lamps at strategic places around the room.   
  
"Permission to ask what your doing Sir" the soldier was now beside White looking on with him on his computer screen   
  
"Well you see THIS is a map of the Issaquah Forest soldier showing all the portions that are still livable to a human being, animal or transgenic. It's divided into five sectors that we will cover starting at 6:00. Think you can wrap your head around that soldier?"   
  
"Yes Sir" he responded  
  
"Good" White still didn't look at him when he talked "What are our weapon options?"  
  
"Sig Sauer P230, Glock 9 MM, the new line of Smith and Wesson-"  
  
"State of the art military weapon there as well?"  
  
"Yes Sir, M16 semi-automatic with laser sights"  
  
"Ammo?"  
  
"They're locked and loaded Sir." He paused for a moment "Will these weapons be enough to take them down? It's my understanding that Manticore made some pretty strong shit"  
  
"There's a deterrent made for everything soldier," White reminded "And I'm theirs"  
  
*****   
  
Logan stepped out into the night, pulling on his leather jacket as he went out. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs that led from the porch to the ground and gave a sharp whistle.   
  
A few seconds later Kaja came running out of the surrounding trees, heading over to him  
  
"Come one girl, lets go inside" Logan spoke to her as the dog climbed the stairs and came to stand beside him. He opened the front door to the cabin and let her walk in first.   
  
Kaja immediately headed over to the burning fire in the fireplace and sat down on the floor beside it. The sight of it made Logan smile. "Guess Max isn't the only girl I know who has that much of a thing with curling in front of a fire" He deposited his jacket back on the hook by the door and headed over to the couch that was closest to the fireplace. The clock above the mantle read 1:12. Both Jess and Lexi had been tucked in hours ago, leaving Logan to his own devices. It seemed so quiet without Max around. It WAS quiet without Max around. It felt so weird not having her here to bounce ideas and quips and those hot and steamy things that sometimes came as a result of the others.   
  
Kaja was beside him now on the floor by the couch, her head resting beside Logan's elbow on the arm rest.  
  
He reached his arm around to pet her "You missing her to?" he scratched her between the ears and they lay back from the contact. "Some anniversary huh girl?"  
  
Kaja's ears pricked up again.  
  
"The things I could be doing with mommy on this couch right now-" he smiled wickedly to himself at the thought. He was sure that Max was "enjoying" for lack of a better word, her time campin' with Zack, but he still wanted her here. He was a selfish man, and he was the first to admit it. He wanted her right here right now, "contemplating" their anniversary on the hearth by the fire. It sure was a hell of a better way to keep warm then the furnace that had that job at present. Talking about her to Allie all afternoon only helped cement the fact that he missed her. 'Couples need to take separate vacations' his ass. He didn't want her to hang around him 24/7, they both needed their own time, but he was at his best when she was with him.  
  
It almost took him loosing her to figure that out. His proposal was not done under a storybook setting. If she hadn't gotten pregnant on their first encounter-he would've defiantly admitted his feelings to her, and would have most likely asked her to marry him, but it wouldn't have been the whole package deal like it had been. No doubt they would've kept dancing around each other if Max had confronted him that night, and made him listen to her, to what they had done, and exactly what kind of consequences it brought.  
  
But he was glad that fate crashed their world like that. He admitted his feelings to the woman he loved, proposed, got married and became a father all in the course of under a year. Max had been his associate, became his friend, then lover, then fiancé, then wife and then mother of his children. That last one, it was the most awe inspiring, and challenging. Max went through the pregnancy, but he also did too, having to tell off more then a number of relatives who wanted to know why they weren't invited to the wedding and why Logan married a slut from a one-night stand. Margo had even claimed Max solicitated herself to him in order to pay her rent and now was "saddling" him with a baby.  
  
Logan basically told her the only thing that needed a saddle, and she was the back off one, also that Max was his wife and she did not deserve the crap of the Cale snooty upper society. He took another sip of his coffee, contemplating these thoughts swirling around in his head. He then made a quick decision and got up from the couch.  
  
Kaja lifted her head from the rest, confused from the movements. She watched Logan walk across the expanse of the living room, following him a moment later.  
  
A set of French doors stood next to the fireplace. Logan twisted the chrome colored handle and the right door opened, squeaking from years of misuse. The room was dark, but he quickly fixed that by flipping on the light switch that was just to the right of the door.   
  
The room he was in now was almost completely white. Light was supplied by an inlaid track lighting fixture set in the across the ceiling. The white of the walls was broken by several colorful framed modern art paintings. There was no furniture in the entire room except for a small square backed navy blue chaste lounge against one of the two rectangular windows covered by sheer gray drapes.  
  
The room's main focal point was the solid black baby grand piano dead center in the middle of the white marble tiled floor with a matching black cushioned bench. With slow movements Logan made his way to the piano. The top was opened and it and the inside were covered with dust. He sat at the bench and lifted the wooden drop cover off the keys. The tiny music stand on the piano held only two songs from a children's piano book. He looked at them, remembering, they were his and Marie's. Mostly Marie's, he never took to "Hot Cross Buns" He was always challenging his piano teacher to give him something hard. He barely touched the keys with his hands, but soon he was playing a snatch from "A Fifth of Beethoven" He stopped minutes later because he was afraid the loud banging notes would wake up the kids. A moment later he played again, a softer composition "My Funny Valentine" The slow, sad sounding melody filled the room that had marvelous acoustics.  
  
He soon became engrossed in the song, a tune he had picked up from his mother, and had asked his piano teacher to find in a piano piece. He had played it once to Val on their honeymoon, but that was it. He had to sell their small Baldwin piano to pay for the twenty cases of 200-dollar bottle chardonnay Val had decided to buy on "credit", but at that time her credit was shot. After they divorced, he never picked up the piano again, he focused on his other talent-computers. He started doing regular Eyes Only investigations as opposed to it being a side job beforehand. Then through his "crusade" he caught Max skulking into his living room to lift the statue of Bast, and after that Eyes Only and Max became his world, a world that didn't have time for his piano playing.   
  
He turned his head to one of the windows when he thought he heard something. At first he thought he imagined it. But then he heard it again, a steady tapping noise on the glass, soon followed by a voice.  
  
"Hey Liberache, you available?"   
  
For one insane moment he thought it was Max, but the voice didn't belong to her.   
  
He stood up and walked over to the window where he heard the noise, drawing up the roman blinds.  
  
"Asha" he spotted the familiar figure of the blonde and opened window "What are you doing here?"   
  
"Mind if I come in before I go into my story?" she asked from outside the window "It's freezing"  
  
"Come in" Logan opened the window all the way so she could step through it, which she did after a moment.   
"But keep it down, you'll wake up the kids"  
  
"What's up that you would come out here now?" he shut the window while he asked her this.   
  
"I just have this feeling" she pulled the hood off her red hoodie and turned to face him, her short semi curly blonde hair slightly damp from the air outside  
  
"Woman's intuition?"   
  
"No" she set him straight "Something just doesn't feel right" she looked to the piano briefly "Nice chops"  
  
"Thanks" he answered simply "Care to explain what you mean?"  
  
"Got some coffee?"  
  
"I could make some, so what I'm catering to you now?"   
  
"Hey it's how you got Max" Asha reminded walking ahead of Logan out of the current room and back into the living room.   
  
Ten minutes later Logan handed her a black cup of Columbian Supreme "You don't have any reason to worry. Zack's not exactly incompetent"   
  
"But he has more of a threat level then others" she took a sip from the mug as Logan slid into the seat next to her. "Things just haven't felt 'right' since he left for this thing"  
  
"You said that already" he told her "But I still don't know what you mean"   
  
"He's got my gun Logan" she set the mug back on the tabletop. "He was at my place the night before last, and that morning I got some strange sense to give him the Colt. Don't know the hell why. I mean it's like you said Zack's not incompetent. He's handled himself since before I could eat solid food. But I had to give it to him, call it a feeling"  
  
"What do you think's gonna happen?"   
  
Asha looked at him for a long moment "This is gonna sound so weird and cliché, but I had this dream two nights ago. I was at a lake or something, and all I could hear was the sound of gunfire, just a succession of rounds going off one right after the other. And then for once brief second I saw Zack, but I couldn't tell if he was hurt or not, but I kept hearing those guns-"  
  
"And?"  
  
"And then I just woke up. It was freaky"   
  
"Dreams aren't always insights to the future"  
  
"Oh come off it Logan, you can't tell me you never had a dream like that? How about before your parents died?"  
  
He shot his head up to look at her directly then, a warning look telling her she was over the line.   
  
"How about with Max?" she changed the subject in rapid-fire time before he could say anything. "When she was taken hostage, when she was shot, didn't you have something in a dream that made you question her safety?"  
  
"Max is never safe" Logan spat back "And neither is Zack. I worry about her, but I don't just lock her away if I think she could run into some danger"  
  
"NO one is safe Logan." Asha informed "And your wife may be out there, but my boyfriend is out there too, and I have a damn good reason to have concerns!"  
  
Both stopped in their heated debate when they heard the sound of the door to one of the guest bedrooms open. Jess came out in his PJ's sleepy eyed, with a stubborn frown on his face. He approached the two adults in the living room.  
  
"Aunt Asha why are you and daddy yelling at each other?"   
  
"We just got carried away Jess" Asha explained apologetically "Sorry about waking you up"   
  
"Yeah sorry sweetie" Logan apologized as well "Go back to sleep we'll be more quiet"  
  
Jess came over to Logan "Is mommy home yet?"  
  
Logan shook his head "not yet"  
  
"What's she doing with Uncle Zack?" he headed over to look out the window.  
  
Logan slid out of his chair and stood behind his son who was gazing intently out the window. He picked him up from the side, and looked out the window with him.  
  
"Uncle Zack's not a bad guy" Asha joined them at the window "They're probably having a good time"  
  
Logan pulled Jess back for a moment and looked him in the eye "Mommy's okay" he wrapped his arms around him when Jess hugged him "Ready to go back to sleep?"  
  
Jess gave a hesitant nod and Logan kissed him and set him back down "She'll be back in the morning" he reassured to the retreating little boy.  
  
"Poor baby" Asha spoke up after Jess was back in the guestroom.  
  
"He'll be okay Aunt Asha"  
  
"Like Max will always be okay?"  
  
"Asha enough-" he warned her  
  
She broke a small smile at the other remark made "He's never called me that before" she referenced Jess calling her his aunt.  
  
"You are around Zack enough, its natural for him to make that pseudo connection"  
  
"But you draw the line at 'Uncle Alec' right?"  
  
Logan looked at her in wholehearted agreement "Think Jess does too, he's just called him 'Alec' ever since he met him"   
  
Asha turned to look out the window, watching the still night "You mind if Aunt Asha stays over here tonight?" she turned back to face him "In case my hunch is on the mark."   
  
"You can take the sofa," he told her, basically saying yes.  
  
"Wow the sofa" Asha repeated, "You are a true gentleman Logan"  
  
Logan just shook his head and retreated off into the master bedroom to get some sleep of his own. "Goodnight Asha"  
  
*****   
  
0620 (6:20 AM)  
  
"Anything?"  
  
"Not on this grid Sir" White's soldier responded through his walkee talkee "But I think we're getting closer"  
  
White pressed the button his portable "How do you mean?"   
  
"I found some blood Sir"  
  
That remark made White more alert, "What's your exact location?"  
  
"Longitude 65 West, Latitude 35 East by Northeast"   
  
White used the soldier's directions and was where he was standing twenty minutes later.   
  
"Small patches around the base of this tree"   
  
White knelt where the soldier was pointing, examining the small drops of blood scattered by the dead tree.  
He also discovered an animal trap that had its springs broken. The metal was clean, but there were tiny drops of blood a few inches beside it on the forest floor.  
  
"How much would you bet that an animal got caught in this?" White looked at the other man  
  
"Not much Sir" the soldier responded, "Trappers clean these things with grease, this has been wiped off and the loading mechanism has been broken suggesting strong force that's not human, but there's no animal in 300 miles of here that could've done this"  
  
  
"Not human and not animal" White turned back to examine the trap "You know what that leaves us with" he paused to stand back up "They were here" he wiped the blood off his hand with a wad of paper towel, tossing it to the ground a second later "Continue searching this sect. One of them is hurt, it's slowing them down"  
  
"Yes Sir. How do we play this?"  
  
White clicked his M16 "Anyway to bring them in"  
  
*****   
  
0630 HOURS (6:30 AM)  
  
Zack came awake at the sounds of Max dousing out the fire.   
  
"Damn, what time is it?" he sat up from his "bed" on the ground  
  
"0630 hours commander" Max piled the last bit of dirt on the fire to snuff it out. She was balancing her weight on a piece of fallen branch used as a makeshift crutch.  
  
As Zack became more awake he noticed more of Max's appearance "You don't look so hot"  
  
Her skin was pale and her hair had become damp on he hairline in the middle of the night "Threw up three times last night" she pushed the tangled, filthy strands behind one ear "And this stinging is giving me a bitchin' headache-"   
  
Zack was up to brace her three seconds later when she almost hit the ground "Think that's getting infected" he made her sit down and looked at the new amount of blood that had seeped out during the night. "Needs to be flushed out with water"  
  
"I'll take a dip in the lake and clean it out" she told him.  
  
"Max you're not with it enough to swim on your own"  
  
"I'm stanky Zack, I need to get clean, and I'm not swimming in all my clothes just so you can watch me" she pulled herself back up and left without seeking his approval. She passed by the log where White and the soldier had been not ten minutes beforehand. She took no notice of the change in the piles of leaves on the ground, or the new set of footprints in the dirt, walking past them to get to the water.  
  
Once there, she dropped the branch, balancing herself on her good leg. Her hands moved to pull off her shirt, but stopped suddenly at a sound. She whipped her head around, looking at all the trees, waiting. She tunneled her vision and saw-a car, a black Buick Skylark with government plates parking some twenty yards away. She ducked for a brief moment, but then realized that there was nothing on the shore of the lake that she could adequately conceal herself behind. She heard voices, looking again, she saw who it was, confirming her worst fears.  
  
There was no time to get to the trees before Ames White saw her so she made a split second decision, positioning herself on the edge of the shore and dove into the water in a perfectly executed dive. She dove down into the water, swimming deep enough to not be seen. She stopped her breathing to keep air bubbles from giving away her location.  
  
  
The water slid over her body like a thousand knives gliding over her skin. Her eyes remained open under the frigid water. Above her head, she could still hear them, talking.   
  
"Any signs?"  
  
"No sir, we covered most of the tree line"  
  
"What about the other one?"   
  
"Nothing."  
  
"There can't be nothing soldier, otherwise we wouldn't be out here."  
  
"I know sir" the soldier responded "I just meant-"  
  
"You think I give a damn about what you meant?" Ames White cut the man off.  
  
(cut to: shot of Max under the river water, grasping at stones to keep herself submerged. White and soldier are seen through her view under the water. Shot returns to profile view of White and sergeant a few seconds later)  
  
The sergeant went silent, feeling the sting of White's remark. "Noted sir"  
  
"Good" White continued "Obviously they didn't come through here, but they're somewhere in the surrounding area." he looked out over the tree line of pine and maple, some going into their golden hues with the impending fall weather.  
  
White turned back to the young military man in green fatigues "Start checking northwest, northeast, and due north. Mark my words soldier, we will stay out all the live long day until we find'em"   
  
"Yes Sir" the sergeant answered back crisply, barking the command in his radio.  
  
White scanned the gaggle of trees again, looking, listening for the sound of startled animals, birds, waiting for nature to give away their location. Nothing happened. White turned sharply, pissed there was no find. The sweep of his trench coat created small ripples in the shallow water of the river. He stepped over the rocks and water reeds, glancing over his shoulder again, before leaving the clearing.  
  
The water remained still for minutes after White left with the soldier, but soon it erupted from something rising to the surface at a high speed. Max's head bobbed in the water, her hair sticking to the sides of her face, the cold making her shake as she watched, waited until White pulled out in the black car, until it vanished from her vision completely.   
  
After she was sure he was gone, she swam to the shore, long strenuous movements because of how long she had been under 68 degree water.   
  
"Max" the voice belonged to Zack, who came out from the undergrowth he had been hiding at and now stood at the shoreline. "Did they see you?"  
  
Max didn't answer him with words, but shook her head 'no' "They've gone-" her voice trembled as she struggled to stand up on the soft shore.  
  
Zack grabbed her hand, and pulled her up the embankment. The hand being used was wrapped twice in a makeshift bandage with slight traces of blood seeping out.   
  
"He's going to check up river," Max hissed and sat down in exhaustion. She checked a piece of white fabric tied around her calf muscle. Like Zack's hand it was leaking blood, but in a much larger amount. The cloth was now stained in blood and soaking wet from the water.  
  
"You're loosing too much blood" Zack examined her wound with his eyes "Shouldn't have dragged you into this"   
  
"Last time I checked I had a mind of my own Zack" Max reprimanded him gently   
"Like you asked for all of this crap to happen"  
  
"Probably gonna comeback here for a final sweep" Zack began to analyze "Need to get out of this clearing"  
  
"What about the blood in the water?" Max hissed as Zack tied off her bandage.  
  
"Osprey and Hawks drop fish all the time after they kill them" Zack informed "White won't know its human unless he has a genetics lab with him"   
  
"With our luck he probably does" Max informed, "Where's your phone?"  
  
Zack pointed to the woods behind him "Back there. Couldn't risk the chance it would reflect on something and blow my cover"   
  
Max didn't respond to that statement, instead she held out her hand "Pull me up and let's get the hell outta here" she balanced herself on the muddy embankment after she was completely upright.   
  
"Sir!" the loud shout of a soldier caught their attention "I think I found something!"  
  
Zack scanned the tree line like a hawk, putting a finger to his lips.  
  
Max nodded, motioning back to the woods with her hand.  
  
Zack gave another command with his hands, telling her to first move to a tree fifty or so odd feet before the real woods. He then gave the command to move out.  
  
Before Max moved she took off the diamond ring from her finger and tied it around her neck with a section of loose cloth ripped from Zack's shirt, and tucked it under her army green long sleeved cotton shirt so that the shine wouldn't attract anyone they didn't want to find them.  
  
With inhumanly fast movements the brother and sister duo moved to a 200 year old maple tree bordering what use to be an Issaquah national forest.  
  
"Sir!" the voice seemed to be getting louder when they stopped at the tree. Max glanced beyond it's boundaries, still seeing no one, but looking for a unnatural color or form for the forest. Leaves blew, birds still sang, nature going on as it should.  
  
From behind their heads a caw arose. Both turned and saw a raven perched on a high branch of the tree. The bird cawed again. Zack scanned the tree line, not seeing anything moving, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. He spotted the cave where he had been before in the brush and branches.   
  
"Move!" he whispered these words to Max. They ran at the same speed it took them to reach the tree, not looking back.  
  
"Stop!" the soldier called out.  
  
Zack looked over his shoulder, he saw him with a M16 rifle, aiming it them "Stop or I'll open fire!"  
  
Zack reached into his jacket, pulling out a gun, Asha's silver colt with a silencer.  
  
Shots rang out from both directions.  
  
The soldier's bullets missed his targets. Zack snatched the gun from him and slammed him to the ground, knocking him out with the butt of Asha's Colt two seconds later. "Go go go!" he shouted   
  
Max ran as best she could on her leg, looking back when she didn't see Zack following her "Let's move!"  
  
Zack grabbed his cell phone from where he left it in the cave and followed Max. Because of her leg she was making slow progress "Left, it's under those trees thirty yards ahead"  
  
Max had just about had it, and her legs almost gave out when they finally reached Zack's motorcycle.  
  
He threw all the leaves off it and gunned the engine, grabbing Max's hand and pulling her behind him.  
  
He revved up the engine and pulled out of the forest, going slow at first to avoid any twigs that could shred the tires, but then blazing out as soon as they hit the paved road.  
  
*****   
  
"What the hell do you mean you lost them?" White stood over the soldier who Zack had knocked out  
  
"He incapacitated me Sir. It was too late by the time I got re-established"   
  
"Head back out on the roads!" White kicked the soldier "He's probably heading back out on his bike"  
  
"Yes Sir"  
  
White pointed his M16 at the man "DO NOT fuck up again soldier or I will be the one to incapacitate you next"  
  
*****   
  
CABIN  
  
Asha's eyes came open at the sound of a motorcycle engine. She got off the couch and went to the window, heading out the door a second later when she saw who it was.  
  
"Zack?" she tore down the steps when she saw him more clearly "LOGAN!" she shouted back into the cabin "GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE NOW!"  
  
Zack cut off the engine and stashed the bike behind a tree to keep White from finding it. The door opened a few seconds later to Logan, who jumped down from the porch when he saw what was going on.   
  
"Oh my god" his eyes immediately went to Max who was soaking wet and had blood dripping down her leg.  
"Max!" he ran to her and got there three seconds before she collapsed in his arms.  
  
"Max, baby, can you hear me?" he looked up to Zack "What the hell happened?"  
  
"She got caught in an animal trap" Zack told him curtly "White found out where we were somehow-"  
he switched gears "Take her inside"  
  
*****   
  
INSIDE   
  
Logan kicked off the extra cushions on his gray sofa and set Max on the couch cushions. Her skin was an unhealthy gray color, and she was soaked through. He pulled down her pant leg , taking off the makeshift bandage coming face to face with the wicked looking wound leaking her blood out.  
  
"It needs some kind of suturing" Logan spoke to the others in the room. He put pressure on the wound again, and Max cringed, even though at this time she was semi conscious. "Asha dial 443-4535 and put it on speaker."  
  
"Gold Point PT" came the voice on the other line  
  
"Bling-" Logan spoke the name of his old friend who had moved to Issaquah to start his own practice.   
  
"Logan? That you? What's up?"  
  
"I need you down here NOW!"  
  
"Whoa slow down man, where are you?"  
  
"At my parents cabin-"  
  
"Is it something with Max?"  
  
"Just get down here and bring a suture kit"  
  
"I'm on it, cabin's here in Issaquah right?"  
  
"Yeah" Logan shouted to be heard at the other end  
  
"I'll be there Logan" the call hung up  
  
*****   
  
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER  
  
"Logan?" Bling entered through the front door.   
  
"In here" Logan called out.   
  
Bling entered the living room, feeling the eyes of the others on him "What we got?" he cut to the chase and stepped over to where he saw Max lying on the couch.   
  
"Animal trap" Logan answered.  
  
"Is she conscious?" Bling set his kit on the coffee table and looked at Max's still form  
  
"Barely" this reply came from Logan who was still keeping firm pressure on the bleeding with one hand and using the other to stroke the sweaty hair from her face.  
  
Bling took out a small vial of Lidocane and a plastic syringe. He also pulled out a larger needle "Someone fill this with 50 cc's of salt water. I need to flush out the wound completely before I start stitching"   
  
Zack took the needle from him and headed over to the kitchen.  
  
"Sorry we have to meet up again like this girl" Bling apologized to Max while he waited for Zack "Look sweet with your hair straightened out though"   
  
"Bling?" Max still hadn't come around to full consciousness, but her ears picked up the sounds of Bling's voice and it was confusing her.  
  
"It's me Max" Bling told her "Relax okay, we'll take care of things for you" he took the needle Zack handed to him, looking at the other man "Did she have needles used on her a lot at Manticore?"  
  
"We all did" Zack snapped back  
  
Bling let the remark drop "Hold her down while I do this Zack. Judging by your answer she's not going to take this well"  
  
Bling waited until Zack was standing next to Logan, bracing Max's arms down, gently but firmly, before he stuck the long needle of the syringe under the loose, frayed skin of the injury. He pumped the saline solution into the wound slowly, some of it trickling down her leg, and he wiped this excess off with a paper towel.  
  
Max became active at the first contact of the needle. She screamed and tried to buck him off her leg. She came incredibly close to breaking Bling's jaw with her foot, but Zack pushed it down on above her wound and held her leg to the couch.   
  
"Get your head in the game soldier!" he didn't shout at her harshly, just enough to prevent her from injuring anyone or herself "Take it easy-"  
  
"Oh God Zack-" she was panting at the pain she was in  
  
"Relax Maxie, slow breaths, you'll be fine"   
  
The procedure lasted for two agonizing minutes before Bling deemed the wound clean enough to begin suturing. He stuck another needle into her, the one filled with Lidocane, but she was too exhausted to fight back. Bling injected the Lidocane into three separate areas around the wound and waited for a minute for it to take effect before he began suturing the wound closed.  
  
Logan held onto Max the entire time, holding her hand pressing his forehead to hers "Almost done baby-" he kissed her on her cheekbone.  
  
Jess had woken up by then because of all the noise. When he saw the 'strange man' hurting Max he screamed   
"MOMMY!"  
  
He ran to her, but Asha stopped him and picked him up   
  
"She'll be okay sweeite, They're trying to help her-"  
  
"No! I wanna see mommy Aunt Asha let me go!" Jess was struggling as hard as he could to break out of Asha's grip.  
  
"You can't right now baby-"  
  
"Please Aunt Asha please!-" he started crying.   
  
Asha hugged him "She's fine Jess, okay" she rubbed his back with her hand "It'll be fine"   
  
"Almost there Max" Bling spoke out finishing his last few sutures. He tied off the end and snipped off the ends with surgical scissors. He then proceeded to wrap actual sterile gauze around Max's calf, closing off the end with first tape. "Done" Bling looked up to Max and smiled, and then he looked at Logan "I'll leave some penicillin for her to get at any infections she may have picked up-"  
  
"You leaving?" Logan asked him, wiping the sweat off Max's face with a clean rag.  
  
Bling shook his head "She's probably gonna be out, but if I know our girl she's only going to need about an hour. I'll stick around in the mean time, like to actually have a conversation with her"  
  
"Thanks" Logan responded "for everything"  
  
"Hey no sweat man" Bling reminded "Consider it payback for all the shit she's done for me"   
  
"Logan?"  
  
Logan looked down at Max, who had just said his name.  
  
"Is Jess-"  
  
"He's fine sweetheart" Logan reassured "It's good now, just rest for a while okay?" he kissed her, on the mouth this time, holding her hand, watching her fall asleep.   
  
*****   
  
45 MINUTES LATER   
  
"How long you plannin' to keep that a secret?" Bling was drinking coffee at the dining table. He grabbed Zack's hand before he could say anything.   
  
"I'm not hiding anything" Zack argued  
  
"No?" Bling question, flipping over Zack's palm "Care to explain?" he looked at the cut on Zack's hand he got after prying the animal trap off of Max. "This is gonna need at least two or three stitches" he sighed "Ya know Zack sometimes being CO tough isn't always a good thing" he stood up "I'll get my kit"  
  
Asha stepped over to him still holding Jess "Guess Manticore isn't made of metal"  
  
Zack looked closer at his cut "Nothing to write home about" he gave a nod up to his nephew "How's he doin'?"  
  
"Fell asleep twenty minutes ago" she looked at the little boy she was holding and then back out to Zack   
"What happened out there?"  
  
"You wouldn't understand" Zack told her straight out  
  
"I would if you told me" she snapped back glaring at him  
  
"Later okay?"  
  
She sighed "Fine" she stepped over to him, messed with his filthy blonde hair and kissed him on top of his head. She started to pull away, but Zack grabbed her hand at the last second pulling her down for a kiss.  
  
She pulled back five seconds later and walked back into the living room to sit down with Jess.  
  
Bling came back with his kit and sat back down beside Zack.   
  
"So you finally got yourself a girlfriend huh?" he took out the needles.   
  
"Guess so" Zack answered back "You know what your doing?"  
  
Bling took this opportunity to stab him in the palm with the Lidocane. He threaded the needle while he waited for the Lidocane to take effect.   
  
"How's the family?" Bling started closing the laceration on Zack's hand  
  
"Commin' up roses Bling"   
  
"Good old cynical Zack" Bling continued working "Missed you I can tell ya that much" he looked over at Asha sitting on the couch "She puts up with you?"  
  
"Don't understand it either sometimes," Zack returned  
  
Bling laughed low, the tension releasing some at those words. He tied off the suturing "Done. No follow up, I know how you are about that. The sutures are biodegradable" he stood up.  
  
Zack flexed his hand, testing the restraints of the stitches "Thanks"  
  
"Not a problem brotha" Bling slapped his hand, and went to put away his suture kit for the second time.  
  
"Asha right?" Bling set the kit back on the coffee table, addressing the blonde.  
  
She turned up to face him "Yeah"  
  
"Bling"   
  
"Hey"  
  
"Hey yourself" he looked back over at Zack "So your hooked up with Zack?"  
  
Asha looked where he was looking "Yeah, how bout you? You attached to this group somehow?"  
  
"Use to be Logan's PT" Bling told her "But I suckered him into being friends. I was best man at their wedding" he indicated Logan and Max when he said this. "And Max's friend, OC, she had on this red scarlet dress...mmMMM. I know she's a lesbian and all, but sistah looked nice"  
  
Asha smiled at this.  
  
The door opened again once, and a tiny figure with brown hair, blue eyes and green footie PJ's came out.  
  
"That's the baby?" Bling watched Lexi yawn "Damn she's grown" "Excuse me Asha, gotta go greet my other girl" he headed over to the girl.   
  
Lexi looked at him "Llo"  
  
"Hey" Bling smiled "Remember me?"  
  
"Unc-Bing" Lexi struggled with pronunciation, but held out her arms a second later  
  
Bling picked her up "My god boo boo you're so BIG" he kissed her, wet and sloppy on her cheek.  
  
Lexi laughed and kissed him back   
  
"Thanks sweetie. Always glad to get lovin' from my number one honey" he kissed her again, with less spit.  
  
"Thought I was your no. 1"  
  
Bling looked back in the direction of the couch "Hey you were suppose to be out"  
  
"Not predictable Bling you know that" Max's voice was weak, but she was smiling.  
  
"Oh believe me I know" he walked over to her, setting Lexi down on her feet. "How ya feelin'?" he kissed her.  
  
"Can't curse in front of my babies" she told him  
  
Bling laughed, "Now THAT'S the Max I know. You scared the hell out of us before."  
  
"Defiantly" Logan agreed, kissing her, which turned out to be long.  
  
"Okay you two break it up, break it up" Bling reprimanded jokingly. His eye caught something on Max's neck. "Sweet love of God Logan, how big of a rock did you drop on your woman?"  
  
"It's not even a karat Bling" Logan told him  
  
"Like it matters," Bling returned "You just make the rest of us look bad" he looked at the diamonds "Three-diamonds oh shit today's your anniversary Almost forgot. Well congrats anyways" he kissed Max again.  
  
"Didn't you have a problem kissing MY wife the last time I saw you?"  
  
"I would congratulate you the same way Logan but I only kiss pretty boys-" he ducked when Logan to a mock swing at him  
  
"Mommy?" Jess had come awake and immediately climbed off Asha's lap. He hugged her hard, to which Max returned the gesture.   
  
"It's aiight baby, I told you I'd be back" she kissed him  
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE  
  
"No Sir the mission was not successful" White spoke through his cell phone to his superior (the man we never meet)   
  
"I know that Sir, but some of the 'help' you hired couldn't find a transgenic with two hands and a flashlight" pause "Yes Sir. Thank you Sir" he disconnected the call.   
  
His phone rang again.  
  
"White"  
  
"Fen'ostol"  
  
"Fen'ostol" White answered back to the woman "Was there something you needed?"  
  
"Something miraculous came across my path today Ames"  
  
White was now interested "What is it?"  
  
"Not here. Meet me at the boarding house" the call disconnected  
  
*****   
  
ISSAQUAH  
9: 00 PM  
  
Max popped one eye open at the sound of the door creaking open.   
  
"Feeling better?" Logan came around to the side of the chacuzzi tub where Max was submerged under water and apple scented bubbles. Her injured calf was wrapped in plastic to keep it from getting wet.  
  
"Still sore" she opened both her eyes "But my head ache's disappearing"   
  
"That's good" he smiled, and she saw something come into her line of sight.   
  
"Thought you might want this" he was holding her anniversary band.   
  
She raised her hand out of the bubbles and he slipped it back on her finger, kissing her hand above all the suds.   
  
She smiled "Not much of an anniversary huh?"  
  
"You didn't ask to get hurt" he came behind her and massaged her back from where it rested on the bath pillow. Max actually purred at the sensation. Logan smiled "It could get better"  
  
"This is a little better" she told him, relaxing under his touch.   
  
"How can I make it completely better?"  
  
"Get in here with me" she tipped her head upside down and looked him in the eye, her eyes completely serious  
  
"The-"  
  
"They're asleep" her tone was low and seductive   
  
Logan kissed her once, before standing back up.   
  
She felt him slide back in behind her, pulling her to him" She relaxed against his bare chest, feeling his hands in her hair "Happy anniversary Logan" she closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment.  
  
"Happy Anniversary Max"  
  
*****   
  
UNKNOWN LOCATION   
  
The man in the lab coat looked in through the double-sided mirror. The boy inside sat motionless on the cot.   
  
"Where did you pick it up?"  
  
The first man turned to the second who had asked the question "He was found outside of Gillette"   
  
"I don't get it, how's he different then any of the others?"  
  
The first man turned to his companion "Believe me his is"  
  
(CUT TO: file in the "first man's" hand. File reads: INTERBRED XX5 SERIES   
DESIGNATION: XX5-5452599)  
  
(FADE OUT)  
  
*****   
  
END   
  
This is the biggest chap I've written so far. Sorry again for the loooong wait..damn writers block. Hope the end will entice you and get you thinking about the next chapter.  
  
The song selection was inspired by hearing the actor Dominique Purcell play "My Funny Valentine" on "John Doe" I luv that song.  
  
The issue of Max and Zack's -"history" of interbreeding will come up more in the next chap. The parts in here were a lead in.  
  
R/R please. 


	15. The Lemons You Presented Me

Choices 16: "The Lemons You Presented Me"  
AUTHOR: Mystic25  
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com  
  
SUMMARY: Something happened to Max and Zack eleven years ago. Something they tried to forget. But now it is about to be reborn, into something they never expected.  
  
RATING: PG14  
  
A/N: If that summary is confusing the plot is this: That interbred XX5 baby created out of Max and Zack's DNA that I mentioned in the first chapter of this series is still alive..(ooh..)   
  
A/N #2: You're probably confused as hell about the title. It was taken from the age-old line that Deck dropped on Jace in "Female Trouble" when he learned of her pregnancy. Went like this:  
  
DECK: "You have any objections with me making lemonade out of the lemons you presented me soldier?"  
  
JACE: "No Sir"   
  
Since this story deals with the issue I brought up of Max and Zack having to interbreed back at Manticore (artificially, thank god) I thought it would fit, and would be more unique then "That's Life, Manticore Style" or "Completely and Totally F*cked Up Way of Dealing With Medicine According to the Manticore Handbook"  
  
SIDE NOTE: Thanks to Lexa who helped get the confusion about Asha's last name cleared up. I kept thinking it was Moore, but then I realized **I** have a friend named Auzia Moore, they kinda sound the same..so my bad.  
  
OTHER SIDE NOTE: I brought back Jacinda (the chick from "Female Trouble" helping Max, Herbal, Cindy and Sketchy move the water heater) In "Flushed" Theo's wife, had NO name, she was only referred to as "Theo's wife" I don't know if Jacinda is his wife, but I made it so that her son is Omar. If this is wrong, sorry, but Jacinda did say she had a little boy too, so it could still work.   
  
*****   
  
MAX (V.O): "We escaped that night because we wanted out so bad that we were willing to risk our lives to have lives..."  
  
/FLASH: Breaking glass is heard as children, the X5's of 599 (Zack's) unit bust through the glass into the snowy night. The scatter, running barefoot into the surrounding Gillette woods/  
  
MAX (V.O) "I lived for years on my own, wanting nothing more then to have that ideal..  
  
/FLASH: Max breaking through Logan's skyline. He interrogates her. Shot switches to the scene of him and her standing in front of his mirror/  
  
MAX (V.O): "And I'm glad that fate finally stopped bitchin' at me and gave me the things I never thought I'd have..  
  
/FLASH: Max and Logan lip locking on his floor in "Meow"/  
  
/FLASH: Max faces Logan on a sandy beach, dressed in a purple silk slip dress. Close up shot of Logan sliding a ring on her finger. Pan up to his eyes, minister goes on in the background with the marriage ceremony/  
  
/FLASH: Sounds of a baby crying. A doctor in a surgical gown and mask lifts up a squalling baby for Max to see. She is lying on an OR table, undergoing a C-Section   
  
"Got a boy here guys!"  
  
Beside Max is Logan who leans close to her face and kisses her while the doctors close off her incision/  
  
/FLASH: "It's a girl!" A female doctor, Anna Janston lays the crying newborn little girl on Max's chest, wiping her down with a towel. Max is in a regular birthing room, having just been through a normal v-back vaginal birth  
  
Logan looks over at his new daughter, his head close to Max "God, more?" his voice is joking. He kisses her long and hard before she can say anything.  
  
"Okay guys" Janston is heard to say beside Max's bed "Remember that's what got you here in the first place"/  
  
MAX (V.O.) "But my life has never had the appeal I dreamt of as the nine year old soldier in 09-"  
/FLASH: Max and Zack tearfully say goodbye to Brin as they leave her on the bench, the swirl and noise of helicopter blades above them/  
  
/FLASH: Max hears gunfire, and is down a few seconds later. Zack is beside her carrying an unconscious Tinga in his arms, but he is brought down moments after by another shot./  
  
MAX (V.O) "Because there was something they never told us back at Manticore..  
  
(V.O cont. as scene unfolds) "As hard as we try to escape our lab rat, science experiment created past.."  
  
CUT TO: Present day 2021. Max sits on the sands of the Waterfront with Jess and Lexi beside her playing in the sand. Tinga sits next to Max, her arms drawn around her son Case sitting in the fold of her body./  
  
MAX (V.O): "It can still come back to bite us in the ass."  
  
Same scene, but on a close up of Zack, skipping a rock into the water. Cut to shot of Max. She looks at him Cut to shot of Zack looking back.  
  
*****   
  
here's where the theme song would fit in..MC Lyte and them breakin' it down.  
  
Fade out into commercials..(in Florida the FOX announcer is now talking, theme music starts up again, but softer..FOX GUY: "Dark Angel is brought to you by Christler and your neighborhood Christler dealer.." )  
  
*****  
  
after millions of ads have gone by we now continue with tonight's episode of Dark Angel.  
  
*****   
  
CITY LIGHTS CLINIC  
SEATTLE  
JANUARY 12, 2021  
7:55 AM  
  
"Mommy, please don't make me-" Jess whined to Max whose hand she was holding  
  
She looked down to her son, "Baby, there's nothing to be scared of, it's just a check-up" she opened the door to the medical clinic and all but dragged him inside. She stepped through the doors beside him pushing Lexi through in a toddler's stroller. "Lexi's in for the same thing as you, and she's not upset"  
She steered her children towards two empty chairs.  
  
"That's cause she can't talk real well yet," Jess argued  
  
"Can so!" Lexi argued back   
  
"Nu-uh!" Jess returned, "You're bad"  
  
This exchange would make any other little two year old girl cry, but not Lexi, who had her mother's genes in her. "Not bad. Girl's are better, beat up boy's-"   
  
"Alexis Marie!" Max broke in, not believing what her baby was about to say, "You kiss your mama with that dirty mouth?" she looked at her guilty daughter   
  
"You're mama" Lexi argued, a bit confused   
  
"That's what I mean kiddo" Max informed, "I don't want you to use that word again kay?" she looked at her a bit harder when she didn't say anything "Okay?"  
  
"Kay" Lexi said this time, a little apprehensive, she had never had Max talk to her like that.  
  
Max could feel the eyes of the others in the clinic on her. Nosey sons-of-bitches, even in a post-Pulse world, waiting to see how she as a mother "handled" this situation. She was willing to bet that only a handful of them HAD kids, but they were still ready to step in and tell her how to raise hers.   
  
"Good" Max replied to her two year old, seeing Lexi's eyes filled with nervousness, and not because of the impending doctor visit. "Wanna sit up here by me baby?" this time her voice was softer. That was something they didn't know about her, how her mistreatment as a child in a sterile, uncaring military environment made her promise to displine her kids but NEVER make them feel like they had to keep up with her rules in order for her to love them.  
  
Lexi broke into her famous puddle making smile that Max gave her. Max unclipped her stroller harness and Lexi all but ran to her mom climbing in the seat next to her.  
  
Max grabbed the girl and pulled her into her lap "This seat's better hun" she gave a kiss/raspberry on the back of her small neck.   
  
The crowd seemed 'satisfied' by this scene, and went back to their own business. But personally Max didn't give a flying fuck about what other people thought of her as a mom. She loved her children far beyond the limit of love she received as a child.  
  
Lexi giggled, now letting the earlier incident go.  
  
Max smiled at her before looking back at Jess who was still standing in front of her "Come sit by us baby"  
  
"Will I still have to go?" Jess asked  
  
"Still do sweetie" she told him apologetically "Sorry" she patted the seat next to her "Come and sit anyway?" her eyes shifted to that look that she gave to Lexi, only much more perfected. "Please?"  
  
Jess came over in the end, pulling himself into the adult size chair beside his mom and little sister.   
  
"Max, Max Guevara-"   
  
Max turned at the voice.  
  
Jacinda, one of Max's old neighbors when she still crashed with Cindy was stepping over to her. Jacinda had moved out two weeks before Logan had proposed to her. She had found a better paying job then the one she had in Bonney Lake, a district city twenty miles out of Seattle.  
  
"Jacinda" Max stood up, her face breaking out into a smile.  
  
Jacinda smiled back "Girl I thought that was you when I came through the door" her voice was warm and cheery as she gave Max a hug. "I haven't seen you in forever, and you still look just as good as when I left"  
  
"So do you" Max agreed  
  
Jacinda caught sight of something on Max's hand, the anniversary band Logan had given her. "Now I know why you're radiating girl. Finally made yourself happy."  
  
Max looked at her ring too "The plunge didn't hurt as bad as I thought"   
  
Jacinda smiled at this "So what did the sassy Max Guevara get her name changed to?"   
  
"Cale" Max looked at her when she said this  
  
"Cale? As in Logan Cale, that cyber-journalist that Cindy was trying to get you to hold onto enough to get some consummation?" Jacinda said this all in one breath, laughing at the end of her remark "Glad you finally got some sense knocked into you" she looked over Max's shoulder "And a mommy too, damn Max you HAVE been busy while I was gone." She turned and called back "Omar! Baby come see who I found!"  
  
Jacinda turned back to Max, holding onto her hands at arms length and checking out her figure "Two babies and you still got the physique of the cat walk" she smiled again.   
  
Omar, Jacinda's son now stood beside his mother. He had been five the last time Max had seen him. Now at eight years old, he had grown a few inches, his hair still in a bald buzzed cut.   
  
"This can't be Omar" Max said in disbelief to the boy "Boy you're growin' up so nice" she looked at Omar   
  
"I know" Jacinda's voice was proud "He's gonna outgrow mama at this pace"   
  
"Hi Max" this time Omar spoke up, looking to the woman he use to be neighbors with.  
  
"Hey kiddo, get over here it's been a while-" she hugged the boy when he got to her.   
"You helpin' out your mama?"  
  
"Yes ma'am"  
  
"Ma'am" Max repeated "Hear that Jacinda-"  
  
"Hey I didn't instigate that," Jacinda argued, holding up her hands "He learned it from his teacher. But I'm not complaining" she looked to her son "Omar, you know Max is a mama now too?"  
  
Omar looked at Max "Really?"  
  
"Yeah really" Max returned with a smile, turning to face her children "Guys come meet some friends of mine"  
  
Lexi was the first one, running directly towards Max, who bent down to pick her up "Like to introduce my littlest diva, Alexis Marie"  
  
"Hey hun" Jacinda greeted the child "I like your name." She turned to Max "Girl it's a good thing her eyes are blue, cause she's all mini you"  
  
"I also have a son around here somewhere-" Max turned to see Jess lagging behind "C'mon baby, don't be a stranger" she coaxed, holding out her hand to him "Little bit on the wiggy side cause he has to have a needle prick today" Max told Jacinda.  
  
"Your son I presume?" Jacinda asked  
  
"Yep, my man. Jesse Trevon"  
  
"And how old is he?"  
  
"Three and a half" Jess answered for himself  
  
Jacinda laughed, and bent closer to him "Almost four huh? You're a big leaguer"  
  
"I have to have a shot today" he opened up to Jacinda   
  
Jacinda made a concerned face, for his benefit "I'm sorry little man, but it's not that bad.."  
  
= = =  
  
"See?" Max looked at her son "What I've been telling you the whole time" Max gave him a kiss, after the pediatrician finished administering the vaccination.   
  
"Brave boy you have there Max" Dr. Michelle James, an associate of Sam Carr who recommended her to them applied a Band-Aid to the injection site. She smiled at the child "What'll it be today kiddo, red or green?" she held up the choices of two colored lollypops.  
  
Jess grabbed the green one, saying a muffled "thank you" after the candy was already stuck in his mouth  
  
The doctor smiled again "You're very welcome" she wrote down the MMMR(Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine, tagged with the new Meningitis series started after it was discovered that the terrorists who set off the Pulse stock piled the disease to use as bio-warfare. No traces were ever found in 09 or there after, but it was a risk they weren't messing with) on the vaccination record attached to her clipboard.   
  
"After this he's got only one more series of the MMMR" James noted to Max "But that's not until he's nine"   
  
"Somebody should have told them that back where I grew up" Max grabbed Jess's jacket and helped him slid it on his small body. "When I was nine I was a walking anti-virus machine"   
  
"Yeah but Manticore didn't have the luxury of having sick prototypes." Michelle had been Sam's intern for a while, mostly during Max's second pregnancy (she saw Sam outside of her normal OB/GYN). She had sensed a difference in Max from the start with how her pregnancy was progressing. The DNA of the baby taken for an ammio was almost perfection. Every chromosome set in almost perfect alignment, almost evenly matched. No junk DNA in the lot of it. And EVERY person, regardless of who they were never had such a perfect set of chromosomes as this child. When Michelle inquired about it, of course Max didn't tell her, until one emergency visit where her seizures had caused her to start contracting in her sixth month. Michelle had been at the Cale house to assist Sam. With a full dose of liquid Tryptophane her seizures had stopped and with enough meds in a portable IV drip her contractions had ceased.  
  
Max had been placed on complete bed rest for two weeks and Michelle had checked in on her from time to time, and had asked (but didn't pry) again about her patient's medical history so she could help her completely. Finally the truth came out. Michelle was sworn to secrecy, an oath she still kept, because she knew she would want the same if the roll were reversed. In the end the bed rest, the restrictions and the visitations paid off. Max delivered a healthy baby girl three months later by one of Michelle's old attendings on her OB rotation, Dr. Janston. Michelle completed her internship and now was a peds resident at the clinic. She was very happy to see her old patient come regularly with her kids.   
  
"Go scan this" Michelle took the vaccination record over to her office and scanned the record on her personal scanner, the one hidden behind the bookcase because scanning vaccination records without direct authorization from an attending physician was illegal. So far she hadn't be caught, and she was prepared to hand over her career and work on back alley black market clinics if she had too.  
  
"Send these over to Sam" Michelle indicated the still hot photocopies of the records. She handed Max the original copy that she had brought. This was illegal too, but Max's kids were at a high risk of being ratted out to anyone and everyone if their medical records ever fell into the wrong hands.   
  
"Thanks" Max took the papers from her, tucking them into her pocket, the one that she could easily reach to break people's hands if they tried to take it from her "So I guess I'll see you in five years?"  
  
Michelle laughed, "Yeah something like that" she looked to the kids "Bye guys, see ya next time" she waved to them as they went out the door to her office.  
  
"Have you even thought this through?" there was a woman in the corner, talking to a girl, presumably her daughter "You can't take it back-"  
  
"I KNOW mother" the teenager spat back "But how the hell can I have a baby?"  
  
"You should've thought about that before you screwed around-"  
  
"Fuck you!" the brunette teenager spat "I didn't ask you to come down here and lecture me-"  
  
"Then why am I here Breeana?"  
  
This was met by silence. Max didn't stop to stare at them, she knew how rude that could be. Walking past them, her children in tow she saw the older woman stop to look at her. "I could've helped you out-" she didn't say it but she looked at Max like the representation of something her daughter could have achieved if she would just work on it.  
  
"Forget it mom, you already signed the consent." Bree snapped angrily at her mother "It's better for me now, it's my body. I should be able to make my own decisions on what the hell happens to it-"  
  
/MAX FLASHBACK: Invitro lab at Manticore. Base doctor stands masked and gowned over a girl, X5-452 lying on the hospital gurney. Her legs are raised above her in stirrups, and her lower body is shrouded in a blue cotton sheet. The doctor comes over to 452 with a long tube like medical instrument and inserts in under the sheet. 452's expression changes to one of pain and her arms jerk.  
  
"Suck it up 452 or I'll restrain you!" the doctor yells at the girl. After that 452 "Max" is still, her face still contorted with pain.  
  
After the process was done the doctor simply left the girl on the gurney, ignoring her as he went into the next room to clean his instruments. Soon he emerges, and orders her to get up and go get dressed in the next room.   
  
Max pulls on her camo in the small closet of a room next door. She looks up at the sound of the motion sensitive camera above her head recording her movements. Privacy was not a luxury they had on base.  
A pop was heard a few seconds later, and when she looked back she saw Jondy with wire cutters in her hand, having just snipped the camera's wall cable.   
  
"Does it burn Maxie?" Jondy lowered the clippers, stepping over to Max. Her voice held some experience; she had just been through it three weeks before.  
  
"A little" Max admitted "What will happen to us now?" she turned to face her sister  
  
Jondy shook her head "Nothing yet. We are not far along enough in the program. There's talk that Jesse is going to the surrogate ward next month-" Max looked at her sharply at this remark. That meant that Jess would begin the high dose gene drugs and constant check-ups of all pregnant females at Manticore.  
  
"Why do they need us if they have the lab?" Max asked a tough question  
  
"I don't know Maxie" Jondy answered honestly "The Cornel told me we were his 'special bunch'-" she stopped there, like she wanted to go on, but the sounds of approaching guards silenced her./  
  
"Mommy?"  
  
Max looked down. Mommy, she was a mother, now. But back there, back then. What was it?   
"Just thinkin' for a second baby" she reassured her son. "Let's go"  
  
*****   
  
UNKNOWN AREA  
WASHINGTON  
  
White slammed through the navy blue double doors, his coat tails flapping from his movement.   
  
"Sir!" a tech in a lab coat stopped him, but White held up his badge "NSC" ("National Sterile Control" the underground organization Manticore created to find the transgenics that escaped after Manticore burned)   
  
"Special Agent Ames White" White barked at the man "I came here to-"  
  
"You want to see it?" the tech broke in  
  
"Well I didn't come here to admire the décor" White snapped, "No one's told me much over the damn phone-"  
  
"Sorry Sir" the tech apologized, he started walking down a long corridor and White followed "Some of the operators here received a call when they found him-"  
  
"Found him where?" White asked  
  
"Just outside the main compound"  
  
"And who is 'he' exactly?"  
  
"You should see for yourself Sir" the tech opened another navy blue door and came into a single room with a double-sided mirror. In the other room there was a single table and chair. Sitting in the chair was a boy, around the age of 11 or 12, sitting perfectly still, hands folded under the table  
  
"It's a boy" White didn't sound all that impressed.  
  
"Not just any boy Sir" the tech interjected "We picked him up in the woods in Gillette"  
  
White's attention became more rapt "So this is another one of those freaks?"  
  
"It would appear so Sir. Though apparently not just another freak. His barcode is different then the others"  
  
"How?"   
  
"It starts with the double X sequence. He was part of the Manticore interbreed program. It was designed to take the sperm from Alpha males in the series and combine them with as many X series females as they could shove a tube up in. But up until now we didn't think there was any successful project from that series. All of the X series females involved never carried to full term. So they switched strictly to the genetics lab"  
  
"So how is it that this kid is sitting here?"   
  
"His DNA was most likely re-used and planted in a surrogate. As hard as Manticore tried to make the perfect creations they could never work out a way for X series to breed successfully. It'd be like interfamily births. The cross breeding would create weaker genes. After the first batch went bad though they corrected it. Needed it after the gene lab was blown up by the renegade X5 series-"  
  
"So enough with the history lesson" White spat back, staring at the boy through the glass "What's his barcode string?"   
  
"First let me explain how it works Sir. Normally the barcodes start off with the designation class then the regular sting of numbers but with interbreeds it starts with the double X to identify them with the program, then their numbers are merely a combination of their parents designation with the father's last for sperm documentation. Only three or four X series males were ever used, but a ton of females were inseminated. It made the count easier to follow."  
  
"So what's junior's here?"  
  
In answer the tech handed White the clipboard he was holding. White looked down at the paper and read it to himself.  
  
"Subject was found outside former Manticore compound in Gillette, Wyoming. Caucasian male. Sandy brown hair, brown eyes. Age: 11 yrs. Barcode Designation: XX5-5452599. Product of Manticore Operation B3-0248 "Selective Interbreeding Unit" Disbanded in 2011 after repeated failure to complete any of the goals it was assigned to.   
Conception Date: March 5, 2009 0930:015 HOURS  
  
Genealogy:   
X5 Alpha (Male) Designation: X5-599   
X5 Surrogate (Female) Designation: X5-452*  
  
*X5-452 suffered a miscarriage during the first trimester (approx. seventh week) of pregnancy. Embryonic cells were subsequently found from miscarriage that was still viable. Cells were placed via invitro methods into the normal class surrogate C-0359 on April 25, 2009 2312 0:15 HOURS.   
C-0359 sustained the pregnancy through full term and was delivered via C-Section November 9, 2009 0638 0:18 HOURS  
  
"452, and 599" White read off the numbers  
  
"Like I said Sir the designation-"  
  
"Shut up" White interrupted to the tech. "I want you to go to your little archives and bring back some slides for me on those two designations-" he slapped at the form with his finger. "In the mean time I'll have a talk with junior here-" he opened the door to the holding cell where the kid was and stepped inside.  
  
Immediately upon White's entering the room the boy snapped to attention that only those trained in the codes of soldiers could. "What is it you request of me Sir?" he barked this in the typical "hu-ah" fashion of the soldier, eyes straight forward in a stance of attention.   
  
"To sit down back down and shut up until I deem it necessary for you to talk again."   
  
"Yes Sir!" the boy answered back, pulling back his chair and sitting in it like it was a planned battle tactic.   
  
"No Thank You Sir?" White called him on his sloppy military tone. The kid obviously regarded him as a superior, and there was something lacking in his return.   
  
"I don't see it as a necessity to thank a man who could very well have a double sided ass Sir" the boy's tone was slightly corrupt. He was talking crisply enough, but his voice spoke of the same thing as the others. Though they were soldiers, by the book was not always followed. Street tone and cockiness always was in the mix of any unit, be they U.S. Navy Seals or Manticore enhanced X5 combat units. He now sat a little laid back, his arms crossed over his chest, where the beginning of a bicep muscle was forming, still giving White respect, but defying it a little with the 'want a piece of this, bring it on' look behind his brown eyes.  
  
"Then I'll cut through the crap kid" White leaned over the boy, getting as close to his face as the table in front of him would physically allow. "Let's go through the typical Manticore tampered BS before I bring out the harder part of the quiz." He leaned closer, if that were even possible "State your designation"   
  
"Double X 55452599 Sir" a pause, his eyes never moved from White's "State your business" If all boys didn't hit puberty and the aggressor factors that come with it until at least 13, then this kid was now taking every pimply faced, voice changing preteen for a fly by the seat of their ass ride.  
  
Despite the burn, White had to smile at this. "I assume you never knew your mother or who shot her up with the good stuff?"   
  
"Small price to pay to come out on top"   
  
"You never were the least bit curious?"   
  
"For what? Which solider cocked a gun at another and hit the target?" he blew it off "Parents are for the weak who want them around to wipe their asses and noses because they lack efficiency to do it themselves"   
  
The door opened again and the tech that had first seen White appeared in the doorway. "It's all set up Sir"   
  
White didn't turn to thank him or even acknowledge him. He stood up "You're coming with me"  
  
The kid didn't move "For what?"  
  
"Debriefing"   
  
He blew off the idea   
  
"You gonna defy me Gi-Jr.? Cause I could just as easily turn you over and have you dismantled piece by piece back at HQ."  
  
"I guess it beats the alternative" the kid finally agreed and stood up. "Permission to ask what the debriefing is for?"   
  
"Permission only goes as far as the respect you dish out on your superiors" White returned going first through the doorway "And as an X5 you should be aware of this"  
  
"And how many X5's have you caged with that bull flop Sir?"  
  
Another door is opened; this time it's steel. "One today"  
  
The room they now stood in was lined with steel walls. There was no furniture except a long folding table and two chairs that could have very well been a set with the table. In front of the room sat a large white screen, and resting in the middle was a slide projector.   
  
The kid turned to White "You didn't tell me it was Movie Night Sir"  
  
White pulled out a chair, in a forceful indication that the boy needed to sit "Surprise"   
  
White wasted no time in getting started. The second the boy sat in the chair he kicked on the slide projector. The sound of the machine's fan soon filled the room.  
  
At the first click an image of one of the Manticore nursery units for the babies born there. But this was no regular hospital nursery. Each baby was monitored via tiny electrodes strapped to their head. Another click was heard as the shot zoomed in on a close up of one, the boy at two days old. "XX5-5452599" White's tone became slightly like that of a game show host "This is your life"   
  
'Click'   
  
Shot of the entire interbreed unit "You were conceived during the Manticore Operation B3-0248, Selective Interbreeding. Basically that meant an X5 Alpha males sperm was used to knock up the girls in the unit-"  
  
"You mean those nine year olds?" the boy snorted at the idea, laughing to himself  
  
White went on, ignoring his remark "The surrogate chosen for your conception however did not carry to full term. The unit was fairly new, and problems still hadn't been completely ironed out. Base doctors found the still viable embryo and placed it in a normal surrogate. And nine months later-"  
  
"The miracle of life" the kid interrupted, a smug smile on his face.  
  
White ignored him again  
  
'Click'  
  
Shot of barcode on back of the neck of a nameless X5 "Your barcode does more then identify you as Manticore. It traces the X5 used in the interbreeding, a combination of both parent's designation"  
  
'Click'  
  
Shot of black screen, except for two designations in white letters "X5-599" "X5-452"  
  
"My parents Sir?"   
  
White turned to him "And your mission"  
  
'Click'  
  
Shot of Zack at twelve, crew cut and wearing camos "X5-599"  
  
'Click'  
  
Shot of Max at nine dressed the same as Zack with the same short crew cut and "X5-452"   
"Chosen by Manticore for this conception. They are two of the rebel 12 that escaped Manticore's compound in 2009."  
  
'Click'  
  
More recent head shot of Zack, taken during his re-capture to base by Lydecker "The members of this unit gave each other names outside their designations to keep track of each other in the field. X5-599 here-" White pointed to the image with his hand "Goes by the name of Zack. His age is now twenty-four years, 5'9 inches tall, between 160 and 170 lbs, blonde, brown eyed, with strong muscle definition on his upper body, particularly the arms"  
  
'Click'  
  
Shot taken of Max, not a head shot like Zack, one stolen from a hover cam readout of Max standing at a Sector stop by her messenger bike.  
  
"X5-452, the original surrogate in your conception goes by the name of "Max" Her age is now twenty-one years, 5'7 inches tall, between 110-115 pounds, brown eyes, brown hair, long, like most of the other girls who escaped with her to conceal her barcode"  
  
"Wow, base gave me a hot mom" the kid said, looking at Max's image "So I take it their my mission?"  
  
White clicked off the last slide, the screen going black, until the next wave came in   
  
'Click'  
  
"Duty" appears on screen  
  
'Click'  
  
"Honor"  
  
'Click'  
  
"Mission"  
  
"Yes they are" White watched his "pupil" watch the screen. "These are renegades who deserted the mission"  
  
'Click'  
  
Image of Max and Zack appear  
  
'Click'  
  
"Rat"  
  
'Click'  
  
More images of them  
  
"Deserter"  
  
'Click'  
  
"Traitor"   
  
The kid broke out of the trance to look at White "So what's the objective?"  
  
White turned to him "They must be taken out"  
  
"I was not trained as an assassin Sir-"  
  
"One day with me and you will be" White reassured "You can shoot right?"  
  
The boy scoffed, brainwashing hadn't eliminated his hard ass side "name it I can blast it Colt, Sig, Revolver, M-24, 16, Glock-"  
  
"I get it kid" White interrupted. Then he looked to him, eyes cold and completely serious "This is the objective solider. You will only receive one day of training in marksmanship. If you fail you will be terminated, erased, like you never blipped any radar at all."  
  
"I understand Sir"  
  
"452 and 599 won't go easily. They have been trained in Manticore combat like you. 452 was trained as a sniper-"  
  
"Nothing hotter then girls and guns"  
  
"You will have an advantage over her." White cut in "Events that happened during the escape of 09 induced 452's hatred of guns, and she will not use them for defense, unless as a last resort. Also 452 is now married to a civilian-"  
  
"Manticore contaminated itself with a civilian?" the boy's view of the world was true to his Manticore brainwashing roots.  
  
White nodded "They both have people their close too. 452 to her husband and two children and 599 shares relations with a woman, a civilian as well-"  
  
"That can be used to our advantage Sir" the boy smiled sinisterly   
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
"I'm impressed"  
  
Jondy turned her head, her ponytail bobbing with the movement "Impressed by what?" she was curious as to what her brother-in-law meant by that remark. All she was doing was making a Reuben for herself. She never had the chance to eat this kind of food at home, mostly due to the fact she didn't have enough money to spare on any ingredients that didn't all come in a box with three step directions.  
  
"Seems like most of the X5's I know can kick major ass, do intensely hard equations and logarhythms but cooking is one of those things that doesn't come standard with the package"  
  
Jondy placed the top slice of bread on her sandwich, throwing a dishtowel at Logan with her free hand. "I'm not what you call your standard package" she picked up her plate with the food on it and jumped up on the counter to eat her creation.  
  
Logan watched her eat "Ya know I have a table-"  
  
Jondy looked up, talking through the small bit of sandwich in her mouth "Logan. Visualize it. Thinking outside the box"   
  
He just looked at her "So what other motives brought you out from San Francisco besides wanting to eat my food?"  
  
"You mean I had to have another reason besides that?" Jondy argued with a smile  
  
"Have I ever told you how much I love your cynicism?"  
  
Jondy grinned after she swallowed "All the time baby" a pause "If you think I came out here for some deeply technical, X5 missionesque reason you would be-"  
  
"Right" Logan broke in  
  
"Wrong" she corrected, "Just traded my Spirit for a 2020 Honda Shadow VLX that I saved from the impound lot."  
  
"How can you afford a new bike? I thought you were living the humble life"  
  
"I go minimal on the groceries Logan" Jondy told him "Spares up a lot of change. Not like I need to eat that much anyways. Some guy in Chinatown couldn't make his payments so the bike got repo-ed on his ass. I swoop in, haggle for a good offer-"  
  
"How much?"  
  
"100 to get it out of the pound and 200 to adopt it-"  
  
"That's it? On a motorcycle that's only a year old?"  
  
"I do a good haggle" she set her empty plate back on the counter beside her. "Baby's chromed out with 1,100 cc's and digital ignition."  
  
"I'm impressed," he agreed "But I thought you loved your old bike"  
  
"It was her time to fly" Jondy spoke of her old motorcycle the way parents do about their kids. "I filled up the tank and been two days on the road breaking in the newest addition to the family. Figured the only way to get a decent meal was to drop in on my favorite brother-in-law."  
  
"And by 'decent' you mean 'free' right?" Logan crossed his arms over his chest.  
  
"Only way to do decency up right," she agreed hopping off the counter.  
  
"Plate." Logan pointed to the dish with crumbs left over on it "Washed, if you don't mind."   
  
"What happened to chivalry?"   
  
"This is a do it yourself establishment" Logan reminded "There for you have to-"  
  
"Do it myself" Jondy finished for him "Ya know you being more sarcastic then me doesn't make you very attractive-"  
  
"Dish soap is by the back splash" Logan pointed out, leaving the kitchen.  
  
"Jerk" Jondy muttered under her breath kiddingly, loud enough for Logan to hear her.  
  
"I don't hear scrubbing" Logan threw back, adding his part to the joke.  
  
"Bite me!" Jondy threw back good-naturedly. /Millions of civilian males in the Unites States and Maxie had to shack up with one whose just as bad as us/  
  
"Am I interrupting something?"  
  
Jondy turned from washing the plate when she heard her sister's voice in an indication that she had come home. "Nohtin' that you could black mail me by" she rinsed off the plate and shoved in the top rack in the dishwasher. She soon heard the sounds of smaller footsteps of her niece and nephew running towards her.  
  
"Aunt Jondeeee!" Lexi was the first one to reach her, drawing out the ending 'y' sound of Jondy's name.  
  
Jondy picked her up "Hey sistah girl" she kissed her, looking down at Jess who was now at her feet "Sup my man?"  
  
Jess held out his arm showing her the Band-Aid on it "I got stuck"  
  
"Ouch" Jondy sympathized "Sorry baby, but hey no pain no gain" she looked over to Max who was now standing beside Logan after giving him a kiss. Next to her was another woman that Jondy didn't recognize.  
  
"Remember you alright" Jacinda hugged Logan when he offered the gesture. Omar had an afternoon date to hang with his old friends while they were still in the city that his Aunt Lydia was supervising so it was just her this time.  
  
"You look great Jacinda" Logan complimented her   
  
Jacinda smiled "Now I remember why Cindy liked you so much for Max" she laughed briefly "You look great yourself Logan. Can see that being married to this woman put some pleasure in your features"  
  
Logan looked over to Max "Defiantly" he smiled and kissed her on the shoulder  
  
Max broke from their contact a moment later to focus on her sister "Everything good?"  
  
Jondy stepped over to them setting Lexi down on her feet "S'all good baby girl" the two women shared a short hug.  
  
"Jacinda" Max began in an introduction "This is my sistah Jondy. Jondy, Jacinda, she use to live in my old crib"  
  
"Nice to meet you" Jacinda spoke first  
  
"Same girl" Jondy greeted "Well I guess I should get goin-"  
  
Max turned to her "You leavin' already?"  
  
"I dropped in on Tinga first. She basically sat on my chest until I told her I'd crash at her place-"  
  
"So I'm not good enough for ya is that it?" Max started teasing Jondy the way they use to do as kids.  
  
"Nobody likes a whiner Maxie"  
  
"Bite me Jondy"  
  
"See it's this kind of abuse that makes Tinga the better sister" she laughed  
  
Max just shook her head in exasperation "Come out to Crash tonight?" she glanced over at Jacinda "You too. Know Cindy would be glad to see ya"  
  
"I'll try Max," Jacinda told her "It all depends on if I can find a sitter for Omar."  
  
"Me too Maxie" Jondy agreed "But it depends on if I can find a sitter for Krit"  
  
"Thought you came out here alone" Logan questioned  
  
"Did" Jondy stated, "Alone for the first two days then caught sight of his tail on my ass. Can't really blame him for leavin'. Montana's nuthin' but Big Sky Country. Ditched him somewhere in Sector 1. He'll figure it out eventually. My hope is that he'll go bug Zack's Seattle digs like the last time"  
  
"You two are terrible" Logan scolded "Why do you always feel the need to ditch your brother?"  
  
"It's fun," Max told him  
  
"You haven't had to LIVE with Krit Logan." Jondy reminded "I love him to death but the boy keeps you up till seven o'clock in the morning tuning his bike and listening to Drowning Pool. I mean C'MON I normally knock off my bike repair by at LEAST five-" she shot Max a knowing look when she said this.  
"Plus he's WAAY too over obsessive about being orderly for my taste. He organized my CD's collection once by the amount of music on each disc, took me a whole day to figure out where the hell everything was-"  
  
The phone at Jondy's waist rang. She cringed at the ring, pretty much already knowing who it was.  
  
"Hey-" pause "Oh, Zack-" she relaxed for a second, maybe she was wrong for once "I dodged the bullet-what? No, hey wait dammit! I said "no" Put him on but I'm already at Tinga's. The hell I will, you just gotta deal with it. Yeah? Hey Cat-Man." Pause "Ditching is such a strong word. I prefer escape and evade. You wanna settle this at Crash? You bring some thugs with you?" Jondy blew him off "Boy whatever. Can't call you what I want, the niece and nephew are in here-" she turned to Max pointing at her with one hand "7:30." She waved at her a second later, still complaining to their brother on the way out the door.  
  
"Sorry you had to see that" Max apologized in a joke to Jacinda.   
  
"I'm use to sibling rivalry" Jacinda acknowledged "I have two brothers of my own" she checked her watch "I have a few things I need to take care of, but I will take you up on your Crash offer. Omar should be able to stay with some friends of mine-" she looked up to Max "Who's watching yours if-"   
  
"My mom" Max broke in.  
  
Logan looked at her for this. This was the first time she had ever called Lucia 'mom'.   
  
"She lives here?" Jacinda didn't understand the full extent of Max's declaration.  
  
"About thirty minutes away" Logan confirmed   
  
"But Max you told me you didn't know-"  
  
"I didn't" Max finished for her "She came to me a few months back. We got to talking-"  
  
"Did she explain why she would abandon a divine girl like you to be raised with strangers-"  
  
"I got what I needed to know" Max calmed Jacinda's defensiveness down "Hey foster family's not all bad. Grew up with a family of eleven kids. Wasn't exactly alone."  
  
"Long as you're okay with it" Jacinda finally agreed "I just don't get how a girl can do that kind of thing to an innocent baby. Not like they asked to be born."  
  
/FLASH: "Max!" Zack whispered her name, catching her attention on the way out of their barracks.   
Max turned to him. Despite their brainwashing to be strong and emotionless, the girl-soldier's eyes were watering slightly in the overhead light. "We'll catch hell if we're late Zack-"  
  
Zack came closer to her. He could now see the notable difference in her appearance in any female that was pregnant. He was so close to telling her the truth about it, but something held him back. Not protection for them, but her safety. He was sworn to secrecy. The op's threatened him with locking his sisters in the VC unit if any of them found out about the origins of the babies they were carrying.  
  
"Jess-" he couldn't get the words out past his lips  
  
Max looked at him coldly "She's dead Zack-" she could hear the sounds of the op's shouting at them to stop the delay "We have to go"/   
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE   
SECTOR ONE  
EXACT LOCATION UNKNOWN   
7:01 PM  
  
The black Buick Skylark approached the sector stop, all the tinted windows raised. White sat opposite the boy, 599, who was sliding on black leather gloves and dropping the hood of his black cotton hoodie so the sector cop could get a clear look at his face.  
  
The sector cop's flashlight shinned right in the boy's face as he compared it with the fake pass he was looking at. "You're nephew you say Sir?"  
  
"Yeah" White lied. Two months after the Pulse something called Birthing Notification was passed by Congress. It forced parents to register their children with the newly created branch. It was overturned eventually by the new President in 2011 seen as a direct invasion of privacy. However it did not get removed before Ames and Wendy White registered their son Raymond Peter with the board. White as a listed government agent still was to abide by this registration. And in the ten years since, White had not notified the agency of a new child between him and Wendy. Even though now Wendy was dead, and the kid could be registered as an illegitimate, but "nephew" was a more erasable route.  
  
The cop finally turned the beam away from the boy, handing the passes back through the window "Curfew for all non working personal is midnight"  
  
"Got it" White didn't say anything more, nodding to his driver to continue.  
  
The kid turned to White "So where's the pick up spot 'Uncle'?" he pulled the hoodie back over his head.  
  
White didn't acknowledge the remark "Sector 3. Corner of Main and Fifteenth. Place that's known for it's Black Market arson."  
  
"I thought you had covert government issue Sir"  
  
White jerked to face him "Think what's smarter 599, handing you standard issue M-24s with the 100% follow up or having the locals pitch you one that is as easy to trace as the drugs that are smuggled into the city everyday."  
  
"You have money for this right?" the kid didn't give in and admit his mistake. He had as much testosterone as any X5 male.   
  
White threw a paper bag at him in answer "5 grand. Should get you the 24."  
  
"What about a CAR?"  
  
"These are street dealers boy, not the Army Rangers" the car came to a stop. The Black Market business was already booming, hookers, guns, drugs, everything was out.  
  
The boy stepped out. Being 11 didn't really make him fit the scene, even in the kind of world they were living in.  
  
White rolled down the window "Ten minutes, or your Manticore created ass is gonna be given a workout."  
  
"So if this thing was reversed I'd be workin' your face Sir?" the sarcastic smile was back. He stepped away before White could say anything.  
  
One of the stall owners saw the kid approaching. "Hey boy what's your name?"  
  
599 turned to him. He had no designated alibi, but he was well equipted to handle these situations. So he played into the man's game. "Trey."  
  
"Trey? Big name for a baby face."  
  
599 ignored him, searching over his guns that were displayed.  
  
"What can I help you with Trey?" the stall keeper leaned over his merchandise "Cause the lollypops are in the candy store"   
  
XX5-599 never knew Zack, but his patience level ranked as high as his. He whipped around to the owner before he had a chance to think, chocking his neck with piano wire. "I came here for the big boy stuff. Can you wrap your head around that, or do I wrap it around this?" he let the wire fall back into its canister while the stall keeper chocked from the lack of air.   
  
"You a little mother fuckin' bad ass white boy, can tell you that much. Fine-" he took a big, gasping breath of air feeling the blood around his neck from the piano wire slash with his free hand. "Whatcha want?"  
  
"M-24 laser sighted automatic"  
  
"Bad ass or not I need the green to back it up."  
  
XX5-599 took out the wad of 100 dollar bills White shoved at him and threw it at the dealer "five g's. That enough, or do you wanna bargain some more?"  
  
The man took the money, counting it until he was satisfied with the amount. He turned and reached for something in back of him, soon tossing the gun at 599. "You know how to work one of these kid?"  
  
XX5-599 checked out the weapon he was just handed "You didn't think I knew how to use piano wire." that remark served as his answer.  
  
"Don't kill anyone sport"  
  
The boy turned to him "Now where's the fun in that?"   
  
After the transaction was made he searched out White's car, finally finding it parked on a curb across the street.   
  
The window rolled down after he tapped on it, and he climbed back inside.   
  
599 looked down the barrel of his newly acquired weapon "Eleven years old and I already got somethin' cocked" he said this with smug pride.  
  
"The word is "cocky" 599" White interrupted "But cocky is good. Cocky is what get's the job done."  
  
"Defiantly better then a shag shoe shine J-O-B that's got as much appeal as my love for you Sir"   
  
White ignored him again, talking to his driver "Pull it back to HQ for the night"  
  
"Yes Sir" the driver said without taking his eyes from the road.   
  
599 turned to White "Read me a bedtime story Sir?"  
  
White matched his quip "Who said anything about sleep?"  
  
*****   
  
"Hey" Max smiled at the woman beyond the door "C'mon in"  
  
Lucia greeted the younger woman with a kiss. "You look great" she admired Max's chosen outfit for the night, which was just a lime green long sleeve shirt with tie sleeves and flair sand blasted low riders. But she had a mother's prejudice on her side, so anything Max wore would make her fabulous.   
  
"Thanks for doin' this" Max closed the door.  
  
"Best way to spend my Saturday" Lucia told her  
  
"Girl you need to get out more" Max suggested.   
  
"Nana nana!" Jess's voice reverberated through the air, making both women turn.  
  
Lucia smiled, as wide as she could without splitting open her jaw. This wasn't the first time Jess had called her 'nana', but each time it affected her. Max would be the only daughter she would probably ever have, and to find her and also find out she had a family that equaled grandchildren for her in all aspects of her thinking, it was incredible.   
  
Lucia braced herself for Jess's tackle "Hey handsome" she gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "You all ready for our date?"  
  
Jess nodded, but there was a slight weird look on his face "Can't be a date nana, Lexi is here"  
  
Lucia tried not to laugh too hard at Jess's words, knowing he in all his almost four-year-old glory saw this as a perfectly logical way to think. "Okay hun, you're right. It's more of a group thing." She smiled at him again "But that doesn't mean we can't still have a great night." She set the boy down on his feet after seeing Lexi walk in the room, and she knew the little girl would want her equal time with 'nana'.   
  
"Daddy hot nana" Lexi entered the room with that phrase, rushing over to hug the woman.  
  
Lucia picked her up just like Jess, kissing her on her forehead.  
  
"Daddy's warm?" Lucia picked at the remark in the way she thought her granddaughter meant.   
  
Lexi shook her head "No nana" she corrected her "hot."  
  
As if on cue Logan walked in the living room, dressed in black jeans a navy blue sweater and his leather jacket. Lucia took one look at Logan and got exactly what Lexi meant.   
  
Her eyebrows rose as she herself gave him the once over "Where'd you hear that daddy was hot?"  
  
"Mommy" Lexi wasn't shy about it.  
  
Lucia's eyebrows rose at the pair in front of her who now seemed to be very interested in the patterns of wood grain on the floor.   
  
"Ahh, did it get warmer in here all of a sudden?" Logan fanned himself by whipping his jacket back and forth.  
  
"Just leave the room Logan if you want it to cool down." Lucia couldn't help it, this was great. There was nothing to be shy about. They were two adults, married, obviously bad for each other, why shouldn't they show it?   
  
"Thanks for the advice Luc" Logan walked over to her and kissed the older woman. "And thanks, for commin' over. You sure you're husband won't mind us stealing you away late at night?"  
  
"Normally he would, but he's out of town on a conference so I'll have my late night when he comes back" her voice was half reassurance, half suggestive. "Speakin' of nights, you two should get outta here or you're gonna miss the excitement." Lucia set Lexi back on her feet and took off her suede jacket revealing a burnt orange v-neck sweater over flair coffee colored flair pants. The woman had a flair for fashion.  
  
"We can take a hint." Max told her, slipping into her jacket, that Logan was holding out for her, being a gentleman.  
  
"Oh good" Lucia stated, taking something out of her pocket "Cause I have one more before you go" she held up the paper which had something written on it in her handwriting.  
  
*Lifestyle*  
  
Max looked at the brand name for the contraceptive, this time it was her turn to raise the eyebrow. She turned and walked out the door, not saying anything.   
  
"Always respect your elders Logan."   
  
Logan couldn't help it then, he cracked into a grin as big as hers "Yes ma'am"  
  
*****   
  
CRASH  
  
"Boy you're smashed" Jondy took the pitcher away from Krit who reached for it again. "Lay off the hooch"  
  
"Smashed is for civilians little sister" Krit told her "The way I can hold my stuff is an art form"  
he looked at her over the rim of his cup, drinking the last bit of beer from it.  
  
"Bout to decorate the table if you chug anymore" Jondy took his now empty glass away from him.  
  
Krit laughed at her. He wasn't drunk yet, His eyes had a happy look about them like normal people who've had too much, but they weren't glazed. All X5's had the ability to drink almost twice their weight in alcohol before it took affect. And all though Krit had had seven beers straight in a row, his weight of one hundred and fifty pounds would mean that in order for him to get wasted he'd have to drink an entire fraternity under the table.   
  
He put his head on Jondy's shoulder "You know from this angle you look really hot."  
  
"Krit, this shirt is new. If any bit of your happy hour comes out on me I'm gonna wrap your ass around a telephone pole." She took a sip of her own drink. "And stop incesting me, you're not that great of a catch for that to work out."   
  
Krit removed his head then "Then who floats your boat Jondy? Zack, Zane?"  
  
"Why the hell are we even having this conversation?"   
  
"Tinga?"  
  
"I'm gonna get a refill" Jondy stood up and walked behind Krit to the bar, slapping him on the back of the head as she passed him. She refilled the glass pitcher with more spirits, stopping in her journey back to the table when she spotted Logan playing pool with, of all people Alec.  
  
"Is this Warped World or something?" Jondy moved to stand beside Original Cindy when she saw her standing by the other end of the bar that was closest to the pool table.  
  
Cindy turned at the noise "Hey sistah girl, didn't know you were in town"  
  
"Girl's gotta have her secrets" Jondy told her.  
  
"San Francisco's lost is our gain" Cindy told her with a smile.  
  
"Mine too" Jondy agreed. "You know if I wasn't straight I'd be all over the brown sugah."  
  
"Thanks boo" Cindy took it as the compliment it was meant to be. Jondy didn't swing her way, but when it came to fine women, Max's sisters ranked on the 'A List'.   
  
Jondy turned to call out to Alec "Careful, think Max said her man went to college on a billiard scholarship"  
  
"Careful is for whimps" Alec threw back while lining up his shot.  
  
"Ergo-" Jondy stated.  
  
Alec ignored her and made his shot, splitting the cluster of three balls into the left and right corner pocket.   
  
"Impressive" Logan commented. His feelings of Alec aside, it was a good shot. He watched Alec move for the next one.   
  
"What I do" Alec agreed lining up another ball, but this one was about one inch shy of the pocket.   
  
"Then I suggest you don't quit you're day job" Max stepped over beside Logan.  
  
"Hey no women" Alec informed, "It breaks the vibe"  
  
"Alec are you forgetting who you two ARE?" Logan asked, lining up to take his shot.  
  
"Manticore or not, a woman is very distracting" Alec leaned on his pool cue.  
  
Logan grinned, "Wait till you're married" he took his shot.  
  
Max smiled too, hearing the balls fall into the pockets, telling of Logan's success.   
  
Logan smirked at Alec over setting the pool cue back on the table "Believe the bet was a free round"  
  
"You know there's nothing free in this world any more Logan" Alec interjected.  
  
"How bout a swift kick in the ass?" Max reminded  
  
"Fine" Alec finally caved "But don't complain if I get the beer that tastes like cat piss" he left for the bar.  
  
"Asha Copland comes out at night" Alec picked up the full pitcher of beer the barkeep had just refilled looking at the blonde he saw sitting in one of the stools.  
  
"Yeah Alec it's a world gone mad" Asha tucked a loose chunk of hair behind her ears.  
  
"Something I can help you with?" Zack's voice came up behind Alec  
  
Alec turned to the face Zack "Last time I checked this was 'sit freely zone'"   
  
"Maybe you need to consult the updated handbook" Zack's voice was growling.   
  
"You ladies done bitchin'?" Asha broke in the 'I can kick your ass more' X5 battle. She liked men with testosterone, but she didn't want to swim in it. "Cause I can leave you two alone." She took a sip of her Heineken.  
  
"Zack give Asha some sugar" Krit came over, still not hammered, but defiantly feeling the effects of the alcohol shooting through his body. "Always love seein' two women making out"  
  
Zack forgot about Alec and jumped Krit, throwing him to the floor, pinning his arms behind his back.  
"Smack me around some more Krit" his voice was threatening.   
  
"That's enough" Jondy pulled Zack off Krit "Can't hit a squad member at a disadvantage Zack" Jondy reminded.   
  
"He's always had only those two brain cells to rub together Jonnie D"   
  
Jondy had to suppress a laugh then.  
  
"Stickin' up for me, that's my girl, love ya-" Krit was a very ademate drunk.  
  
"Baby" Jondy's fake coed "Get that sweet ass up so I can kick the shit out of it" she hauled Krit to his feet.   
  
"You gonna be able to walk a straight line in the mornin' boo?" Cindy got in on the act, observing Krit.  
  
"My life is always about walkin' a line Cindy" Krit threw back with a drunken smile.  
  
"You're wasted" Zack commented to his younger brother, then looked to Jondy "You-"  
  
"Helll no" Jondy interrupted "I don't live here remember? Make Maxie do it-"  
  
"Make Maxie do what?" Max joined her siblings.   
  
"Keep the smashed company tonight" Jondy looked at Krit when she said this  
  
"Uh uh, keep me out of this guys. I have children who I would like to be able to sleep tonight"  
  
"Yeah well Zack has Asha who he would like to be able to sleep tonight later on-" Jondy couldn't help it, she lived for moments like these.  
  
Zack shot her a look "I already had him, someone's gotta give it up"  
  
"Guys I'm not THAT wasted yet" Krit notified  
  
Jondy smacked his shoulder "Shut up" she turned to her sister "Please Maxie? Just this time?"  
  
"This time?" Krit wanted to be included in this conversation about him "How often do you think I'm gonna get hammered while I'm here?"  
  
Max looked to Jondy, then to Krit, who was wagging his eyebrows at her. She sighed. "You owe me MAJOR Jondy" she grabbed Krit by the arm "Party's over Mr. Fun" she dug into her brother's pockets and threw the keys to Zack. "One of you has to keep his bike overnight"  
  
"Max, you leavin' already?" Jacinda asked from the bar, her beer now half empty.  
  
"Gettin' late" Max informed, yanking Krit to the door. "Gotta go tuck in the children" she looked at Krit when she said this.  
  
*****   
  
Southside Market  
Black Market Auto Dealer  
9:55 PM   
  
599 moved stealthily on the sidewalk, observing the people in an abandoned garage, young men taking a break from breaking down cars to get wasted.   
  
/Morons/ 599 listened to the sound of drunken laughter coming from them, and the sounds of blaring DMX tracks. He checked his position in relation to the street before creeping closer to the scene, the M-24 he had just purchased gripped in his hands.  
  
He set his sights on one of them wearing a green ski cap and dark jean jacket. Richard Anderson. A prominent member of the underbelly of Seattle, who according to White possessed a map of the city's underground trail ways, and that, without knowing it had actually mapped out a portion of NSC's HQ location in Seattle.  
  
So basically 599 was on recon to get it back.  
  
The boy checked the sight on the gun. He used the old fashioned cross hairs on the sight instead of the laser one in order to not compromise his position.   
  
He waited for the right moment, until Anderson was dead in his sights, before he pulled the trigger.  
Anderson fell almost instantly. 599 had aimed for the cerebellum in the back of the head. His buddies became alive then.   
  
"What the fuck happened man?" one of them leaned over the body of Anderson. "Ahh!" he became revolted at the sight of brain matter and blood sprayed on the leg of a table. He pulled out his switchblade, pointing it into the night.  
  
599 moved undetected into the garage, once there he searched Anderson's pockets for the map. He was known to always carry it on him.  
  
"Fucking baby prick!" A sig was balanced at the back of 599's head by one of Anderson's associates.   
  
599 finally found what he was looking for, and rolled out of the line of fire at the last minute.  
Before the guy could process this 599 knocked him in the balls with the butt of the M-24, once he was down, he knocked him out, along with the other two that were with Anderson.   
  
Once all men were incapacitated 599 took the switchblade from the ground with gloves on, and rubbed it's owner's fingerprints all over it, then slashed at Anderson's body to mimic defensive wounds. Then he took the other man's gun and shot Anderson once in the leg to make it look like there had been a struggle before the kill shot. 599 then proceeded to wipe his prints of the M-24, and cover it in the prints of the others, laying it beside the unconscious form of Anderson's associates.  
  
He stood up and grabbed the map and walked out like nothing happened, meeting the black Buick Skylark twenty feet down the road.  
  
"You got it?"   
  
The car door slammed and 599 threw the paper at White "Always make good on my promises Sir"  
  
White pocketed the map. "Weapon disposed of?"  
  
"Did what I was came out to do Sir" the boy taunted.   
  
White smiled, barely there and cynically "Then maybe we should have that talk about raising your responsibility" he handed him another M-24, government issue.  
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
10:18 PM  
  
"Maxie I love ya" Krit's voice was getting slightly slurred as Max hauled him into the apartment.   
  
"Yeah uh-huh" Max dragged him over to the couch "You better not mess up my shoes"  
  
"Guys" Lucia came out of the back bedroom when she heard the noise in the living room. "Something wrong?" she looked at the young man she didn't know.   
  
"Maxie, is there something you're not telling me?" Krit looked to Lucia suggestively   
  
Max unslung his arm from her shoulder "Can it boy" she pushed him on the sofa. "You want anything, water, aspirin, knock upside the head?"  
  
"Nah I'm good lil sister" he looked up at her with a drunken grin.   
  
"He's-"  
  
Max turned to Lucia when she started talking again, moving away from Krit "My older brother, one of them at least"  
  
Lucia looked up and over at the man sprawled out on the sofa "Wild night?" she figured it was so she went on "I have this good recipie for a hangover remedy. Tomato juice, black pepper and tobassaco, probably get a fraternity up and going the next day"  
  
"Thanks" Max told her "But I have one with a single ingredient, ice water at six o clock in the morning."  
  
Lucia smiled in agreement. "Maybe I'll use that next time" she checked her watch "The kids have been down for about two hours now, and their still in dreamland."  
  
"Thanks Luc" Logan spoke out. He kissed her on the cheek as she went out the door, petting the dog on the way. "Kaja" the dog looked her full in the face "Keep an eye on Max's brother tonight okay? They already have enough babies to worry about" she kissed the dog's snout, smiling when the animal returned the gesture with wet licks on her face "Aww, thank you baby girl" stood back up. "Bye sweetie" she waved at Max.  
  
"Bye" Max called out to her, waving back.  
  
The door closed.  
  
"If you guys want to go rated X I wouldn't mind"  
  
Max picked up a pillow from the chair and threw it at Krit "Shut up and go to sleep."  
  
"Since when do I sleep?" Krit reminded  
  
"Since you're staying in my house"  
  
"C'mon guys it's still early"  
  
"Goodnight Krit" this time it was Logan who said it, flipping off one of the lights in the living room.   
  
"Oh I get it." Krit declared in the semi darkness "Just tone it down some, remember I'm suppose to be asleep."  
  
The other two in the room didn't say anything as they retreated off to the back of the apartment.  
  
*****   
  
"Should be the third window over" White rolled down the window, peering up into the tall building from the road.  
  
"So the objective is-"  
  
White turned away from the window to look at the kid "452, and 599, they have people their close too. They are not ones to come voluntarily into a fight with me. It requires some force."  
  
"Who is this person?"  
  
"Asha Copland" White read the name of the file, staring at an image of the blonde in a mug shot when she had been arrested once for her involvement in the raid with the S1W. "She has been seen around with 599 when he comes into the city. My guess he's slamming her."  
  
"You want me to kill her?"  
  
White shook his head "Just get a message across. Civilian blood is not worth spilling, too much will be exposed" a pause "Fifth floor apartment 501"  
  
599 climbed out of the car. He snuck around to the bushes that lined the apartment building and shot off the rope from a crossbow. The anchor wrapped around something on the roof and held.  
  
599 released the catch and coasted up the outside of the building until the fifth floor. There he used a cat burglar's tools to cut a small circle into the widow that lead into the outside hallway of the fifth floor. He pocketed the glass piece and unlocked the window, sliding inside five seconds later.   
  
His feet were soundless padding on the carpeted hallway floors. Soon he reached apartment 501. He could hear noises coming from inside, meaning that someone was home.  
  
He knocked, like he wasn't Manticore, but a regular boy.  
  
The door opened soon, revealing Asha's face.  
  
"Yeah?" she was surprised to see a boy standing there "Something I can help you with kid?"  
  
599 lowered the hood from his hoodie and stared at her. "Who-hoo mama" he leered "You must get slammed a lot of thank yous" he looked her up and down.  
  
"Excuse me?" Asha did not just believe this pre-teen had just knocked on her door to hoot at her. "Kid you need to go home before your mama busts your ass, or before I do."  
  
"Lady the only ass busting will be from me" 599 kicked the door open all the way sending Asha reeling to the floor.  
  
Asha went for her gun laying on the coffee table. She never would shoot at a kid, but this little rat bastard was different. "Get the hell outta here!"  
  
599 kicked the gun out of her hand, and threw her into the opposite wall before she had time to react.  
Asha looked up in time to see the kid holding her Colt in her face. "599 sure the found the good kinda cookie to eat," he cocked the gun at her. "Tell Zack I stopped by" he knocked her out with a slam across her face. She slid down onto the floor. He leaned closer kissing her face "Okay sweetie?" he threw the gun on the floor and left, locking the door on the way out.   
  
"Civilian women" he reached the spot where is rope was suspended outside "They're hot, but that's about it" he climbed back out on his rope and slid silently to the ground.   
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
10: 45 PM  
  
"We have advanced hearing, why the hell is he still blasting that?" she could hear the song from Korn that Krit managed to find on the radio blasting through the bathroom walls. She slipped off her shirt, pounding on the wall with her fist "Turn that down boy! Don't make me come out there"  
  
"Yes mother!" Krit called back lowering the volume on the stereo system in the living room.  
  
"You wouldn't understand baby" Logan told her in their bedroom next-door "It's a guy thing, not for the fairer sex" he was messing with her.  
  
It got its desired result when she came out of bathroom and threw her shirt at him.  
  
He laughed to as she retreated back into the bathroom. He looked at the shirt in his hand before setting it on top of the bed. "Max, what are you wearing in there?" there was seduction in his tone.  
  
"I decided to go with the ball gown" she remarked "Great for shower taking-" she felt a breeze as the door opened. She was midway from taking off her jeans. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to seduce me Logan Cale"  
  
"Yeah, but you're smarter then the average person Max" he stepped closer to her "So you know this is a seduction."  
  
"What if I told you I wasn't in the mood?"  
  
"Then I'd be a gentleman and wait-"  
  
"How long?"  
  
"Until you changed you're mind"  
  
She smiled, full and sexy "What if I told you it's already changed?"  
  
"Then I'd say you'd have to put that shower on hold sweetheart"  
  
"Or we could just conserve water and crank up unisex one notch" she went and turned the showerhead on. "Krit's got his music up anyways" she started to remove her bra, dropping the bit of cloth to the ground. She felt him come up behind her, laying warm hands on her bare shoulder's  
  
"Sounds like a plan" his voice was low, tickling her skin as he kissed the back of her shoulders.  
  
She turned around to face him, pulling his long sleeved shirt up over his head, then his cotton undershirt   
In was in this manner that he removed his other clothes and his glasses.  
  
The hot water beat down on the pair. Max stuck her face under the spray, enjoying what use to be a rare luxury at her old apartment. The warm water and the man behind her were doing great things to her senses.  
  
= = =   
  
He peaked inside. All the lights were out. 599 pulled out the glasscutter, but then cursed a few seconds later after it fell to the ground. He checked around the window, seeing a tiny sensor attached to the frame, a security system that would go off it the laser was broken when the window lifted up. He took out an small flat head screwdriver and after a few seconds de-activated the laser. The alarm would not sound now, but the window was still locked. He punched through the glass with a gloved fist, sending shards flying into the room.  
  
He miscalculated the location of the occupant in the room. The shattered glass flew out from the window landing directly over the crib where Lexi had been sleeping.  
  
She had woken up from the noise and now scream/cried as the glass cut her on the parts of her arms that weren't covered by the blanket.  
  
= = = =  
  
Kaja had heard the noise of the smash and began to bark a low fierce growl. Krit turned down his music "what's up?"  
  
He heard the baby screaming "Maxie!" he bolted off the couch  
  
The bedroom door opened two seconds later as Max ran out, she had heard it too. She and Logan ran to their daughter's room with Krit.  
  
Kaja was already there, barking and whining at the closed door.  
  
Max tore into the room and flipped the light on. The first thing she saw was Lexi screaming her head off, sitting up in her crib. Max rushed over to her and picked her up, she then saw the cuts on her arms.  
  
"The windows broken" Logan looked over the large window that stood over the crib. He looked back to his wife and baby daughter "How bad is it?"  
  
"Just superficial cuts" Max looked Lexi over "It's okay baby" her head had a few small cuts, and one piece of glass was still sticking out of one near her hairline. There were also similar injuries on her arms and one cut on her neck.  
  
Kaja continued to bark, scanning the room, sniffing, barking growling.   
  
"Room's clear" Krit announced, doing a scan of his own. "Someone cut of the motion sensors" he looked down below, seeing nothing. He pulled his head back inside and bumped into the dresser that was beside the crib.  
  
Something white fluttered to the floor, sliding under his boot. Krit picked up the small square of paper.  
"Max" he turned the card around to face her.  
  
It was a card the size of the ones in the bicycle deck, printed on it was the Manticore symbol, the monkey holding the scepter, and underneath it was a stamped mark of a barcode.  
  
It was a marker used by Manticore snipers to identify a target in practice tactics. Max recognized it since she herself had been trained as a sniper. The barcode underneath coincided with the 'target'  
  
And this one matched hers.  
  
*****   
  
Asha's head was killing her. Her eyes opened to a bleary world and the taste of blood in her mouth. She spit that out, not caring that it landed on her floor. It was then that she heard the pounding on her door.  
  
Zack kicked open her door three seconds later when she didn't answer and found her sprawled out on the floor.  
  
He was immediately beside her "What happened?"  
  
"I don't know" her eyes finally adjusted better to her surroundings and she could see her boyfriends dark brown eyes looking at her in concern. "There was some kid and he was leering at me and the next thing I know BAM he's tossing me around the room like it's a sport"  
  
"What'd he look like?" Zack pulled her to her feet and pushed her into one of her dining room chairs.  
  
"Punkish, shaved head" Asha told him "He kicked my ass around pretty good for an eleven year old"  
  
Zack stuck a rag on her hairline and she jumped. "Did you use you're gun?"  
  
"Didn't have the chance." She placed her hand over the rag, taking control over holding it. "Damn!" she cursed at a new pain.  
  
Zack took her hand down from her face "Pinky's broken" the digit was already starting to swell. He went to get some ice.   
  
"You know how to set bones right?"  
  
"Basic minor simple fractures" he handed her the ice.  
  
Asha looked at her puffed up finger "looks like that to me. I've got a splint kit in the kitchen drawer under the microwave. Do it here. If I go to the ER they'll think I got mugged or abused by my boyfriend, and I don't even have a good lie to tell them."   
  
Zack got the proper supplies and lifted the ice off her finger after he felt it was numb enough "Boy was around eleven?"   
  
"Yeah" Asha's voice was at best a grimace when picked up her finger to set the break. "For some reason he-"Ahh!" she broke off when he re-aligned the bones in their correct order "Shit!" after she was done cursing she went on "looked like you, something in the eyes. Didn't look all that close" she felt him splint the finger and soon release her hand. "Zack I think he's from Manticore"  
  
"I figured that already Asha with how you told me he came in here." He closed the box of splints.  
  
"Not just that" she told him "He told me to tell 'Zack' he was there"  
  
Zack's attention grew one notch. "Did he say anything else?"  
  
Asha shook her head "Zack what the hell is going on?"  
  
*****   
  
"One more piece honey" Bling worked carefully to remove the glass fragments still stuck in Lexi's skin.  
He grasped the glass embedded in her scalp with the tweezers making her cry, and bury her head in Max's body who was sitting beside her.  
  
"Done" Bling showed the girl the glass before setting it on the cloth he had spread out on the coffee table. He smoothed out Lexi's hair "You did good sweetie" he dabbed at her cuts with peroxide before getting up to throw the glass away in the kitchen trash can.   
  
"S'allright baby" Max comforted her scared daughter, hugging her close. She rubbed her back and wiped her tears from her cheeks.  
  
The front door opened as Krit stepped back inside "Found it outside down around the parking garage" he showed her a silver glasscutter. "No tracks. Whoever came in descended back and landed on the sidewalk"   
  
"You see anyone?" Logan was in one of the upholstered chairs with his IMAC in front of him.  
  
"Nothing" Krit told him. He took a cup of coffee Bling handed him "Starting to regret my alcohol consumption"  
  
"Regretted that already" Max spoke up from the couch.  
  
Bling looked at the marker that Max had thrown on the coffee table "Story with this?"  
  
"Sniper mark" Krit told him "During, training we were all given these kinds of cards in black wrapping Had to go out one mile on the training ground before opening the "package" All of the cards were plain except one-" Krit slid the card to him and picked it up. "If you got one that wasn't-" his finger traced along the edge of the barcode "This was yours and you were the target. You had to move around though, just like in a real situation. Targets aren't just gonna sit pretty watin' for ya to sneak in and blow their asses off"  
  
"Then how come there weren't bloody heaps of soldiers?" Bling asked, "Snipers have great accuracy."  
  
"Since it was 'practice' they only shot off blanks" Krit threw the card back down. "Good old Deck and his gang knew we were too valuable of an asset to kill us off just in a damn pseudo combat situation."  
  
"This one belongs to Max why-" Bling stopped when he realized that Lexi was within his earshot. He leaned forward. "the hell would they break into a babies room and not do the fucked up thing they came for?"  
  
"It's a warning." Krit looked at his little sister when he said this. "If you were the one with this card it was your notification that you were being sought out, and you had to do something about it"  
  
"So this freako is busting in here to kill my girl?" Bling was pissed "Forget the Manticore thing on his side I'll beat his ass to the ground myself"  
  
"Got something" Logan broke in, looking at his computer screen "Hover Cam caught the form of someone moving across the road" he ran the feed "There's not much, the camera's range didn't go far enough, but-"  
  
"It's a kid" Krit was looking at the feed with Logan. "Barely make out a face though"  
  
"Could be an X7" Max stood up, still holding Lexi in her arms.   
  
"But they were never trained as snipers Maxie." Krit reminded "They were created for recon missions. Sniper training was limited to the X5's" he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye when he said this, knowing she knew all to well of this fact.  
  
"But there weren't any X5 kids after the escape, just the teens and adults."  
  
"Is there anyway that a baby could've been born afterwards?" Logan asked  
  
"There could be" Max answered "But they'd all be only around one or two"  
  
"What about-" Logan stopped in his sentence  
  
"What about what?" Max wanted to know what he was going to say.  
  
"The interbreeding unit" he finished "A kid from there would be about 11 now-"  
  
"None of them survived Logan" Max spoke in a low voice, not wanting to talk about this tonight. "20 girls in the program and they all miscarried. The DNA was too screwed to create a baby between two unit members"  
  
"But the avenues all fit together" Logan continued typing "An 11 year old kid with sniper knowledge. You said it yourself that he couldn't be X7 if he has that training." He brought up an old sealed file of Manticore's OB records. The designations of the twenty girls appeared in a list, Max's, Tinga's and Jondy's among them.  
  
An asterisk appeared by Max's name, and referenced an end not at the bottom of the report. Logan read it in silence.  
  
"What is it?" Max could see the look on his face  
  
"Max, you said you miscarried the child?"  
  
"Yeah like all the other nine year olds who got knocked up." She was getting defensive "I was there remember?"   
  
"End remark" Logan read of the endnote on the report. "Viable embryonic material was found and placed into normal class surrogate C-0359. Pregnancy sustained successfully. Delivered November 9, 2009. Male. Designation Class: XX5-5452599"   
  
Max's expression was one of complete shock, not believing at all what she had just heard.   
  
*****   
  
UNKNOWN LOCATION  
  
"So boss how'd I do?" 599 was slinking in the chair, back in the same interrogation room he was at when he first came in contact with White  
  
"You performed the way you were trained to do" White answered, standing in front of 599 "The Manticore sniper death card was a nice touch"   
  
"Aww, I KNEW you cared about me" 599 leered back  
  
"Incidentally-" White leaned over the boy "You weren't trained as a sniper, so how the hell did you wind up with these?" he held up a unused death card in 599's face.  
  
"Well basically Sir I hawked it, and stamped on the barcodes myself" 599's tone was bragging. "The guy I got them off of was in VC for a month, left them right in the breast pocket of his flack jacket. Not like he needed them in there."  
  
"You're a corrupt little transgenic aren't you?"  
  
"I can't see now Sir, my eyes are tearin' up so bad-" 599 tilted back in his chair, rocking it back and forth, defying the laws of gravity by preventing the chair from crashing to the ground and landing him with it.  
"So what was this recon deal for?" he kept up the movement in the chair "Why didn't I just go in and kill them straight away?"  
  
"A good player knows not to play the trump card on the first hand." White was being elusive. "With all the renegade transgenics running around in this city it wouldn't take much for a posse to form along with "mommy" and "daddy" to so they can put you over their knee and give you a good solid kick in the balls"  
  
"So-" 599 didn't understand the importance of this "If 452 turned around in this fight she could do what ever she wanted to my balls" a pause "Wait, you want them to riot don't you?" a smug grin came to his face "You want to have a moment of glory where I beat down these threats to YOUR balls. If I just killed them at night, it would be like any street sleaze. But we're Manticore, it's disgraceful to just shoot and run with an equal opponent"  
  
"You're catching on-"  
  
"I'm gonna start balling here-"  
  
"Shut up!" White snapped "You may be a enhanced weapon, but with just one phone call I can have the boys back at HQ tearing you apart for scrap, so I suggest you watch your mouth" he turned and left.  
  
The door slammed out, rattling the two-way mirror.  
  
The woman waiting outside turned to White after he stood beside her "Fascinating little prick isn't he?"  
Her white teeth stood out noticeably against her baldhead and multiple body tattooing  
  
White looked to the priestess, not saying anything  
  
"What do you want with this boy Ames? He is Manticore trash. He is not worthy to be in the group."  
  
"I know" White agreed "But one man's trash is another man's treasure"  
  
*****   
  
"Guys" Jondy got right down in between Charlie and Tinga who were making out on the couch "Door"  
  
"You could get it Jondy" Tinga broke apart  
  
"Not in the guest handbook" Jondy threw out  
  
Tinga growled at her and stood up, straightening out her long hair on the way.   
  
"Tinga you home?"  
  
Tinga growled again when she heard Krit's voice "No. Krit it's late, bug me in the morning-"  
  
"Tinga open up it's me" Max's voice broke in.  
  
The front door opened a few seconds later "Maxie" Tinga saw her sister there with her brother-in-law and kids in tow "What's wrong?"  
  
"Someone broke in our apartment" Max stepped inside holding Lexi  
  
"What?" Tinga was shocked "You guys okay?"  
  
"Great considering the fact that the kid who did it had this with him" Max fished out the death card, showing it to her.  
  
Tinga's eyes grew larger "But how?" she took the card from her "You guys can stay" she moved aside to let them all in "I wanna know how the hell this got there?" she looked at the card on the way to the couch.  
  
"It's obvious girl" Krit pointed out, heading straight for the coffee pot in his sister's kitchen, not even asking, considering it his right as her brother to steal her food and drinks. "Someone has a hit out on Maxie"  
  
"You're frankness is great in these situations Krit really" Max moved over to the couch, Charlie vacating the seat a few seconds later seeing that she wanted to sit. Lexi was still in her arms, and she cradled the little girl to her chest, pushing back bits of her growing baby hair.  
  
"Why don't you guys go see Case in his room?" Tinga stood in the middle of her living room, talking to her niece and nephew. "He's got a lot of things to do in there-"  
  
"Yeah c'mon Jess" Logan chimed in, sensing that his sister-in-law wanted to talk about the recent events, and it would be better to not do it in front of them, even though they were part Manticore themselves.  
  
Max looked down to her daughter "Baby, why don't you go with your brother-"  
  
"No mama" Lexi cut her off, hugging her impossibly tighter "I wanna stay here"  
  
Max rubbed her back sympathetically "Me and daddy wanna talk alone with your aunts and uncles for a bit, but as soon as we're done you can come right back," she kissed her on the cheek "kay?" she wipped a tear from her face.   
  
Logan came around and picked up their daughter "C'mon sweetie" he carried her off into the back room, with Jess following behind.  
  
Tinga waited until they were out of earshot before turning back to her siblings "Now what the hell is going on? Who sent you this?" she addressed this question to Max.   
  
"Manticore obviously" Max threw back  
  
"Don't play dumb with me baby sister, there's more to it then that" she looked at Max sternly   
  
"XX5-5452599, ring a bell?"  
  
Tinga just stared at her, shocked "That's impossible, none of them made it out alive-"  
  
"Guess we were wrong" Max looked at her then.  
  
Tinga came closer and sat in front of Max on her coffee table "Were there more?"  
  
Max shook her head "Only that one. After-" a pause "After I got rid of it, docs came along and salvaged some pieces, put it in a regular surrogate," another pause "guess they didn't want the project to go to a total waste"  
  
"Why is he after you?" Tinga demanded.  
  
"That I don't know. He's toying with me. Prick wants something more-"  
  
"Can't call him that Maxie he's-"  
  
"What?" Max cut Tinga off "my son? C'mon Tinga! You know as well as I do that's crap. Just like those damn op docs told us, we were just donors. I HAVE a real son, so do you. You think Manticore wanted us to be moms to these babies? We were just passing on alpha genes, why the hell else would they kill the faulty things that came out if it-"  
  
"Jesse died because of premature labor complications Maxie-"  
  
"No she died because they killed her!" Max shouted back. She got up from the couch and began to pace   
"They dragged her away from me and that stupid photographer and cut her up, but it didn't work. Manticore in all its fucking glory couldn't save a nine-year-old girl. So what did they do? They took away all her dignity and made us watch while they charred her body to a damn heap of ashes!"  
  
"We were there sis" Jondy broke in "we know."  
  
Max whirled on her "you didn't break into an officers barracks and pill pop a whole bottle of aspirin to get rid of it-"  
  
Jondy looked stunned, she never knew. Max had only confided in her that she miscarried the baby, not that she caused it. "Your miscarriage-"  
  
"Self-inflicted" Max spat "Obviously I didn't do a good enough job since someone decided to pick up where I left of. Getting knocked up with my own brothers baby wasn't humiliating enough."  
  
"Max-" Logan had come out of the back room   
  
She pointed a finger at him "Don't you dare say one damn thing Logan Cale! You have NO idea what it's like to be an incesting whore and have this kid try to come back and shatter the ONLY stable part of your life that you have!" she slipped out the back fire escape window, standing on the landing, and climbing up to the roof.  
  
"Max!" Logan stuck his head out and called to her, watching her climb higher and higher. Despite his fear of heights, he braved the landing and climbed up the wrought iron stairs after her.  
  
"Max listen to me!" he caught up to her in the middle of the roof and grabbed her arm.  
  
In a reflex move she turned and threw a punch at him before she had time to think. He ducked just in time and grabbed her arms again pinning them behind her. Where he was getting this ability to fight with his super soldier wife, he didn't know, maybe it was due to the adrenaline pumping full gush though his system.  
  
She matched this, being the Manticore soldier she was, never mind that he was her husband. She was angry, and provoked, she was his wife, but she was a soldier first. She threw him to the ground, hearing him hit the concrete not real hard since he caught himself. Blood came from scrapes on his hands as a result of making contact with the roof. His glasses skidded across the roof a foot in front of him.   
  
She moved, to help him up, to keep going, who knows. But he knew he had to stop her. She was in Manticore mode, and telling her to stop wouldn't do it. Hating himself and being a gentleman aside, this had to end. He tripped her, a move that caught her off guard and she hit the ground on her back.  
  
Before she could get up he tackled her and pressed her down to the roof with his weight. "Enough!"  
He pinned her arms to the ground. He was breathing hard, and she could feel the small bits of blood from his cuts on her arms. She stopped struggling, mainly because it scared her that if this kept going on she could very well kill Logan without meaning to.   
  
"I am sick of your self blame Max!" he was shouting, despite the fact that she was six inches from his face. "You were nine years old! You did what they told you to because they brainwashed you into believing that their reasons were just. You are NOT a whore! I didn't marry a whorish, street incesting slut who liked to do it with her brother before puberty even hit. How can I blame you for something you didn't ask to be done to you?"  
  
"That doesn't change the fact that it's true-"  
  
"Max shut up!" he released her arms and grabbed her face he was still shouting at her "I LOVE you dammit! I would love you even if you WERE a whorish street incesting slut who ran away from that to start a new life. Because it would be YOU. Stop running for once in your life and face this! You are not a girl who takes the cowards way out. Leaving Seattle without me and the kids won't make it go away."   
  
She never told him that, but it had been in the back of her mind. After finding out that SHE had created this thing that was after her, endangering her family. She couldn't live with that knowledge that her baby could've been killed by him to get to her. There was so much more to protect then when she tried to leave before. They did not deserve to be in the cross hairs of her shit. "It would protect you-"  
  
"Don't even think it" Logan warned, "If you leave I would never forgive you" he meant every word of it, hating himself, but not wanting do deal with being alone because of her again.  
  
She didn't say anything, looking up at him, knowing that he was telling the truth  
  
His finger brushed her lip "You're bleeding"   
  
She sucked on the cut, still not saying anything. The tension between them was thick. She didn't want it, but they were drifting. Three years of marriage, love, trust, and now /What the hell is happening to us? An hour ago we were fine/  
  
He stood back up, wanting to stay there, to be there when she finally broke, but she would have to come to him now, that was how it was with her. She was a strong woman. And anything else would just be a lie.  
  
She watched him go, intending to let him leave so she could think, but something ate at her stomach /Don't let him go! It's not suppose to be this way!/  
  
"Don't" she grabbed his hand at the last minute, her eyes finally looking up into his deeply, colored in the way that made him remember that he was still deeply in love with her. "Stay with me" her fingers closed around his hand "I don't want it to end like this" she traced the scrape marks with her finger in sensual movements.  
  
Slowly, slowly, he lowered himself back down to her, pressing his forehead against hers. Her arms came up around his neck and it was then that she allowed herself to cry.   
  
He held her, feeling each of her sobs on that rooftop. "We're in this together okay?" he kissed her again  
  
*****   
  
"Why are mommy and daddy yelling?" Jess had come out of Case's room, looking completely scared. His parents had never screamed at each other like that.  
  
"It'll be allright baby boy" Jondy picked up her nephew.  
  
Finally, Max came back through the door, followed closely by Logan.  
  
"You okay honey?" Jondy looked at her sister in concern. "Girl, you're bleeding" she looked warningly at Logan "Boy I love you, but if you laid one hand on Maxie I'll-"  
  
"It's fine." Max broke in. "kay? Calm down." a pause "I'm tired. Gonna go to bed." She looked to Tinga "Okay if we crash in your room?"  
  
"Yeah that's fine" Tinga agreed.  
  
Max looked at her son "It's okay baby"   
  
"Do you still love daddy?"  
  
She kissed his forehead "We're fine hun, I promise. I love daddy, with all my heart. And I love you" she caught Logan looking at her. "See ya in the morning kay baby?" she went off into Tinga's bedroom, Logan following close behind her.  
  
Krit strained an ear to the door to the bedroom a few seconds later, listening, smiling at what he heard "make up sex is the best"  
  
Jondy threw a cushion at him "get away from their Cat Man and leave them alone."  
  
*****  
  
THE NEXT MORNING   
  
Logan woke up with two realizations. The first one was that he wasn't in his bed, and the second that he was alone. He sat up, not bothering to flip the light on. It was only 7:30 but the sun was beginning to come out through the wooden blinds in Tinga's room.  
  
For one insane moment he thought Max's fear had outweighed her senses and she had left him. He pushed that thought aside, knowing that Max wouldn't just leave without telling him goodbye somehow, in a note, a message, SOMETHING.   
  
He and Max had fallen asleep on top of the bed in their clothes. Their "love making" of last night had been restricted to lustful kiss and listening to each other breathe. Their need for contact was greater then the desire for sex.  
  
Getting up from the bed he stretched, wincing as the cut skin of his palms stretched with his movement. The marks weren't too deep; they were already beginning to scab over.   
  
The living room was silent except for the quiet tick of an antique looking table clock on top of the TV.   
  
Tinga and Charlie were nowhere to be found, but Krit was sacked out on a brown leather chair by the couch, his leather jacket used as a blanket.  
  
All thoughts of Max abandoning him got shot to hell when he spotted her asleep on the couch. She had kept her promise to their daughter. Resting in the shelter of her body was Lexi, securely held to her mom by a strong arm.   
  
He knelt next to the couch, Lexi awakening at the movement. Her crystal blue eyes looked into his matching set.  
  
Logan smiled and kissed her, putting a finger to his lips, silently asking her not to say anything yet. The blood on Max's lip had dried in the middle of the night, and the skin was split under the redness. The adrenaline from last night was gone, and guilt was starting to set in at having to hurt her, even though he wasn't doing it TO hurt her. He kissed the spot on the side of her mouth where the blood was, then kissed her full on the lips.  
  
She stirred at the second contact, blinking a few times before looking into his eyes. "Hey"  
  
He smiled at her "Hey yourself" this banter felt like when they use to just be-whatever it was before they were married.  
  
"Any of the past few hours a dream?"  
  
He shook his head  
  
"Damn" she whispered, turning up to look at the ceiling. Her eyes drifted back to him "You should put something on those baby" she indicated his palms with a nod.   
  
He flipped them over and looked at them "Worse then it looks sweetheart" the "before they were married banter" just got taken up a notch.  
  
Max grabbed one of his hands and flipped the palm up. "Kiss daddy's ow-ee's babe"   
  
Lexi did, three times "Does that feel better daddy?"  
  
Logan smiled softly at her "yeah much better honey." He kissed her again on the forehead "Why don't you go wake up the boys?"  
  
Lexi broke out in a huge grin as she climbed off the couch. She loved busting in to her brother's room and jump on his chest, talk to him, give him slobbery kisses until he woke up.  
  
"Don't beat him up to bad baby" Max called after her, watching the girl take off in a euphoric sprint to Case's room where the boys were sleeping.  
  
"Guess she's feeling better" Logan said   
  
"Like mother like daughter" Max shot out, sitting upright on the couch. Her sweater had gotten bunched behind her back in the middle of the night, and she straightened it out.  
  
"You ever get in touch with Zack?"  
  
She shook her head "he wasn't home, figured he might be at Asha's but I lost the number."  
  
"Then let's go pay a visit" Krit had woken up and was now joining in the conversation.  
  
"I gotta go to work" Max informed, not believing what just came out of her mouth. "Plus gotta get these guys back home today."  
  
"Max if you're worried about him just go see him" Logan broke in "This XX5 kid might be looking for him too"  
  
"Zack can take care of himself" Jondy came out of the kitchen with coffee in her hand. "If junior used the same tactics as he did on you then he's not going after Zack at first, he's breaking into the circle of friends, and since Zack doesn't HAVE any family or fr-"  
  
She and Max got the same idea but Max was the one who said it "Asha"  
  
"My bike's at Zack's" Krit notified   
  
"Mine isn't" Max stood up "Can make it there in ten minutes if we move" she turned to Logan "Take them home?"   
  
"I got it" Logan told her "Tell me what you find"  
  
She nodded and kissed him, before going to retrieve her Ninja keys  
  
"Wait now" Jondy was still absorbing this "Maxie are you telling me that the kid Manticore made you and Zack have is still alive and is running around pissing up the place?"  
  
"Damn" Krit said "And I thought I was the pissed up one in the family" he headed over to one of the interior walls, and broke through it with his fist, unearthing the gun he knew Tinga kept inside "Just in case" he checked the ammo.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Tinga called out from the bathroom.  
  
"Just borrowing something sis" Krit told her "I'll return it" he and Max headed out the door just as Tinga came out, her hair halfway damp from where she had just stopped blow-drying it  
  
"Dammit Krit!" she looked at the mess "I gotta find a better place to keep my gun."  
  
*****   
  
134 FENTAL AVE  
  
Max knocked on the door "Asha?"   
  
Krit had the gun cocked at his side, ready to use it if need be.  
  
The door opened, Krit kept the gun down, not wanting to shoot Asha by accident by firing off blindly. Asha stood there. There was a light bruise on her hairline, and Max could see a splint on her pinky.  
  
"What happened?"   
  
Asha didn't answer right away. Max took something out of her pocket "It was a kid wasn't it?"  
  
"How did-"  
  
"Did he leave one of these?" she showed her the death card that she had gotten.  
  
"Yeah" Asha agreed, "Right after he broke a digit" she held up her splinted hand.  
  
"What'd he look like?" Krit asked as Asha moved aside to let them in, closing the door.  
  
"Young, 11ish, punk ass as anything. Wearing all black."  
  
"What'd he want?"  
  
"He told me to tell Zack that he stopped by, among other things"  
  
"Was Zack here?" Krit asked  
  
"Until about three" Asha confirmed "Was sitting on my couch when I fell asleep, and I heard him leave. He kept hovering too much so I kicked him out. He didn't know the kid" she held up the card that 599 had left on her TV, she had found it an hour after Zack came by.  
  
Max looked at it. The death card, but this time not with her barcode, with Zack's.   
  
"Why is this kid after me?" Asha wanted to know  
  
"He's not after you he's after Zack" Max told her.  
  
"Then why'd he come here?"  
  
"You were a scare tactic" Max answered "Last night someone broke into Lexi's room and left this card."  
  
"Why?" Asha demanded  
  
"It's a marker" Krit informed "For a Manticore sniper. Whoever hired him out wants to take down Zack, and Max" Krit looked to his sister when he said this.  
  
"Still doesn't make any sense"  
  
"Asha-" Krit was about to tell her, but Max cut him off.  
  
"There was an interbreeding unit at Manticore. Two X5 males inseminated 20 girls in their units, Zack was one of the males, he was an alpha-" she watched Asha's eyes get wide "Among these girls were Tinga, Jondy, Syl and me. None of us carried to full term, we miscarried in the forth month. But somehow someone got ahold of the embryo and picked up where I left off"  
  
"Zack-" Asha finally tried her hand at speaking again  
  
"No" Max cut in for the second time "He's related to him biologically, that's it. None of us ever consummated in this process, it was all done in a lab"  
  
"Where's Zack now?" Krit asked   
  
"He left" Asha answered him  
  
"Did he say where?"  
  
Asha shook her head "Surprisingly yeah, he said he was going to see you" she signified Max with this remark.  
  
"You should lay low" Max said to Asha "Think this kid's moving on to the main target, but he might decide to double back"  
  
"Laying low isn't an option for me" Asha told her straight out "He maybe your brother Max, but he's also my boyfriend, and I don't care if this shit is from Manticore he's killing Zack without going through you guys and me first."  
  
*****   
  
UNKNOWN LOCATION  
  
"Phase One is complete" White leaned over 599 "Targets has been flushed out. Now it's only a matter of time before they show themselves"  
  
"What makes you think they will Sir?" 599 asked, this time he was sitting on the table  
  
"Let's just say I know these two" White backed up from 599, now standing in front of him "You're a threat, a thorn in their side, and what's the Manticore protocol for thorns?"  
  
"Break'em off." 599 replied "I know you've kinda 'taken me under your wing' Sir, but as far as things go, I may be a thorn, but you're the only prick-"  
  
White got pissed then, and pinned 599 against the wall with one arm "You are MY tool understand kid? After this is all over you're going to be reunited with the all the other freaks back at HQ awaiting Judgment Day"  
  
"Could be now if you don't break this off Sir" 599 warned "I have a temper too"  
  
White leaned closer to his face "But I'm the one who'll win" he released him "Never underestimate your superiors 599"  
  
*****   
  
JAM PONY  
  
"Where the firetrucks is Max?" Normal checked his watch "The weekend ended two hours ago"   
  
"Family emergency-" Cindy stuck up for her home girl  
  
"She ran out of sick and dead aunts" Normal told her   
  
"One of her kids got hit by a car" Cindy got him to shut up after that with her lie  
  
"Are they okay?" Normal actually sounded like a decent human being then.  
  
"She called me last night from the ER. Baby's fine, a few cuts a bruises, but damn lucky."  
  
"I got one worker with a legitimate excuse, unlike the rest of you slackers who pull the first thing out of your ass to get out of work, speaking of which, where's Alec?"  
  
"He was driving the car" Cindy broke in again, lying came more natural as she kept going.  
  
Normal's eyes got wider. Alec was his diamond in the ruff.  
  
"Push those eyes back in yo' head Normal" Cindy stated "Your golden boy didn't hit and run, it was an accident. Her ball rolled into the road by that park and he didn't see her. He had to have his car repaired this morning."  
  
"Tell him to take all the time he needs" Normal informed  
  
"And Max?"  
  
"Yeah her too. I'm not being accused of unethical work conditions"  
  
"Oh damn no, that would be whack" Cindy agreed in a mocking tone. She headed over to the payphone to call Max and find out what was REALLY going on.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
Cindy recognized the voice, but it wasn't who she was expecting. "Bling?"  
  
"Cindy" Bling replied warmly enough into the phone, but there was something in his voice "Hey girl how ya been?"  
  
"I'm great boo." Cindy told him "Love to catch up, but I wanted to talk to my girl"  
  
"She's out right now, but I could let her know-"  
  
"Is something wrong? I also called cause-" she lowered her voice to just above a whisper "cause Normal's about to get that stick deeper up his ass for her not clockin' in"  
  
There was a pause on Bling's end  
  
"This is Original Cindy you're talkin' to boy remember?" she reminded him "I will smack down your ass real bad if you don't let me know if there's bad stuff goin' down with my boo"  
  
"Max is okay" Bling told her  
  
"I hear a but commin'-"  
  
"I really don't wanna do this over the phone"  
  
"Then I'll come over there, see ya in ten" she hung up "Gonna go visit my baby boo in the hospital, so I'm takin' off early for lunch"  
  
"Thought you said it wasn't serious?" Normal asked  
  
"Not boy, observation, doctors like to be sure and rich" Cindy turned and left.  
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
"I hate to sound like somebody's mama" Bling began from Logan's couch "But how'd you bang yourself up?" he could see the cuts on Logan's hands as he was typing on his IMAC.  
  
"It's not a big deal" Logan didn't look at him as said this.  
  
"Kinda thing that IS a big deal when you say it" Bling reminded "you hit the ground falling?"  
  
"Can we drop it please?"  
  
"You fight with Max or something?"  
  
This was met with silence  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Bling-"  
  
"She hit you or you hit her-"  
  
There was a look on Logan's face  
  
"You HIT her?" Bling was shocked   
  
"No I didn't HIT her" Logan corrected "What kinda man do you think I am? She tried to fight ME, so I had to get her to stop so-"  
  
"So? Logan you can't end a sentence like that"  
  
"I tripped her."  
  
Bling's shocked look got deeper "Man you're terrible tripping your own wife"  
  
"She's a soldier Bling, not like she couldn't handle it."  
  
"Soldier or not you don't do that to a woman"  
  
"Bling you're taking this out of context, you weren't even there, so can we please just drop it?"  
  
"Fine" Bling agreed after a minute. "You guys tight again?"  
  
"Yeah we're tight again Bling."  
  
"Sex huh?"  
  
The front door was heard to open.  
  
"See who that is please" Logan told him  
  
"I don't work here anymore man" Bling reminded  
  
"Seems like you never left"   
  
"Max-" the voice belonged to Zack as he came through the living room "Where's Max?"  
  
"She's on her way" Bling said "She's a big girl Zack" he sensed what Zack was thinking.  
  
Max arrived about ten minutes later, with Original Cindy who came there about the same time, along with Krit.   
  
Logan stopped typing for a moment "How's Asha?"  
  
"Broke her finger" Zack cut in "whoever he was"  
  
"He's us" Max spoke out to her brother, she showed him both death cards. "Designation XX5-5452599"  
  
"That's impossible" Zack said in denial  
  
"It's true" Logan broke in "Embryo was found and placed in another surrogate, baby was born few months after that."  
  
"So now Max and I have a freako kid running around loose?" Zack spat back. "After everything else Manticore did they had to screw us over again after they burned too?"  
  
"It's worse then that"  
  
Max looked at Logan when he said this "What do you mean? Cause tryin' to kill me is about as worse as it gets for me."  
  
"You said it yourself that this kid never even knew which X5's he had been conceived from. So how could he have know to target you and Zack?" a pause "Someone tipped him off, which means somebody is working with him. He couldn't have formed a grudge against you two if he never even heard of you before."  
  
"Question is who then?" Krit asked  
  
"I'm wid Krit" Cindy agreed "Need names so I can bust some smack downs"  
  
"Two days ago a report came across secure channels about a sighting of a boy near an abandoned VA hospital. Agents of the DCFS came to pick the kid up, only they weren't DCFS agents because the VA hospital was right outside some woods in Gillette, Wyoming. Apparently the boy was hiding there behind some trees."  
  
"Who were the people then?" Cindy asked  
  
"All I know is that he was transferred to a site where at 3:35 a.m a call was made from that location to Ames White. The feed got scrambled, but the man on the other end said he had something 'remarkable' to show him"  
  
"599" Max said the only 'name' for the kid she knew. "Why is this kid going along with it? White's going to throw him in a cage as soon as he's done using him as a tool. We were taught better then that."  
  
"He might have been brainwashed like you were as a kid into believing that you two were a threat that needed to be eliminated."   
  
"As if I didn't have enough people trying to kill me, now there's one I'm related to" Max spoke out  
  
*****   
  
Zack raised the kickstand from his Vulcan out on the parking garage  
  
"Why didn't you tell me the first time?" Max had followed him down there.  
  
He looked at her solemnly "I wanted to protect you"  
  
"I could've handled it" she spat  
  
"Some things are easier to forget Maxie"  
  
"How can I forget that they seeded me with my own brothers baby?"  
  
Zack remained silent.  
  
"Don't be so hard on yourself mom"  
  
Max whipped around to see an eleven-year-old kid there, wearing black and white fatigue pants, with an M-24 slung over his shoulder.   
  
"Get one thing straight kid" she approached him "You call me mom again, I'm gonna knock that smirk off your face."  
  
"Think I'm the only one whose gonna do the knocking sugar" 599 lowered the M-24 at her.  
  
Zack moved in front of Max, blocking her with his body "You might wanna think about that before you do it shit"  
  
"You speak that way to a kid?" 599 leered, looking Zack over "So you and 'mom' are blood related. Isn't that outlawed?" a pause "No matter, after I'm done it'll all go away. No cop can convict two corpses." He squeezed off the gun, bullets ricochet off the concrete pillars and the ground. Both Max and Zack dodged the bullets with amazing speed.   
  
Zack made his way over to 599 and grabbed the muzzle of the rifle but the young X5 seesawed the gun and slammed it into Zack's midsection, causing him to loose his balance.  
  
"So" he pointed the gun barrel directly on Zack's neck "should I call you dad or uncle?"  
  
Max threw herself on 599 then, sending the gun clattering away. 599 whipped around and nailed her in the stomach with his foot with a force that threw her into the opposite wall. The force knocked the wind out of her, and stunned her so much she couldn't recover right away.  
  
599 then turned his attention on Zack "You are a really pathetic soldier you know that?" he corkscrewed, but this time Zack was ready for him and caught his foot throwing him down flat on his back. He then jumped on top of him and seized him by his hair "don't piss off daddy bitch!" he pounded his head on the ground.  
  
A gun blast went off again. 599 held the M-24 still smoking in his hand.  
  
"No!" Max saw Zack pull back in a reel, obviously hit. She pulled herself on her feet and in less then three seconds she was on 599. They fought hard for a dozen seconds before she threw a hard maneuver that shattered three of his ribs when he hit the ground.  
  
599 lay there, gasping at the pain of broken ribs. "Impressive for a slacker"  
  
She picked up the gun and pointed at him "I oughta kill you for what you did to my family you little bitch!"  
  
599 looked up at her, still panting "You would kill your own son?"  
  
Max stared him down, her face emotionless. "You go back to White now and he'll tear you apart like paper." She was still winded, running on only pure adrenaline. She fought hard to keep the gun steady, when all she wanted to do was throw it away.   
  
"I'm not going back to White" 599 corrected, "I failed in my mission." He pulled out another gun, one he had concealed, a .22 caliber pistol and aimed it, at his own temple. "XX5-5452599 aborting the mission at 01023 hours" the gun went off and he fell back to the concrete.  
  
Max dropped the gun and knelt next to Zack, who had his hand held over the wound in his shoulder not saying anything.  
  
Zack leaned over and picked up the gun where it lay in a pool of blood.  
  
"What are you doing?" Max watched him  
  
Zack turned the body over, so that the neck was facing him, pointing the gun at the barcode. A standard procedure done by Manticore soldiers to erase any physical evidence that this kid was anything less then human.  
  
"Zack don't-"  
  
"I have too." Zack cocked the gun "He's still one of us" the gun went off, blowing away the skin on 599's neck.  
  
Zack fell back down beside Max, dropping the gun. She reached her arms around his neck, pressing the side of her face against his back.  
  
Zack grabbed one of her hands.  
  
(SLOW PAN OUT OF SHOT. AIRAL VIEW OF MAX AND ZACK HUDDLED TOGETHER WITH 599'S BODY LAYING TURNED OVER IN A POOL OF BLOOD)  
  
*****   
  
(FADE IN 9:00 PM METRO HOSPITAL)  
  
(MAX IN WAITING CHAIRS SURROUNDED WITH LOGAN AND KIDS)  
  
Dr. Carr approached the two waiting in chairs "He's gonna be fine Max." he touched the woman's shoulder "Nothing major was damaged"  
  
Zack came out of one of the exam rooms with his shoulder now bandaged, peaking out from under the tears in his blue shirt. Asha is right behind him.  
  
(SLOW MOTION SHOT AS MAX WATCHES HIM)  
  
(ZACK WATCHES HER BACK)  
  
(MAX V.O) The life I wanted as a child was never meant to be-  
  
Zack stops in front of her and kisses her on the forehead. She turned up to him and they shared a look before he broke away.  
  
(MAX V.O) I will forever be the soldier who came into being by people with their own twisted agenda-  
  
(CUT TO: SHOT OF AN OPERATING ROOM. DOCTORS ARE FLIPPING OVER A BODY. ONE DOCTOR REMOVES A BULLET FRAGMENT FROM THE NECK OF THE BODY. OUTLINES OF A BARCODE ARE STILL VISIBLE AROUND THE FOLDS OF SKIN)  
  
(MAX V.O) People who create life, not to love, but to attack-"  
  
(CUT TO: SAME O.R. A .22 IS DEPOSITED INTO AN BAG. THE SHOT FOCOUSES ON AN OUTSIDE BLACK WALL. WE SEE IT IS A DOUBLE SIDED MIRROR AND AMES WHITE IS OBSERVING THE PROCEDURE)   
  
(CUT TO HOSPITAL MAX PICKS UP JESSE AND HOLDS HIM AS SHE WATCHES ZACK WALK AWAY WITH ASHA)  
  
(MAX V.O) I was a receptacle for that kind of life. Done without my permission, without permission from any of us (HER EYES FOLLOW ZACK DISSAPPEARING DOWN THE HALLWAY) Max holds Jess closer to her body, as he snuggles to her.  
  
(MAX V.O) I do what I have to do to protect my family. Logan and I have worked things out. I don't know what would have happened if I had left, (MAX LOOKS AT LOGAN) and I don't want to know  
(LOGAN PUTS AN ARM AROUND HER, PULLING HER CLOSER)  
  
(MAX V.O) He asked me if I would shoot my own son (LOOKS AT JESS) No I wouldn't shoot my SON. Ever  
  
(FADE OUT)  
  
*****  
CREDITS ROLL  
  
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: JAMES CAMERON  
EXECUTIVE WRITER: MYSTIC25  
  
****   
  
WOOWEE!! This one was the longest one yet. Since I started this ditty with a voice over from Max I decided to end it that way too. I did the "credits" thing at the beginning at the end for something different..  
  
599-i debated on whether or not to make him survive, but White would have him killed or torn up after he got back from the mission. Max likes to rehabilitate Manticore, but this was a touchy issue. He tried to kill her for cripes sake! And the ending is like what I think DA would do.  
  
There wasn't much of the Jam Pony crew, and barley any of Alec in here, but I couldn't fit him into the storyline that much. He'll be back in the next chapter.  
  
Well sorry again for the insanely long wait.  
  
R/R please!!  
  
Peace  
mystic 


	16. Come Back and Slap You Like the Btch Tha...

Choices-17 "Come Back and Slap You like the B*tch that You Are"  
  
Author: Mystic25  
  
Email: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: Mr. Cameron..yep..cept I didn't cancel a good thing.  
  
SUMMARY: Darren comes back to Seattle..hoping to make up for something. Apparently he   
  
didn't learn the first time.   
  
Rating: PG13 for all the potty mouthing.  
  
A/N: After writing all those "Max hurt/save the world/family" chapters, I want to lighten   
  
it up a little. This piece will have some elements of humor, but still retain the Thing   
  
that made DA a good show to watch.  
  
A/N #2: This chap is told in third person narrative, except for the first bit where   
  
Original Cindy has the opening scene from her point-of-view at Crash. This piece is   
  
all about the dissin' and defending Max and her 'crew' have for each other. After   
  
all Cindy DID have her cross hairs on Darren..  
  
*****  
  
CRASH  
  
Beat's boomin', air is hot, slick. Perfect night for a shack up. I'm all outfitted out in scarlet, the dress my boo gave me a while back when we still crashed together. Didn't know   
  
she owned something so hot. Not that my girl ain't hot, she summons up fire engines ya know   
  
what I'm sayin'? That hot smooth body and commanding voice, good skills in Original Cindy's books. Plus she's got that whole hot momma thing goin'. Just cause she made two great lookin' babies with her man don't mean she has to loose her style. Made her better I say, she   
  
glows more now.  
  
Da-am, place is hot tonight. Third time I've wiped my brow in five minutes. Think with a   
  
hot spot like it is tonight up in here there'd be some hot girls to go with it. But just   
  
my luck I got the regulars. Not that I don't love Sketchy, he's my boy. But he gets away   
  
with so much covert shimmy shimmy behind his girl's back I'm surprised Natalie hasn't   
  
dropped his ass long ago. She just takes his drunk self inside and loves him up,   
  
she's a good woman, but if I swung with Sketch his ass and my foot would have met a   
  
long time ago.  
  
This dress is hot, but it's not breathin' for me. I'm sweating like shit under here.   
  
I grab my margarita, cool against my hand and drink. Oh yeah that's good, tangy, smooth.   
  
Dated a Marine who was just like that. When sistah decked out in her dress uniform she   
  
looked so commando fine..mmm.mmm..she could order my self around anywhere she wanted.   
  
Too bad it didn't last, but O.C. strong. She can deal with the breaks. Feel like I'm   
  
the only one in this group that hasn't had a permanent try at the shack up though.   
  
Kendra, sick as it is, is huggy bugged up with Walter, she seems happy. Makes me   
  
wonder why she bribed the guy with MONEY all those years. Sketch has Natalie so long   
  
as he can keep lyin' like a playa playa to her face. My sugah finally shut up and made   
  
herself happy. Tell you if she hadn't told me and Kendra that Logan dropped a rock   
  
on her I would've dragged the boy's ass over to the nearest mental health center.   
  
Can't believe its been three years since, seems like the other day I was all made up for their festivities. My boo looked so fine in that silk dress. Made up for the fact I got stuck on the "groom's side" of the chairs. Some chick, Buffy, Biffy? -she kept ticking off the girls Logan SHOULD have been with. Had to hold my hand back more then once, smack down was hard to control tell ya that much.  
  
"Cindy"  
  
Now who's callin' me? And why does that voice sound so recognized? Not talkin' in a good way though. More like the sound of your mama's cousin's sister Susan, who you think is named   
  
Suzanne, girl twice removed from your family for bein' a bitch, but who ya gotta act all   
  
sweet to her face cause she's family.   
  
"Hey-"  
  
Person sat down next to me. Back up that comment bout bein sweet. What the heck is goin' down here? Did I miss the hell freezin' over event?  
  
"Cat got your tongue?" hear the voice, but still don't believe the face. Darren, that chicken shit who dumped my boo with some whack ideas bout female fog banks.  
  
"Whatcha want me to say Darren? Want me to voice props at seein' the looser who stomped on   
  
my girl's heart?"  
  
"Accent History" Darren drops that cave man line on me.  
  
"Too bad I'm a historian up in here" take that. Boy's not gonna make it with me. Ain't   
  
gonna act like he's on my top speed dial number of friends just cause he decided to drop   
  
his self by O.C.   
  
"Just got in today-"  
  
"You say it like I asked boy"  
  
Darren gives me some look, like he thinks he can sum up the 'uh huh' thing.   
  
"So how are things?"  
  
"You mean how's Max Darren" I correct reject Suave Man over here   
  
"Not like its none of your business, by my girl's fine, has been ever since   
  
she dropped you like the bad habit you were."  
  
"Ouch Cindy" Darren acts all wounded "Why all the hard words? I just came to see how   
  
things were with her. Max and I did have something there."  
  
"Then explain to Original Cindy why the hell you broke it off if you two were so   
  
hot and happy?"  
  
"It was just one of those things"  
  
"Spare me the three legged looser talk Darren-" got my hand up in his face now.   
  
"You don't screw a sistah over just cause one of those "things" smack you upside the   
  
head. And if you don't watcha self-" I pull my hand back "THIS thing is gonna smack   
  
you next."  
  
Darren ducks, still can put the fear of smack downs in him.   
  
"She still living with Kendra?" boy just don't know when to shut it.  
  
"Not like it's none of your business again but no. Kendra went out along time ago to   
  
be with her badge wearin' boy toy."  
  
"So Max lives alone now?"  
  
"No boy Max don't live there either. It's MY crib."  
  
"Then where the hell DOES she live?"  
  
"Do I look like the Book of Answers to you Darren? I KNOW all these answers. But I'm sho'   
  
not gonna give you the 411 on her locale just so you can dump yourself on her tonight."  
  
"Not like I'm asking you too" Darren finished whatever the hell he had ordered for himself.   
  
"I can find out some other way." He paid for his drink. Only smart thing he's done all night. "I'll talk to her when she goes to work tomorrow." He paused "she still works there right?"  
  
"Boy get outta my face before I cut it off where it don't grow back" my voice is snarlin'   
  
now. Askin' me all these questions. Can't even remember why Max hooked up with him to begin   
  
with. Not even strong enough to move her furniture.   
  
"Take that as a yes"   
  
Good, Darren's leavin' Boy gets on my last nerve. I was skeptical at first bout Logan   
  
wantin' more outta my girl, men are men, are men. But I got over it, cause he's down.   
  
But Darren, always had this vibe with him, and it wasn't ever outta smack down range.  
  
Now he think's he can make it back with my boo after all that? Fool's messed up.   
  
Not like it would work now anyway. Don't think Max would jump at the chance of   
  
leavin' satisfaction and hoppin' aboard the fifty-cent tour.  
  
*****   
  
JAM PONY  
  
NEXT MORNING  
  
"Bip Bip Bip!" Normal started randomly throwing packages at every person passing his desk.   
  
"What no smart remark this time?" Max caught one of the boxes as it flew by her.  
  
"That's gonna be your last run if I don't hear less talk and more walk" Normal warned.  
  
Max ignored him and walked over to where Cindy was standing beside the lockers  
  
Cindy was smiling at what she was looking at, two photos in her hands "Swear they get cuter   
  
as their age progresses" she was looking at pictures of Jesse and Lexi taken a few days ago   
  
by Bling. It had been a custom that Cindy would get copies of their pictures every year which   
  
she proudly added to her photo album and tacked to the wall. "And this-" this time she held   
  
up an image of Max and Logan done in black and white, also by Bling, who wanted to remind   
  
them of his skills on the camera. They both were smiling, Logan behind Max with both arms   
  
around her waist, slightly leaning into her shoulder "Is the best birthday present of all"   
  
Cindy went on, holding the picture to the light. "Knowin' that my boo and her man are still bringin' the heat"  
  
"Yeah well I'll give you a better one tonight by payin' for all the rounds at Crash"   
  
Max told her.  
  
Cindy turned to her "Thanks boo"  
  
Max offered her a birthday hug.  
  
"You guys have sex right before this thing was taken?" Alec leaned in closer to look at the pictures in Cindy's hand.  
  
"Boy shut up" Cindy snapped at him "You come all the way from the corner just to drop that   
  
dirty minded opinion?"  
  
"What I can't wish you happy birthday?"  
  
Cindy looked at him surprised "Don't tell me you knew that today was Original Cindy's   
  
birthday?"  
  
"Actually I heard it about three seconds ago" Cindy rolled her eyes at this remark "But still girl c'mon-" Alec held out his fist "Here's to the day you changed your momma's world"  
  
Cindy banged fists with him "Thanks suga" she happened to look over to Normal's desk   
  
then and her eye caught on someone. "Can't believe my eyes"  
  
Max turned to look at what Cindy was looking at, confusion on her face. It cleared up a few seconds later however as she saw who Cindy was looking at. She whipped around to face her   
  
"What's Darren doin' here?" she had that 'what the HELL is going on?' tone in her voice.  
  
"Hell if I know boo" Cindy answered her "Boy came into Crash last night and ghosted Original Cindy into the next centaury. He was all doggy dog hung up on you. Kept actin' like it was   
  
just a few weeks ago when you all connected-"  
  
"I'm guessin' Darren's Max's old scandal" Alec cut in "otherwise you guys need to get some   
  
new stories"  
  
"Can't believe he came back" Max ignored Alec's remark, staring at the face of her ex-boyfriend. "Guess the fogged cleared-"  
  
"Or you were a hit he hadn't completely X'd out on his player card" Alec made himself a   
  
permanent part of the conversation  
  
"People!" Normal's tirade voice echoed over the air "How many of you want to have a job   
  
tomorrow? Huh? Where does it say in the employee handbook that these packages will suddenly sprout legs and deliver themselves? Move it!"  
  
"Doggy dog better go find himself a new fire hydrant to sniff at" Cindy kept looking at   
  
Darren "Cause my girl's spoken for."  
  
Max stood there for a moment, thinking about what to do, like she was back at Manticore approaching a mission objective.  
  
"You got a tactic in mind Maxie?" Alec stood behind her and asked her this  
  
"Shut up!" Max returned, "You don't know anything about this. We broke up years ago.   
  
Actually a better description would be he dumped me because he thought I was one of   
  
those brainless body packages"  
  
"Not brainless" Alec corrected "But still, nice package" he looked up a Darren   
  
"So if you hate his nuts so much just go talk to him. You're all cozy and married now,   
  
not like he can damage you-" he shut up as Darren approached them.  
  
"Max" Darren's eyes didn't waver, but she could tell he was giving her a once over "Wow"   
  
he finally spoke after a minute. "Great to see you again"  
  
"Wish I could say the same" Max returned coldly. Female fog bank her ass  
  
"C'mon Max, I didn't come here to fight" he sighed, as if searching for something. His eyes looked to Alec "So this is your boyfriend?"  
  
Alec took this opportunity to sling an arm across Max's shoulders and plastered a   
  
shit-eating grin on his face. "Too bad you didn't know what you'd miss-" he was cut   
  
off when Max elbowed him in the stomach  
  
Alec rubbed the spot with his hand; taking the hint "Tell ya the thrill is gone"   
  
he wheeled his bike away.  
  
"He's not my boyfriend"   
  
"Oh so then you're single?" he actually sounded hopeful  
  
"Why are you here Darren?" Max was loosing her patience "Because last time I checked YOU   
  
dropped me down because it got too "foggy" for you"  
  
"That's all in the past Max-"  
  
"So I'm suppose to forget it ever happened?"  
  
"Ever hear of forgive and forget?"  
  
"Ever hear of 'bite me'?" she adjusted the shoulder strap her radio was attached to.  
  
A flash of light caught Darren's eye "You're married?"  
  
She didn't answer him  
  
"You are aren't you?" Darren didn't wait for an answer like last time "Well congratulations"  
  
"Thanks" Max's words were sarcastic "That means ever so much to me" she put a hand to her   
  
chest in a dramatic gesture when she said this, walking away with her bike.  
  
"Hey Fido"  
  
Darren turned around slowly to look at Cindy  
  
"Go suck a biscuit and leave my girl alone. You can't make up for lost times with crappy   
  
promises like you use to play her up with"  
  
"I kept my promises to Max Cindy" Darren told her.  
  
"Cept for the one about bein' there through the foggy weatha'"   
  
"You know this guy she's married to?"  
  
"I do" Cindy was willing to give him that   
  
"What's he like?"  
  
"Better man then you'll ever be"  
  
"Where do they live?"  
  
"Now why would I tell you that? I made myself clear last night that I ain't givin'   
  
you no 411 on Max"  
  
"There ARE phone books in this city," Darren reminded her "I can find it with or without   
  
your help"  
  
"You go do that, and when you get done walkin' your fingers down every number of people   
  
named Max in Seattle give Original Cindy a ring and I'll take you out and by you a   
  
free drink" she shoved past him on her bike, mumbling "prick" under her breath.  
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
7:55 PM  
  
"Something bothering you?" Logan was leaned over his IMAC in the living room, looking up   
  
to Max who was sitting in one of the dining room chairs lacing up her shoe.  
  
She shook her head "Coo'" she finished tying the shoe and lowered her foot on the ground   
  
"You better shut down Mr. Eyes Only or we'll be late for my girl's swing"  
  
"Daddy" Lexi came out of her room wearing baby girl blue jeans and an orange sweater,   
  
her favorite color. "Do you know where Mr. Whiskers is?" she was talking about her   
  
toy rabbit that Lucia had given to her as a belated birthday present, named for the   
  
incredibly long whiskers coming out from it's pink nose.  
  
"Isn't he in your room sweetie?" Logan asked his daughter  
  
Lexi shook her head "I looked everywhere" her eyes gave away how upset she was to loose her favorite toy.  
  
"Did you look under the bed?"  
  
She shook her head again, this time indicating "no"  
  
"Well then he might be under there" Logan closed his laptop and stood up "Why don't we go   
  
look?"  
  
Lexi was all for that idea, but Max stopped her.  
  
"Need to fix those kicks baby" she looked down at Lexi's black shoes, one of which was   
  
untied. "How bout we do that and daddy will go search out Mr. Whiskers?" she held out   
  
her hand and Lexi walked to her.  
  
Max picked her up and set her on top of the table "Kay let's do this"  
  
"Look everywhere daddy!" Lexi was more concerned about her rabbit then her shoes  
  
"I will sweetie" Logan called back before disappearing into her bedroom  
  
"You all ready for Auntie's birthday dig?" Max talked to Lexi as she tied her shoe  
  
Lexi nodded "Do I look pretty momma?"  
  
"You're kickin' it sweetie" she smoothed some brown hair away from her face. Her hair   
  
was now slightly down around her shoulders and tonight she had it pulled into a baby   
  
ponytail. Max double knotted the bow "We're done"  
  
Logan came out a few seconds later, pulling something from behind his back   
  
"Look who was sleeping under the bed"  
  
"Mr. Whiskers!" Lexi leapt off the chair and ran to scoop up the toy. She cuddled the corduroy rabbit, bouncing into her father's arms a few seconds later "Thanks daddy"  
  
"You're welcome princess" he kissed her. "You have a jacket?"  
  
"Daddy I'm wearing a sweater" she corrected him on this  
  
"Oh sorry" Logan kissed her again and set her back down on her feet.   
  
"C'mon Jesse!" Lexi shouted at her brother "We're saying goodbye!" that was her youthful   
  
term for 'we're leavin' get your ass out here' She tucked Mr. Whiskers safely under   
  
one arm   
  
Max and Logan's oldest child emerged a few seconds later from his room in jeans   
  
and his red hoodie that was starting to get too small for him, but it had a few more   
  
months of wear at least.   
  
"Everyone set?" Max slid into her leather jacket   
  
"Set" Lexi agreed, hugging her rabbit "So is Mr. Whiskers"   
  
"I've been set longer then you!" Jess threw out at his sister  
  
"So?" Lexi returned  
  
"So there dummy!"   
  
"Jess don't call your sister a dummy" Max called out to them. She looked up to Logan   
  
with a sigh "Remind me again WHY I said that I'm glad that their not babies anymore?"  
  
Logan gave her a half smile in understanding.   
  
"So yours or mine?" Max was asking on the decision of which one of their cars to take   
  
to Crash. His Pontiac Aztec or her Chevy Impala.  
  
"Does it matter?"  
  
"Why else would I ask?" Max reminded  
  
"Oh. Right"   
  
"The car seats are in mine"   
  
"No not all of them" Logan corrected "Remember when I took Lexi to see Aunt Jillian and   
  
you had, "issues" and couldn't make it" Max's "issue" was that Aunt Margo was coming   
  
there as well and she wasn't in the mood to run through her diss vocabulary. Jess had a   
  
light case of some bug so Max opted to stay home with him, leaving Logan to take it   
  
like a man alone with the devil in a Dior pantsuit.   
  
"So we're right back where we started"  
  
Logan dug into his pocket and pulled out a nickel "Heads or tails?"  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"You are," he told her "I mean I'M not the one who brought it up" he flipped the coin   
  
"Call it"  
  
"Tails"   
  
Logan caught the coin and looked at it on his palm "You got it" he threw her the nickel,   
  
which she caught in her right hand "Go with yours"  
  
"Let's just take yours baby" Max stepped over to him "It's easier to hook up a seat   
  
in the Aztec" she kissed the side of his face.  
  
He turned and watched her walk past him "Then what the hell was all that for?   
  
Just something to idle the time away?"  
  
She didn't say anything, and slid her leather jacket on, looking towards her children   
  
"Time to roll out guys" "You sure you're warm enough in that sweetie?" she pulled the   
  
hood over Jess's head.  
  
He nodded at her, and she picked him up. Logan still stood there. Finally he gave up   
  
with a sigh, and went to retrieve his own jacket and car keys, stepping over to his   
  
wife "You gotta put the other car seat-"  
  
"Already did it when I came home" she smiled way too sweetly, checking Kaja's dog   
  
dish to make sure it was full of water, which it was.  
  
"Remind me again WHY you haven't driven me crazy?"  
  
"Cause you're already crazy bout me baby" the sweetness had been replaced by her   
  
smart-ass side, the real version of her.  
  
"You're right about that," he agreed finally stealing a kiss from her. He bent down to   
  
pick up their daughter "Okay think we're finally ready"  
  
*****   
  
CRASH  
  
"Nother one pal?" the bartender stood poised with a pitcher staring at Darren.  
  
He didn't answer, just slid his empty mug over to him. The glass was refilled in short   
  
order and he downed it like he was in a frat house contest.  
  
From the corner of his eye he saw Cindy. She was seated at one of the circular   
  
iron tables with the jigged out carvings, tapping one brown high-healed boot in the   
  
air, playing with the swizzle stick in her margarita.  
  
Darren turned back to his drink, taking another sip before a voice broke his moody   
  
thoughts.   
  
"Woman of the hour" Max stepped over to her girl  
  
Cindy smiled "Thanks for the big dealio suga"  
  
"Least I can do"  
  
"Happy Birthday Cindy"  
  
This voice made Darren turn back around. He could see a man lean over and   
  
kiss Cindy on the cheek, handing her a small box.  
  
"Boy you didn't have to get me anything," Cindy argued, taking the wrapped present   
  
from him"My boo already offered the unlimited hooch"  
  
"That was from Max though" Logan corrected "This is from me personally"  
  
Cindy looked at him, and held her hand in a dramatic move to her chest "You do love   
  
Original Cindy" she smiled at him before lifting the lid to the black box with a red   
  
ribbon tied to it. "Damn boy" Cindy lifted out a black laqueresque painted arm   
  
bracelet with a silvery carved/brushed image of a Chinese dragon stretching the   
  
entire length of the bracelet's triple looped coil. The whole bracelet was   
  
outlined the same silver color. "This is hot. You steal from the Chinese Embassy   
  
for this?"  
  
"There's a shop in Sector Nine that sells all Asian jewelry. Passed it one day and   
  
this was in the window, so I went for broke"  
  
Cindy set the bracelet down in the box for a moment "Go for this next boo" she leaned over and offered him a light kiss on the side of his face "Usually only kiss shorties, but you can be the exception"  
  
Logan put his arms around her in a light hug "Thanks for the compliment"  
  
Cindy broke apart from the embrace, clasping the bracelet up on the bicep of her arm. "Now all I need is a honey as fine as silk, and I'm set"  
  
"Night's still young" Max reminded  
  
Darren was still observing them, and not even Max had noticed yet. He was sizing up Logan. /Okay, he's older then her, 11, 12 years..glasses, he spikes his hair too much, he's taller then me, but not by much, money, that jewelry doesn't come cheap, smooth talker, mushy romantic..glasses make him look like a token librarian or computer nerd, what does she see in him?/  
  
"Happy birthday Auntie Cindy!" that was Lexi, calling out to Original Cindy.  
  
Cindy smiled broadly and picked her up "Thanks baby boo" she kissed her on the cheek "Must say you're lookin' fine tonight girl"  
  
Lexi smiled a little girl smile and giggled   
  
"Yeah well she gets that from her mother" Logan notified  
  
"Straight up" Cindy agreed, looking over to Max. "When sugah here grows up to be as sweet as   
  
my boo, Logan's in for trouble"  
  
"Too late" Max informed  
  
Cindy smiled at her knowingly "Say we get this partay started?"  
  
Lexi nodded excitedly in her arms   
  
Cindy kissed her again "Kay, let's go"  
  
"Happy birthday Aunt Cindy" Jesse congratulated her by her feet.  
  
"Thank you my man" Cindy stated "You ready to celebrate?" she set Lexi down in a chair.   
  
She was dwarfed by it since she was still so small.   
  
"Guess we need a booster" Cindy looked around for something that would suffice,   
  
since this was a bar and they didn't normally have kid necessities here.   
  
She found some old phone books that would work.  
  
"Gettin' to be a big girl now" Cindy set Lexi on top of three phone books.  
  
Max slid out of her jacket, draping over the back of a chair "Free round for the   
  
birthday woman is in order I say" a pause "And I'll see what I can round up for   
  
the designated drivers" she ruffed up her kids'hair. "Sodas guys?"  
  
They nodded  
  
"Kay" she agreed "Be right back"  
  
She leaned against the counter while waiting for her pitcher to be filled.   
  
"So that's your husband?" Darren came over to her, talking to her and looking over at   
  
Logan at the same time.  
  
"What's it to you?" Max barked back "Last time I checked I didn't need an ex's   
  
approval on who I marry"she paid for her pitcher.  
  
"He's rich isn't he?" Darren looked at her   
  
"What the hell does that mean?" Max was getting defensive  
  
"Just that he's a bit older then you" Darren notified "Gotta be in it for   
  
something other then just the basic thing of looks and sex"  
  
Her pitcher came and she threw half of it in Darren's face, watching his reaction as beer splashed on his face, in his hair and seeped into his clothes.  
  
"Need a refill here" Max slid the pitcher back to the barkeep, who refilled it after   
  
she slapped some money in front of him.  
  
Max grabbed the pitcher and her other drinks. "Here" she handed Darren a napkin from the dispenser at the bar "Got a little somethin' on your face"  
  
"Sorry bout loosin' some of the free round" Max set the pitcher on the table  
  
"S'okay boo" Cindy told her as Max slid into a seat "Wasn't a wasted procedure."   
  
She watched, amused as Darren wiped himself off with a towel the barkeep had given him.   
  
Logan was now looking over at this guy. "Max, who is that?"  
  
Max didn't look where he was "No one."  
  
"So "no one" pissed you off?"  
  
"Can you drop it please baby?"  
  
"Fine" he replied tartly. He stood up and held out his hand "How bout a dance?"  
  
"Dance with my girl first" Max told him "Its her birthday remember?"  
  
"Oh right" Logan corrected. He turned to Cindy "May I?"  
  
Cindy smiled "Sho boo. You're the only man I'd share a dance with" she stepped down from her stool and followed Logan out on the dance floor.  
  
"Wanna dance mommy?" Jess looked at her, one small hand held out.  
  
Max smiled "Dance with Lexi baby. Momma's gotta guard the table." /that is so cute/   
  
"But thanks anyway." She kissed him "stay around these tables, there's too many   
  
people on the floor for you two." Each word was spoken like a true mother.   
  
She watched her two kids link arms and do a version of a waltz around the small tables.   
  
"Is this seat taken?"   
  
Max glared at the face that the voice belonged to "Fortunately yes" she took a   
  
sip of her beer.  
  
Darren ignored her, sitting in Cindy's vacant seat. "You look as amazing as ever"  
  
"Am I suppose to be flattered?" Max had to refrain from rolling her eyes at him.   
  
There was a time when she appreciated his comments, because he was her first long-term relationship, and she wanted it to last even though everyone else saw Darren for the   
  
fink that he was.  
  
"You haven't changed at all" Darren told her   
  
"Who I am" Max was getting pissed, and it was showing "I mean it was something I   
  
always knew you liked, my attitude, my independent mind, the fact that I didn't   
  
put out just because you wanted a hit. Oh wait I'm sorry-" she blew off her   
  
statement sarcastically "Almost forgot who I was talkin' to" she sipped her   
  
beer again.   
  
"I always had respect for you Max," Darren argued  
  
Max blew him off again "You can't do Aretha Franklin Darren so don't even try it"   
  
"You can't tell me that we didn't have a good time Max"  
  
"Depends on if good times means you dumping me and bein' with that chick hours after."  
  
"I needed time to recoup."  
  
"No you needed a screw and I wasn't available anymore. You're a prick, you bounce back faster then Super Balls."  
  
"Why you gotta do me like that Max?"   
  
"Payback's a bitch ain't it?" she wasn't smiling, each word were a direct cut to him.   
  
"Hey" Logan's voice broke into their version of conversation. "Can I cash in on that dance?"  
  
Max shot Darren an look before turning to face Logan "Love to" she held out her hand and   
  
allowed him to pull her to her feet and lead her out onto the floor.   
  
"Hey Looser Reject move outta my seat" Cindy was glowering at Darren.  
  
Darren moved and Cindy quickly reclaimed her seat.  
  
"You didn't tell me she had kids" Darren looked at the brother and sister duo still dancing around the tables.  
  
"I don't got report my girl's status to you Darren" Cindy let him know Don't know why you're hangin' round Max again, but whateva ya plannin' ain't gonna work, and if you try and make it Original Cindy's gonna make sure parts of YOU don't work neither"  
  
= = = =   
  
"Are you gonna fill me in?" Logan looked down at his wife whom he was slow dancing with to   
  
a song from the pre Pulse artist Luther VanDrose.  
  
Max stole a glance at Darren moving over to the bar. "Nuthin' really"  
  
"Some how I don't buy something is nothing if you get this pissed off"  
  
"I'm not pissed off" she argued  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm looking for my wife Max, maybe you've seen her"   
  
"Logan it's nothing" Max tried again with this line of reasoning "It's just Darren"  
  
"Darren? That ex boyfriend of yours that Cindy talks about mounting his head to her   
  
wall as a trophy? Max that's SOMETHING, more then something actually."  
  
"Why?" she looked him right in the eye as they continued dancing. "Am I suppose to be all flustered and upset because my ex boyfriend is trying to make me hot for him again?"  
  
"Most women I've met are"  
  
"Baby we've been married for three years and you're STILL not getting I'm not a normal woman?"  
  
"Max I've had ex's too, you can't tell me that seeing him again doesn't cause you to feel SOMETHING"  
  
"Like that I wanna leave you and go screw his brains out?"  
  
"I mean things like anger" Logan interrupted "Just-" he lowered his voice "because you're transgenic doesn't mean you can't get pissed when the guy who dumped you suddenly tries to put the moves on you again three years later like nothing ever happened."   
  
"Regardless" Max told him "It doesn't change anything. I'm with you now, and I'm glad I didn't try to stay attached to him otherwise look what I would've missed"  
  
"Okay I'll give you that" he leaned down to kiss her, letting one hand wander to the   
  
small of her back. He saw Darren watching them from afar, and although he was married to   
  
an ass kicking super warrior, he was still a man and wanted to let Darren know that he   
  
loved Max for all the things Darren didn't, and everything else in between. It was selfish,   
  
but the punk deserved it.   
  
*****   
  
Darren was still hanging around when Max looked like she was about to head home. She wasn't tired, but her children looked like they were about to drop where they were sitting.   
  
"Guess all the partying wore them out" Max picked up her son, who was almost half asleep   
  
on the bar table.   
  
"Funny how I didn't think that would start for a few more years" Logan lifted up their other child, holding the girl who had beat out her brother and had actually fallen asleep.   
  
Max picked up something off the table "Can't forget Mr. Whiskers or she won't stay that serene for long." She tossed Logan the toy rabbit which he caught and tucked inside the nook of Lexi's arm. She curled around it in her sleep.  
  
"Night boo" Cindy called out to Max, who stepped over to her and gave her one last birthday hug around her son resting in her arms.   
  
"See ya at work tomorrow"   
  
"Do my thing to keep Darren away from the goods"  
  
Max looked over to her ex "Not on your birthday girl. I won't have it. Too much to deal with"  
  
"Least I can do" Cindy informed, feeling a pair of eyes on her that weren't her girls'. She looked.  
  
/What the hell is Darren all close encountered with me for?/ She looked back, a warning stare telling him that if he tried anything he would soon be in little pieces all over the floor.   
  
/Damn, Max is so-domestic/ Darren watched his ex girlfriend leave with her husband. This was a role he never pictured her playing, a wife. She was too self absorbed to be into that.   
  
She never gave him the attention his other relationships did. Sex was great, damn great,   
  
and probably still great judging by the way she was held up underneath those clothes.   
  
He snuck a peak, for old times sake, he told himself.   
  
Cindy shoved by him, purposely being rough "Back off Fido or I'll have you neutered"   
  
/he even squint the wrong way and that dawgs off to the hotdog factory/   
  
Darren never did really like Cindy that much. She never meshed well with his style.   
  
But she was Max's friend, so he had to fake nice in order to get the good stuff from   
  
Max.  
  
He reeled on her "why don't you just fuck off Cindy?"  
  
Cindy did not like his tone, but her slap sure enjoyed the side of his face.   
  
"You watch your smack Darren. I don't like the way you lookin' at my girl,   
  
and I gotta a damn right to say so."  
  
Darren glowered at her, he moved closer, like he intended on doing something else that   
  
went beyond using smack talk.   
  
"Hey!" the voice belonged to Alec, who came out of the Crash woodwork. "How many people   
  
you want to bust you up tonight?" he stepped closer. "Why don't you back off like she wanted before one of us inflicts something on you that still stings in the morning"   
  
Darren scowled again, but left, not wanting to deal with it.  
  
Cindy watched him leave "Sector Cops not doin' their job if they let slime like that back   
  
in the city." She turned to Alec.   
  
"But when have they ever done their job?" he faced her as well  
  
Cindy agreed silently "Thanks for the Shining Armor moment Alec, but I coulda taken care of myself. Darren's bite is as pansy as his bark."  
  
"Yeah but I have all this charged up DNA and no outlet." He argued "It's either that, fighting street thugs or strippers."   
  
This evoked a quiet chuckle from Cindy "Thanks. Gotta admit, you get one prop" She   
  
held out her hand again like back at Jam Pony. Alec banged fists with her "Drama   
  
aside I gotta be gettin' back to my crib and hit out a few z's"   
  
"Need a bodyguard?"   
  
"That was ONE prop boy." Cindy informed straight up "Not enough room in that swelled   
  
head already for what's in it" a smile emerged a few seconds later "Late"  
  
"Oh come on just one 'I'm the man'? Cindy?"  
  
Cindy just shook her head and walked away.   
  
*****   
  
6:00 AM  
  
THE NEXT MORNING   
  
The phone rang, loud, blasting right into Max's ear.  
  
/What the hell? I'm finally sleeping at night and shit like this happens-/  
  
She picked up the cordless phone by their bed.   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"Morning Merry Sunshine."  
  
"Bling-" Max rubbed her eyes to adjust them to being open. "You got exactly three seconds   
  
to come up with another reason for calling this early besides calling me "Merry Sunshine"   
  
before I come through this phone and kick your ass"   
  
There was chuckling on the other line. "Sorry bout the early wake up call Max.   
  
Not like I wanted to be up at the crack of dawn either, but some guy, Darren,   
  
I think's his name called me about ten minutes ago asking if I knew where you   
  
lived, or your number."  
  
Now Max was more awake "What'd you tell him?"  
  
"I gave him all your information Max, including the 1-800 number for Manticore."   
  
He blew it off with a pause "I don't know this guy, I didn't tell him jack.   
  
Fool calls me up at five in the morning and wants information. What the hell is   
  
he sniffing to think I would give it to him?"  
  
"Same stuff he's been sniffing for years Bling" Max yawned on the last part of her   
  
sentence.   
  
"I don't know what the situation with you and this dude is Max, and it isn't   
  
any of my business, but I just wanted to give you a heads up in case by some   
  
miracle he tracks down your number."  
  
"So nice and early of you"   
  
"Yeah, I'm a real gentlemen" Bling responded sarcastically. "But listen I'm going to get   
  
off so you and Logan can return to the land of Nod, along with me."  
  
"Aiight" Max hung up.  
  
"What Bling want so early?" Logan had been awake since the phone conversation started.   
  
"Just wanted me to know that my ex called him" she answered him honestly.  
  
Logan looked surprised "How'd he get the number?"   
  
Max shrugged "Hell if I know. If I'd a known he'd be a stalker freak to me later on I'd a never dated him."  
  
She turned to him "And don't tell me I shoulda known or I might point out Valerie to ya."   
  
"I didn't say anything"   
  
Max fell back on her pillow "Why do I always wind up dating freaks?"   
  
"Hey" Logan looked at her "I take offense to that."  
  
"That's not what I meant and you know it" she sat up, punched her pillow and laid back down   
  
in a an angry movement.  
  
"Are you going to be able to go back to sleep?"  
  
"If I don't think about Darren I will." She told him "Which isn't gonna happen, so no."   
  
He leaned over and kissed her "Then can I make a suggestion to kill the time?"   
  
"Now?" she looked at him.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
She shrugged, and sat up.  
  
"What are you doing?"   
  
"Gonna go set up the chess board-" she felt him grab her by the arm and shove her back down,   
  
not hard though.   
  
He kissed her deeply.  
  
They broke apart "Was it something I said?" she feigned complete innocence   
  
"Why play? I've already got my queen."  
  
Despite the over sappiness of his statement she smiled "Then be ready Good Sir."   
  
Her smile became more seductive in the dark "You're about to be knighted."   
  
*****   
  
JAM PONY  
  
"Someone got laid last night" Alec watched Max enter.  
  
"Shut up" she told him heading over to her locker.   
  
"Seriously Max" Alec went on, ignoring her last remark "I'm surprised you only have two   
  
children with all the bunny luvin' you two dish out."   
  
"And I'm surprised I haven't fired any of you yet!" Normal interrupted their conversation,   
  
which was good for Alec cause Max was three seconds away from knocking him upside his head.   
  
"I'm not running a lazy hour. If you want jobs, keep me from firing you. Alec-" Normal threw   
  
a box at him "13 and Winchester, delivered on time or don't come back."  
  
"Hey you got it" Alec threw him a fake smile. "Back to the salt mines" he looked at Max again   
  
"I know a 'sex grin' when I see it"  
  
"You would" she returned, "You do visit the streets a lot"   
  
"Max"  
  
"Oh hell no" Cindy looked at the source of the noise. Darren, standing there by Normal's desk   
  
"Is he whacked out or somethin'? How many death wishes can a scank have?"  
  
"Apparently not enough" Alec responded. He patted his package "Well ladies I'm off to be a lackey. Let me know how this turns out." Alec waked out of Jam Pony, passing Darren on the   
  
way 'accidentally' running into him causing him to bump into Normal's desk. "Sorry man, my   
  
bad" he left.  
  
"There's no package in your hand kid" Normal informed Darren who for all he was concerned was doing nothing except taking up his floor space. "Why are you wasting my time?"  
  
"I came to talk to Max"  
  
"Yeah you and everyone else with something in his pants. I'm going to save you the trouble   
  
and me the loss of sanity kid. She's married. My advice would be to stop trying to make it   
  
with her, and especially stop wasting my time in the process. Now go-" he pointed towards   
  
the door. "And don't come back unless you have a less 'think with your pants' reason for   
  
walking into my business."  
  
"Fine" Darren stated, but ignored Normal in the end, heading over to Max and Cindy.   
  
"Boy what part of the whole 'get the hell away from my girl' dealio did you not get?"   
  
"Why don't you let Max speak for herself this time Cindy!" Darren glowered at her. She glowered back.   
  
"MAX is right here Darren" Max spoke out "And Cindy ain't tellin' you nuthin' that I wouldn't   
  
be right now. So why don't you back the hell off? It ain't gonna happen the way you want"  
  
"And what the hell is that?"  
  
Max blew him off "The whole 'get me back' thing dipwad. You can't just stomp on me and except   
  
to be luvin' me up later like nuthin' ever happened."   
  
"And you can't say you're happy with what's his name. The guy's old enough to be your father."   
  
"And I'm old enough to kick your ass Darren if you disrespect my man like that again."  
  
"Give it up Max, you couldn't kick butter's ass. Why did you think I dated you in the first place? Well one of the reasons. You also put out well."  
  
"Bout to be put out yourself if ya keep talkin'"  
  
"Keep dreamin' Max"   
  
"Funny you never told me you were a prick when we were hooked up." She was thrown back a   
  
minute later when Darren slapped her hard across the face, knocking her against the lockers. Because it caught her off guard she didn't have time to react.   
  
"Uh uh, helll no boy you did NOT just knock my girl!" Cindy got up in his face and  
  
slapped him hard.  
  
Darren grabbed one of her arms and banged her against the lockers.  
  
"Hey!" Normal shouted from behind his desk "No roughhousing!" he didn't do anything to   
  
stop it.  
  
"I have had it with you bitch!"  
  
Max recovered from the knock down and yanked Darren off Cindy, slamming him into the lockers   
  
on the opposite wall. "Can't kick butter's ass? Well guess what, I'm butter" she locked her hand around his throat.  
  
"I suggest you get your research in before you go spoutin' off bout my ability to kick your sorry ass. You are a prick. "P-" She squeezed his neck for emphasis, hearing him gasp. "R-I-C-K. You think I'll come crawlin' back cause you reemerged from the slime three years after you dumped me? You come here you screw with my life and I'm suppose to submit and go back and hump you happily?" she banged him against the locker again. "Now listen up cause I'm only gonna say this once. You ever knock down, disrespect, my girls, my man or anyone else I'm tight with again or if you get anotha lame ass idea to TOUCH me like you just did I'm gonna shove your balls so far up your ass you're gonna need a search party to fine'em. Can you wrap your head around that DARREN?" She released his neck and he gasped for air.   
  
"Shoulda never gone out with you in the first place" Darren's voice was raspy, but still talkin' smack. "Never gave me what I needed"   
  
Max still hovered inches from his face "It ain't about what you need" she knocked him hard   
  
in the balls leg "it's about what I kneed" he slunk to the floor and she left him there.   
  
"Back to work people!" Normal shouted at his employees who had stopped to watch Max knock the pee out of her ex. "Bip bip bip!" he went over to Darren and looked down where he was still laying. "I told you to back off kid."   
  
"You aiight?" Max asked Cindy.  
  
Cindy nodded "Am now that my girl took care of things" she touched Max's face, which was starting to form a red mark from where Darren had slapped her. "Mr. Skanky scank messed up my boo's face." She flinched  
  
"Don't sting that much" Max told her.   
  
Cindy stole a glance at Darren who was still writhing on the floor. "Boy ain't gonna mess wid you again that's fo' sure."   
  
Alec walked through Jam Pony. He spied Darren on the floor "I get the feeling I missed something."   
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
LATER THAT NIGHT  
  
Max hissed when Logan stuck a cold compress on her check.   
  
"Sorry" he apologized   
  
"S'okay" she took the compress from him and held it to her with her own hand. "Feel embarrassed that my lame ass ex boyfriend knocked me around so hard."  
  
Logan slid into the empty dining room chair beside her "From what you told me Darren got knocked around more."  
  
"Got me there" she admitted.   
  
Logan looked at the mark on his wife's face "I can't believe he slapped you. How many people does he want jumping him?"  
  
Max looked up them, catching his defensive, pissed off meaning. "Don't think he can count that high"   
  
There was a knock at the door that made Max look up. "Whose callin' now?"  
  
"I'll get it" Logan stated but Max stood up before he did  
  
"Remember I ain't no damsel in distress" she dropped the compress on the top of the table "I never let a pansy slap stop me before." She dropped him a smile and headed to the door.   
  
Kaja was already there, growling low. Max peaked through the peep hole and couldn't believe who was standing there.   
  
"What the hell are you doin' here?"  
  
"Max-"  
  
Kaja interrupted Darren who had somehow found where she lived. The German Shepard barked furiously, like she was about to leave him in shreds on the floor.   
  
Max silence Kaja's barking with a hand gesture "You got three seconds to run"   
  
"Wait-" Darren held up his hand "Just hear me out." He glanced a the dog nervously for a moment "I was just pissed off back there, otherwise I wouldn't have done what I did"  
  
"That suppose to excuse it?" she glowered at him   
  
"Guy has a right to get angry" Darren defended "It happens"   
  
"Wrong again" Max corrected, "Now I'm not sayin' that people can't get angry.   
  
But there's a fine line between pissy and battery."  
  
"Then what the hell do you call what you did to me?"  
  
"One hundred percent genuine ass kicking" she spat back "You got screwed thinking you'd have a docile thing to try and slink back too."   
  
"I just wanted another chance"  
  
"That's a line you've used before" Logan now stood beside Max in the doorway, glaring at Darren. "See I checked your story out Darren. After you broke up with my wife you hooked up with a woman in San Diego. Her four-year-old son called the police on you after you smashed her head through   
  
a plate glass window. You got arrested for battery. After you got out you met this other woman working at a diner here in Washington. She had you arrested for stalking her, and breaking her arm one night when you threw her to the floor after trying to rape her." Each word Logan said could cut through steel. "You plea bargained to a lighter sentence, six months" And since you were in the area you though 'what the hell' you could come back and try to work up Max again."  
  
"Hey man what I do is a matter of private record!" Darren growled  
  
"Not when it involves my wife!" Logan returned "You're an abuser you fuckin' little prick!   
  
You come back to an old girlfriend years later, hoping that she still has some dependency   
  
on you so you can swoop in and make it complete again. You beat on Cindy because you feel   
  
that she was the one who got in the way the last time. She never liked you, and you   
  
convinced yourself that it was because of her you never got your score with Max like you   
  
did with the others" Logan stepped out into the hallway   
  
"You've already had one member of this family beat you down one more won't hurt"   
  
he drew back and slammed him in the face with a right hook. "You stay the hell away   
  
from Cindy and you stay the hell away my wife. Cause I can ruin you in ways you can't   
  
even imagine. Now you better get the hell away my house or I'll let Max finish what   
  
she started"   
  
Logan didn't even wait for Darren to react, he just slammed the door and locked it.   
  
Both stayed by the door. "Is he gone?"  
  
Max looked through the peephole, not seeing anyone there anymore "Crawled back under   
  
the rock" she looked at her husband. "I was from Manticore, how the hell could I have   
  
not know what he really was?"   
  
"Because you wanted acceptance" Logan rationalized "You spend your life following orders.   
  
When Darren came into the picture it felt nice to feel like someone was doing stuff for you.   
  
So you ignored the signs to have that."   
  
"And look what that got me" she said "A psycho boy on my tail years later"   
  
"Can't say that's never happened before"  
  
She shot him a look "Thanks for-"  
  
"Being your hero?"  
  
She blew him off  
  
"Didn't think so" he responded with a smile "But you're welcome" he leaned over and   
  
kissed her.   
  
"Mommy! Jessie threw a spider on me!"  
  
"It's not real! Baby!"  
  
"I'm not a baby!"  
  
Logan sighed, and Max shot him the same look that he was giving her "You ever think that   
  
two kids isn't enough-"  
  
"Not on your life" she responded, "Guess we need to go stop a war" she led the way to her children's bedroom.  
  
"Jessie Trevon Cale, leave your sister alone and go back to bed"  
  
"But I'm not sleepy-"  
  
"Yes you are"  
  
"Are you sleepy mommy?"  
  
"Jess, mommy's not the one who needs sleep..."  
  
*****   
  
END  
  
Long wait I know, but I had to think of a way to end this. There wasn't much of Darren   
  
except in the first episode so I had to create some background, and this is the one that  
  
came to me. He could never really abuse Max since she could beat his nuts in, but a   
  
classic sign of an abuser is one who tries to make up with sour relationships by   
  
basically stalking their ex's and cutting off ties with his or her friends so they   
  
will only be dependant on that one person. If you or anyone you know is in a situation   
  
like this get out of the relationship and seek help immediately. Domestic homicide is   
  
one of the leading causes of death here in the U.S.  
  
Logan was never really one to hit people in the show but I feel if he was pissed off   
  
enough he would. I mean Darren was messing with his wife, what's he gonna do? Cook for him?  
  
Hope Cindy's point-of-view at the beginning was okay. I wanted to do a fic from her view for   
  
a while, but I couldn't keep it up that long, so she had the opening scene.  
  
I know this was shorter then my other chapters, but I was hitting a brick wall with this   
  
chapter. I had a inspiration moment for the NEXT chapter, but I didn't want to jip this completely. I wanted something a bit lighter cause the next piece has a bit more action..  
  
R/R please  
  
Peace  
  
mystic 


	17. Stronger

TITLE: Choices 18 "Stronger"  
  
AUTHOR: Mystic25  
  
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com  
  
SUMMARY: Three years ago they went to a place called Cape Haven. Now recent events calls Max and Logan back to the creepy town where the past never wants to stays buried.   
  
DISCLAIMER: Cameron..short and sweet.  
  
RATING: PG for language and violence.  
  
A/N: "Haven" was always a fav epi of mine. And after I started this series I often wondered what it would be like if Max and Logan, now married returned to Cape Haven. It would end all discussions of "guest rooms" I'll tell you that much. I used the "Haven" episode script for reference and to mirror in certain scenes, but with my twist.  
  
A/N #2: I've been watching "Enough" that movie about J.Lo as a woman being abused by her husband and deciding to fight back, so that's why I have the title that I do. It's a song by Brittany Spears. I'm not really into her music, but that song is good.   
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE WASHINGTON  
  
"Gas guzzlers" Sketchy complained watching the people in front of him behind three sets of OTHER people getting their safety cans, and jugs for some, filled with precious gasoline.   
  
"Way this city runs Sketch" Max was beside him, with her own can of gas to score.   
  
He looked at her forlorned "I don't understand why you're here. You're married to the money of Seattle now. Why can't you score gas off people that don't deliver on the back of trucks?"  
  
She turned to him "Pulse sorta evened everyone out on the gas. There's not enough of it no matter how much money you have or who your daddy is" a pause "Sides like I'd miss the tradition"  
  
He looked at her like she was crazy, groaning as someone's gas can tipped and a third of the gas in the truck that was being siphoned out missed the container and hit the dirt.   
  
Max put her hand on Sketchy's shoulder "Deep breaths Sketch. They'll be enough juice left"  
  
"What world are you from?"  
  
They moved another inch in line  
  
"So why do you need this gas?" Max leaned against a pick up truck "Saw you here three days ago"  
  
"I need a new chain guard, and Jacinda said if I get gas to get her car going she'll get me some bread"  
  
"Thought you wanted a chain guard"   
  
"Jacinda doesn't have a chain guard, Alec does"  
  
"So you're swapping Alec bread for a chain guard? What the hell's he gonna do with bread? Make crullers?"   
  
"Alec doesn't need bread. He needs a new jack wire for his phone. Kendra needs bread."  
  
"So Kendra has a wire?"  
  
"No Normal has an old phone wire from Jam Pony. Kendra offered to swap him some lingerie for it and she'll give the wire to Alec who will give her the bread I get and give to him AFTER I get it from Jacinda for the gas. Which is how I'm getting my chain guard"  
  
"What the hell is Normal doing with all this damn lingerie? Should we be concerned?"  
  
"I make it a point not to be"   
  
The truck Max was leaning against moved and so did the line. "Sketch, I love ya but talking to you is like talking to a hyperactive parrot"  
  
He smiled good-naturedly as the line move until they were the next to the first people to get gas.   
  
"So you getting outta here for a few days?"  
  
She held up her soon to be filled red gas can "why I'm standing in line"   
  
He looked over at her anniversary ring "Bet that thing isn't as expensive as this gas is gonna be"  
  
"I heard that pal!" the distributor of the gasoline glowered at Sketchy.  
  
"Yeah well-" Max approached him and unscrewed the top of her gas can "Unless you plan to drink that go juice you got stored in there you ain't leavin' us here empty handed"  
  
The man also looked at her ring. "Lady, why don't you fence the rock, it'll get you all the 'go juice' you'll need to make it to Key West."  
  
"Just give us some gas before this rock ends up in your ass" she threatened.  
  
*****  
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
"Yeah" Logan leaned the phone against his shoulder, and leaned back in his computer chair "I understand Trudy."  
  
"You don't have to do this Mr. Cale," Trudy sat down in dining room chair in her house.   
  
"Don't talk like that" Logan told her "It's not a problem. Seems to me that you're the one having the problem" he looked up as the front door opened, seeing Max enter.  
  
"Hey" she held up her now full gas can "I got it" she walked over to him, setting the canister on the coffee table before she entered the computer room where he was.   
  
"Premium, three gallons."  
  
He covered the mouthpiece of the phone with one hand "Then I say it was a good score"  
  
She smiled and bent down to kiss him. "Should get us to wherever you plan on taking me without my knowledge that damn well better be good or I'll beat your ass down."  
  
Trudy must've heard something because she starting talking again "Mr. Cale you still there?"  
  
"Yeah" Logan removed his hand "still here"  
  
"Is something wrong?"  
  
"No, that was just my wife"  
  
There was a moment of surprised silence "Oh.---"Well then I should make sure and see if we have a queen size bed available for you this time. So I can expect you--two in town tomorrow?"  
  
"You got it"  
  
"Thank you again Sir"  
  
He smiled "You're welcome"  
  
"Hey" Max waved at him "Remember me? You're wife?" she smiled at him "So what was that all about?"  
  
"Before I answer that I think we need to talk"  
  
"Am I pregnant?"  
  
"No." Logan looked at her funny "Wouldn't you know that before me?" a pause "It's about the trip were taking this weekend"  
  
"You mean the one I don't know a damn thing about?"  
  
"Yeah that one" he confirmed   
  
"Something tells me I'm still not going to see the Cascades" she remembered the last time she had wanted to go there and he gipped her.  
  
"Trudy called"  
  
This got Max's attention. She hadn't seen the woman since those days in Cape Haven three years ago. She sensed something in Logan's tone "What is it?"  
  
"It's Sage-"  
  
"Is he okay?" Max well remembered the boy at Cape Haven who she had befriended. He was like a little brother to her.  
  
"He's fine physically. He-" Logan hesitated, "He's been having problems-nightmares."  
  
"What about?" she looked at him harder.  
  
"Trudy wouldn't say much over the phone. Just that he keeps having visions of the night his parents died in that fire."  
  
"He's had them before." She told him  
  
"But this time he's more worked up about it especially since he keeps being harassed by some of the same local jack asses we met before"  
  
"I thought B.C. and his chumps got their asses behind bars, except for that one you took out"  
  
Logan looked at her on the words 'took out.' That was the first time he had ever killed a man, and it still made him uncomfortable.  
  
"They got out" Logan said, "Paroled a week ago, and they've been coming by Trudy's late at night. Last time they broke Sage's window when they threw lit cloth attached to a brick inside his bedroom"  
  
"Bastards" Max spat "He's terrified of fire ever since they torched his house. Surprised he even could help you out when B.C.'s chumps attacked us that night"   
  
"We were one man short" he looked at her. Max remembered only vaguely about the attack itself. She had been assaulted by seizures the entire time and had passed out soon after, leaving Logan and Sage to fend for themselves. Her next sensation was having Sage shake her, coughing from all the smoke. She came too, and couldn't see anything through all the thick smoke. Luckily her cat night vision kicked in and with Sage's help she made it out the door in time to collapse against the side of the porch.  
  
After the police and ambulance came for B.C. and the others Trudy had come out of the night and draped a blanket over her. She wanted to take Max back to her clinic and look her over completely, but Max assured her that she was okay. Sage had sat with her as Trudy told her to see a doctor if she had any signs of smoke inhalation.   
  
"He wasn't going to let you die" Logan reminded. Max seizures had been so bad that weekend, and when she didn't come out of the house after the fire started he was tempted to go in after her, but then B.C. and Clyde jumped him and he didn't get the chance.  
  
She looked him right in the eye, sharing the same strong look as he did. "When do we leave?"  
  
"How soon can you get packed?"  
  
"Ten minutes" she told him "But things are a lil different then the last time we went there"  
  
"Yeah you're not pissed at me"  
  
She smiled, granting him that. She had been so mad at him for dropping their plans to go off on an informant lead. "I meant I can pack in ten minutes, but they can't" she nodded at a picture of their children kept in his office. The real children were playing together in Jess's room.   
  
"That's why we pack for them" Logan reminded  
  
"You get Lexi I get Jess?"  
  
"Ten minutes packing for each of them."  
  
"Fifteen." Max corrected, "You ever tried to get a four year old boy dressed in five minutes?"  
  
"Fine" Logan agreed "Call Lucia to take care of Kaja?"  
  
"I'll make the call."  
  
"You forget we need-"  
  
She held passes in front of his face.  
  
He took the dangling items from her hand and looked them over "VIP?"  
  
"Is their any other way to travel? I didn't even hafta hang upside down this time. Some guy just had them in his car with the window rolled down."  
  
"Glad to hear it"  
  
*****   
  
SOME HOURS LATER  
  
"Mommy I have to pee"  
  
Max looked back at her daughter strapped in her carseat in the back of the Aztec "Honey we're almost in town. Can you hold it for twenty minutes?"  
  
She looked at Max and started to cry.  
  
"It'll be okay." Max turned back to her husband "Twenty minutes babe. There's no place to stop."  
  
"Look out the window sweetie" Logan was trying to take her mind off having to use the bathroom "All the trees. It's really nice out here. Me and mommy came here once. It was great." The rolling landscape passed by them filled with fur trees and evergreens. As bad as Cape Haven was the drive there was something they remembered enjoying.  
  
"Yeah nearly getting ourselves killed was fantastic" Max stated quietly beside him   
  
"Well telling her the truth won't exactly make her any happier will it?"   
  
A sign came into their view along the side of the road reading "Cape Haven" And just like last time there were armed civilian men guarding the main road into town.  
  
Logan slowed the car down, and rolled down his window.  
  
"It's you again" One of the men from before was on sentry duty again, and he peered into the Aztec "I would turn around if I were you"  
  
"Yeah well you're not us" Max looked at the man through Logan's window.   
  
"Look guys we're just here for a few days like before." Logan said to the man at his window.  
  
The man glanced into the back seat, shifting the rifle he was holding to one hand "You bring your family to a place like this?"   
  
"It's really not that big of a deal" Logan rationalized "We're just here for the weekend like I said"  
  
"Curfew's at ten, and you better stay off-"  
  
"We've been here before remember?" Max reminded the man "We know the house rules"  
  
"Then welcome to Cape Haven"  
  
"Yeah same to you," Max muttered as they drove off. "Nice to know that something never change. In a freakish sort of nice that is."   
  
They drove on through the town. Like the men out front it hadn't changed. It was still worn and crumbly from the age, but it was an ideal spot compared to some other areas hit by the Pulse. A place that seemed only now to belong on old postcards. The appearence of the town alone explained why people tried to raid it after the Pulse. It was a place frozen in time, what most sleepy towns looked like before rioters and Marshall Law took over them.   
  
The sign that dated the starting of the Pulse was still there, except Max didn't ask about it's meaning like before.   
  
"What's that mean daddy?" Jess asked, looking at the sign. He asked this time.  
  
Logan glanced out his window "It's the date the Pulse happened Jess." He had told him some about the Pulse, he was only four, but he had a right to know what was happening and how it affected him. "Around midnight. Very late."  
  
"We're you alive then daddy?"  
  
"Yeah" Logan told him   
  
"We're you scared?"  
  
"I was" Logan didn't lie. "It was a scary time. People were going hungry; they were all scared too. They didn't know what to do. But it got better. They started calming down and started their lives again."  
  
They drove some more until they reached the same one story cabin they had stayed in before. It had been rebuilt since the fire. All the scorched paint on the siding had been replaced in a fresh new coat.  
  
Trudy came out on the porch, a smile on her face as she saw them drive up "Mr. Cale"  
  
Logan opened his door and stepped out.  
  
Trudy stopped, surprised at seeing him on his feet."You're up and about?" she broke into a huge smile "That's wonderful! Can I be permitted to hug you?"  
  
"You don't need permission" Logan told her, hugging the woman.  
  
She pulled back after a moment "Thank you so much for coming here." She looked around for a moment "I thought you were bringing your wife with you."  
  
"She's right behind me" Logan told her  
  
"Mommy.." Lexi's voice was getting antsyier   
  
"Okay baby hang on" Max was holding onto her daughter, rounding the other side of the car with the girl in her arms "Think she's about to explode here you guys. Mind if we hit the ladies room first?"  
  
Trudy was speechless at seeing who Logan was married too. "That's fine Ms-MRS. Cale, you know where it is"  
  
Max smiled "Thanks" she looked behind her at her son "Jess, cmon inside with us"  
  
"But I don't have to pee" Jess complained, emerging from the car and shutting the door.   
  
"You can't stay outside by yourself Jessie Trevon."  
  
"Daddy's here"  
  
"Yeah but daddy's talking with a friend. Now move it"  
  
"Go with mommy Jess" Logan told him "I'll be inside soon"  
  
Jess shuffled his feet, but joined his mom and sister up the stairs and inside the house.   
  
"I see you've stayed friends with Ms. Guevara" Trudy couldn't help herself "Congratulations"   
  
"Thanks" Logan smiled.   
  
"Come one let's go inside, it's chilly out here, even for spring. You can come back for the bags."She headed inside the cabin and Logan followed.  
  
Max came out of the bathroom, with Lexi in tow. "Crisis averted"   
  
"I'm glad" Trudy smiled at Max. "We still have a guestroom available-for the children I mean. They bed's big enough for them to share." She looked at Lexi "Is she old enough to sleep in a bed?"  
  
"I'm a big girl" Lexi spoke out for herself.  
  
Trudy gave a small laugh "Yes ma'am you are. And very beautiful I might add. You take after your mother."  
  
Max smiled "It's fine Trudy. She can adapt" Max looked at her daughter "Isn't that right baby?" she kissed her.   
  
Logan handed Trudy some money "Paid in full"  
  
Trudy took it from him "Thank you" she slid the envelope he handed to her in the pocket of her jacket.  
  
They walked out into the kitchen. Which was the same as Max remembered it. Except now there were new appliances to replace the ones that were lost in the fire.  
  
"Everything's the same as before" Trudy said her thought out loud. I had Sage chop a fresh batch of firewood so you should be fine for the night. And it's getting warmer."  
  
"How's he doin'?" Max spoke up, setting Lexi on top of the counter, playing with her hands.  
  
Trudy shook her head "He's fourteen now, but this kinda stuff. It still haunts him."  
  
"Does he know we're here?" Logan asked  
  
Trudy shook her head again "I thought it best that you tell him. Sage is a dear boy. But he's getting older and he deserves to not be treated like a baby in this matter."  
  
Logan, nodded, agreeing with her remark.  
  
"Where is he?" Max asked.  
  
"He's over at the cemetery," Trudy said sadly "He's stops there everyday. Sometimes he stays as long as two hours"  
  
Max had the same look in her eyes  
  
*****   
  
CEMETARY  
  
"Hey"  
  
The boy turned away from the headstones he was looking at. He stared for a moment because he couldn't believe who it was. "Max?" His black hoodie blew in the slight breeze.   
  
Max nodded and smiled "Was just passing through" she stepped over to Sage.  
  
Sage in turn hugged her. He had grown a few inches she had last seen him. His hair was slightly shorter now, and colored a lighter sandier brown. "Heard you've been having a rough time"  
  
He pulled back and looked at her  
  
"Trudy told me"  
  
"Yeah" Sage's voice had also gotten deeper. But he still had the same eyes she remembered from before. "It's just nightmares"  
  
"B.C. and them too. They been bothering you again?"  
  
"Is Logan here too?" Sage changed the subject.  
  
"He's inside with Trudy at the cabin we stayed in before"   
  
Sage looked at her again "You haven't changed. You're still pretty"   
  
Max smiled "You have." She roughed up his hair "Say you look better then before" She nodded   
  
over to the headstones. "Visiting?"  
  
Sage looked too "I do it everyday. I'm trying to remember them." He took one step closer to the headstones "But there are always gaps." He shrugged "Guess it traumatized me so badly there are some thing I shouldn't remember."  
  
The last time Sage talked about this he broke down, but now only his tone dropped in sadness. And Max didn't embrace him like before. He was growing up, and she didn't want to treat him like a little kid. She touched his shoulder and squeezed.   
  
"Sure they remember you. And they miss you."  
  
Sage just kept looking at the headstones.  
  
"Logan's inside if you wanna see him" this time Max changed the subject.   
  
Sage turned to her with a slight smile.  
  
*****   
  
CABIN  
  
"Look who I found in the woods" Max came in through the screen door after Sage did. The door closed with a 'thunk' after them.  
  
"What is it?" Jessie came bounding out from the hallway, excited.   
  
Max scooped him up and turned him to look at Sage who smiled.   
  
Jess looked at him curiously   
  
"He's yours?" Sage asked  
  
Max nodded "Yeah, Logan kinda grew on me so I married him"  
  
Sage smiled. He always used to hope that Max would stay with her friend. She was one of the few people who showed him respect, and one of the only adults besides Trudy that didn't treat him like a little kid and she deserved to be happy.  
  
"Hi" Sage broke the silence with Jess.   
  
"Hi" Jess responded  
  
"I'm Sage" Sage told him "I'm friends with your mom."  
  
"His name's Jessie" Max spoke up when her son didn't say anything else.  
  
"How old is he?"  
  
"Four" Jess answered for himself "My birthday was last month"  
  
Sage smiled again "That's great" he stepped over to the boy and held out his hand "Happy birthday Jessie"  
  
Jess shook it with a smile.   
  
Max looked up when she heard footsteps approaching. "Hey baby, come look what the wind blew in"  
  
Sage turned to see Logan standing there   
  
"Great seeing you again Sage" Logan stepped over to the boy.  
  
There was an awkward moment between them. Max had embraced Sage when she saw him again, but she was a woman and there was a certain maternal thing about being able to hug kids, even ones Sage's age. But Sage was getting older. And Logan as a man would never embrace a man like a child even if he hadn't seen him in a while. It had to do with respecting Sage's right to grow up.   
  
So Logan simply held out his hand, gesturing it warmly to Sage.   
  
Sage shook the hand, and once Logan felt him become more comfortable he pulled the boy into a light hug.   
  
"So how've you been?" Logan asked  
  
"Isn't that why you're here?" there was no anger in Sage's tone. He looked down at Logan's legs "Your walking"  
  
"Yeah" he smiled. He looked up towards Max "Lexi sacked out on the couch, so I put her in the guestroom."  
  
"She has enough blankets?"  
  
"It's warm enough with just her jacket" Logan told her. He looked to Sage who looked lost. "Sorry Lexi- Alexis, she's our daughter. She's two, and the drive up here wore her out. You know how little kids are."  
  
"Bet she's pretty" Sage analyzed, stealing a glance at Max "Maybe I'll meet her when she wakes up."  
  
"Maybe you will" Logan agreed   
  
"You guys have any more kids?"  
  
Max shook her head "Nope, that's it"  
  
Trudy came into the kitchen "Everything appears to be in order." She looked at Sage "You ready to go?"  
  
"Can't I stay for a while Aunt Trudy?" Sage knew the truth, but he still considered Trudy his aunt. She had gotten legal custody of him a while back. "I want to catch up with Max and Logan." He looked at her with big eyes "Please?"  
  
Trudy nodded "Okay, but don't stay over too late. I'm sure they wants to bed those children of theirs down early"  
  
Sage smiled "I won't"  
  
Trudy beamed as well, and looked towards her guests "If you need anything you know where my house is."  
  
"We will" Logan answered "And thanks"  
  
"So-" Logan began after Trudy left "Lexi just fell asleep thirty minutes ago, but she'll be up soon enough and when she is, whose up for some pool?" he still remembered how much Sage enjoyed playing with Max.   
  
Max looked down at Sage "Know I will be"  
  
"Me too" Sage agreed "But the only public pool table in town is still at the bar." He looked at them apologetically, and a little apprehensive. His harassers regularly hung out there, and as much as he loved pool he would hardly go there because of them.  
  
"Sounds fine" Max reassured, she still saw Sage looking a bit nervous "I got your back on this one Sage"  
  
He broke into a hint of a smile "I'll pay for your milk this time"   
  
Max ruffed up his hair "Then after my baby gets up we'll get this game started."  
  
*****   
  
BAR/POOL HALL  
  
CAPE HAVEN  
  
"Hey baby" the bartender recognized Max as she entered, looking her over "Back for more milk?"  
  
Max set her daughter in one of the stools by the bar. "Two beers straight up slick, oh and I will need some milk. Two small glasses."  
  
"This ain't no day care" the bartender looked at Lexi in the stool. "You can't bring kids in here"   
  
"You're here" Max dissed "Now about the order."  
  
He sneered at her, but went to fill it.  
  
Sage came over to the bar. "Hi" he waved at Lexi "My names Sage."  
  
"My name's Lexi Marie" Lexi spoke out "My birthday is Febrary 3, 2020 and I'm two years old."  
  
"Wow" Sage stated, "That's great. My birthday's August 20, 2008."  
  
"I like birthdays" Lexi informed   
  
Sage grinned "Me too"   
  
"Sage-"  
  
The voice made Sage cringe, and he didn't turn around. B.C. stood behind him, one hand wrapped in black boxers tape clamped on his shoulder. "Rude not to let me know your girlfriend's back in town."  
  
Sage closed his eyes, and his muscles went rigid.   
  
Lexi looked up at Max "What does he mean mommy?"  
  
"Nuthin' baby" Max responded, shooting daggers at B.C with her eyes "It's just a stupid game he likes to play"  
  
"And who's this?" B.C. hadn't changed at all. He looked leeringly at Lexi "You get her knocked up Sage? Must've been great kiddy porn."  
  
Sage turned around then, a quiet anger in his eyes "Why don't you just leave B.C.? You're scaring the kid."  
  
B.C. laughed at Sage standing up to him. He got in his face "Are you threatening me?" he grabbed Sage by the collar. "Why don't ya get your girlfriend to beat me up like last time little boy?"  
  
Logan came behind B.C. and tapped his shoulder  
  
B.C. turned around "She won't have too." He slammed a right hook into B.C.'s face. "Take it the view from your cave isn't any better"  
  
B.C. drew back from the hit, and then looked at Logan with glowering eyes. "I'm gonna put you back in that chair punk"  
  
Max tripped B.C. and he fell on his back on the bar floor. Before he had the chance to recover she placed her foot right on his neck "Make a move and it'll be your last"  
  
B.C. looked over at Logan, sneering "Still hafta have a woman fight your battles for ya."  
  
Max applied pressure to B.C.'s throat "Your in no position to be runnin' your mouth. She applied harder pressure "Now why don't you get the hell outta here; you're ruining my game mood."  
  
B.C. stood up gasping. He had one hand around his neck. "This ain't over kid" He pointed at Sage and left the bar.   
  
Max looked around the bar, at the other men in the room "Anyone else want a piece?" she barked. She turned back to Sage after she was met with silence for her answer "You okay?"  
  
He nodded "But I won't always have you and Logan here to do this for me."  
  
She looked at him in understanding "Still up for pool?"  
  
Sage hesitated for a moment, but nodded.   
  
Max smiled "Kay, I'll get some cues, you rack."  
  
Logan approached the bar to grab his drink.  
  
Max handed it to him "Nice hook"  
  
"Hurts like hell though" he stuck his drink on top the hand he had punched B.C. with.   
  
"Daddy said a bad word" Lexi spoke out  
  
Logan looked at his daughter still sitting on the bar stool "Sorry. It--stings." He looked down at his hand and held it out to Lexi "Kiss?"  
  
She kissed the top of his hand.  
  
Max smiled at the exchange "Did she make it better enough to play with me and Sage?"  
  
"Bring it on." He stated  
  
Max picked up Lexi "Wanna watch the game hun?"  
  
She grinned and shook her head 'yes'  
  
Max set Lexi beside Jess on barstools near the pool table. She handed out pool cues and waited for Sage to rack.  
  
"Can I break?" Sage asked  
  
"Go for it" Logan responded, leaning on his cue  
  
Sage lined up his shot and broke the formation of balls with the cue ball. He landed the nine ball in the right corner pocket.   
  
"Good shot" Max informed.  
  
Sage smiled at her and went around the side of the table for his next shot. The cue ball went in the pocket, a scratch.   
  
"My turn" Logan lined up his shot and landed three balls in the left middle and left corner pocket.  
  
"Lucky" Max teased him like last time   
  
"Luck has nothing to do with this baby" Logan told her  
  
"How about cockiness?"  
  
He smiled and took his next shot. A bounce move that he had done with Alec where the cue ball jumped over another ball and landed the one behind it in the pocket it was near. He did that to keep from running the shot that could be made with the first ball.   
  
"That was awesome." Sage was impressed by Logan's move "Where'd you learn how to do that?"  
  
"My Uncle Jonas was a member of this pool shark club. They use to all get together and play every week in our basement." Logan sunk his next shot, seven ball in the right side pocket. He moved for his next shot "I would go down there to watch and my uncle's friends would teach me things." He made this shot too. Eight ball in the left center pocket. "That's how I learned how to play in the first place." This time he missed.  
  
"Shark bites the dust" Max said. She took his space "Thought I would never get a turn." She leaned over to take her shot, and felt someone looking at her. At first she thought it was like the last time, and B.C.'s goons were grouping her ass in their minds. But when she glanced back this time it was Logan who was checking her out.  
  
She smiled and made her shot. Two balls in the back pocket. She pulled up straight and looked at Logan "Thanks for the compliment" she took her next shot, a scratch.  
  
"Looks like it's back to you" Max informed Sage.  
  
Sage wound up one point away from winning the game. He made his last shot and sunk the ball in the pocket.  
  
"Believe that's game" Max smiled, holding out her hand for a low five.  
  
Sage slapped it.  
  
"That was great." Logan added "You really improved your game."  
  
Sage smiled "How about next time you show me some of that stuff you did"  
  
Logan smiled back "Deal"   
  
Sage checked his watch "It's getting late. I better be heading home."  
  
"Aiight" Max agreed, "Want some company?"  
  
"No!" Sage answered back with a snap in his tone. He looked at Max apologetically. "I'm sorry Max. I'll be fine by myself, really." A pause "Thanks though"  
  
"Then we'll see you in the morning?"  
  
Sage shook his head "Yeah. Aunt Trudy told me to bring some more wood by to the cabin." He grabbed his hoodie and pulled it back on. Once it was all the way on he turned back to them "Goodnight"  
  
"Take it easy" Logan responded, watching him leave. He looked over at Max "So, what do you want to do now?" he glanced over at their children "I promised them s'mores on the fire-"  
  
"You spazed out on me about that the last time we were here"  
  
"Yeah well I'm sorry I was such-" he leaned closer to her ear out of Lexi's range "such an ass about it before. I was mad that all you wanted to do was sit around when I wanted you to help me work. It was kinda selfish"  
  
"Yes it was" Max agreed, with a slight smile "But this is now." Her smile grew more seductive "How bout you keep the fire burning after the s'mores?"  
  
"The last time I wanted to build a fire YOU spazed out on me" he reminded  
  
"Like I said, this is now" she repeated. "Can't tell me a crackling fire isn't enticing for-after dark"  
  
Her sexy look was affecting him the way she wanted "Only if you'll also let me get you a blanket this time"  
  
"Kay" she agreed "But only if you'll join me under it"  
  
The air got hotter for him. "Enough talk. We should head back" he picked up Lexi "Like Sage said, it's late"  
  
*****   
  
A twig crackled under Sage's feet. Besides that the only other sound were the waves hitting the beach that wasn't that far away from where he was. He was tempted to step over to it and walk along the shore. A check of his watch told him that it was just past 8:30. Twenty minutes by the water wouldn't make him that much later. He still had another hour and a half until curfew.  
  
He stepped over the sand dune and onto the deserted beach and sat down removing his shoes, letting his bare toes squish into the sand. Out ahead the water was colored a bluish black by the night. The tourists loved to come out during this season. All the jellyfish and sharks wouldn't come back until summer so the water was safe. It was a warm night, but a breeze still blew in from off the water.   
  
Sage sat back down and removed his pants and hoodie, blue sweater until he was down to his boxers. He stepped over to the edge of the water and white foam lapped at his feet. He walked out into the water a few yards until it was deep enough then dove in. He swam about thirty yards out, leaning against one of the boey yard markers put there by lifeguards for the swim area in tourists season. Technically the beach was already closed, but the patrolmen always collected together up on the dune to drink and goof off so he wasn't in danger of getting caught.   
  
He floated on his back and looked up at the stars. A shooting star streaked across the sky, like a fireball.  
  
/FLASH: Sage stares wide eyed as his parents are huddled together on the floor, trying to reach for him. Smoke fills the room along with flames  
  
"Sam-" his mother calls out to him in a choked whisper. But a second later she passes out along with her husband.  
  
Outside B.C. is circling the house with Clyde  
  
"Shit man we can't kill them!"  
  
"Too late fool!" B.C. shouted back "You grabbed the fuckin' woman! We can't have her squealing! And the husband he'll go right to the police for what we did, this is the only way!"/  
  
/FLASH: Trudy carried the crumpled form of Sage through her door. His entire body was covered in second and third degree burns. His hair was singed and it fell off in clumps when she touched his head.  
  
"Sam?" Trudy called him "Sam can you hear me honey?" Trudy picked him up and took him to her bedroom. His skin came away in her hands. She started pouring water on him to cool his body down./  
  
/FLASH: Sage opened his eyes at Trudy's clinic. He was covered in burn wraps and an NG tube was in his nose, stuff Trudy had swiped from the hospital  
  
"Sam?" Trudy called out to him  
  
Sage started coughing  
  
Trudy gave him a cup of water with a straw "Sam? It's okay. It's me Trudy. You were in a bad fire honey."  
  
"Whose Sam?" Sage gasped  
  
Trudy stared at him wide eyed./  
  
Sage gasped and came back to the real world. His body bobbed up and down in the water. He looked around wild eyed for a moment and swam back to shore. The night air was cooler then the water. He shivered and hurried to dry himself on his hoodie before getting dressed. He climbed back over the dune and found the road again.   
  
He walked silently back to his house when he felt something grab him by the throat and slam him into a building.  
  
"Where ya headin' Sage?" B.C. stared him in the face with sour breath. "Why you'd try to run your mouth on me?" he banged him into the wall "You tryin' to conspire against me with that bitch from outta town again? You think she can protect you from me? Huh?" he let go and punched Sage in the face.   
  
Sage fell backwards onto bags of trash. B.C. stood over him. "Better head home little man. Curfew's starting soon"  
  
Sage jumped up from the trash and held his cheek from where it had been punched. He waited until B.C. was out of sight before running down the road to his home.   
  
*****   
  
CABIN  
  
NEXT MORNING  
  
"Morning" Logan said to Max handing her a coffee cup. "You hungry?"  
  
"Famished" she responded "Why? You got something good for me?" she looked over at the stove with two frying pans on the front range eyes.  
  
"Yeah, but not in those pans." He set down his coffee cup and stepped closer to her "C'mere." He backed her up so she that she banged her back against the the refrigerator. He kissed her hotly and felt her arms wind around his neck.   
  
"Is this supposed to be better then breakfast?"  
  
He pulled back "Oh you're gonna get it for that" he kissed her neck.   
  
She waited for a moment, feeling him on her jugular "Okay maybe I was wrong" She bent lower and reclaimed his mouth.   
  
"Good morning"  
  
Lexi's voice made them snap apart. Logan got up off of Max's body.  
  
"Morning sweetie" Max responded, straightening out her hair that had gotten rumpled in the moment.   
  
Lexi looked at Max who was still against the fridge. "What are you doing mommy?"  
  
"Getting juice" Max lied, turning and opened the fridge, hopping they had juice. She found some apple juice and pulled it out. "Want some?" she asked Lexi  
  
She nodded  
  
"Kay" she headed over to get a glass from the cabinet. Logan beat her to it and handed her a clean one from the drain board.   
  
"Getting juice?" he had a smirk on his face.  
  
"Could tell her bout the birds and the bees now if you want" Max poured some juice in the glass.  
  
"So you were getting juice you say?"  
  
Max smiled and kissed him on the way back to the kitchen table. She sat down and watched Lexi drink her juice.   
  
Max heard the creaking of the screen door that opened.   
  
"Max, you home?"  
  
She smiled when she heard Sage's voice "In the kitchen Sage!" she looked to her daughter "You hungry?"  
  
Lexi nodded  
  
Max stood up to get a plate set up for her when she heard Sage enter the kitchen. She turned to face him "Mornin-" her greeting was halted when she saw the huge bruise covering his cheek. She set the plate down and stepped over to him.  
  
"Sage what happened?"  
  
He didn't say anything.  
  
"Was it B.C.? Did he do this to you?"   
  
"It's not a big deal Max really-" Sage tried to convince her "Aunt Trudy already gave me some ice for it"  
  
"Sage sit down," Logan ordered gently, pulling out a chair from the table. He waited until Sage sat before continuing. He cringed mentally when he saw the enormous purple and blue discoloration on the boy's face. "What happened?"  
  
"I tripped" Sage lied "After I left the pool hall I went down to the beach and slipped on some rocks."  
  
"Sage there aren't any rocks on the beach" Logan told him "It's all just sand and pebbles. Nothing that could mess you up like this"  
  
"Yes there are!" Sage was becoming more agitated "And I fell. I just wasn't paying attention." He looked down at his hands.   
  
Max picked up her daughter and sat in the chair she was sitting in, placing her in her lap. "Hey" she called out to Sage "Look at me" after a long minute he did. The bruise stood out noticeably against his light colored skin.   
  
"You know you can tell us anything. That you can trust us." She looked at him with compassion "Nuthin' you say has to leave this kitchen. Be just us talkin'. Period. Kay?"  
  
Sage was silent, then "It was B.C."  
  
Max gave him a silent look, turning to her daughter in her lap "Sweetie why don't you go wake up Jess?"  
  
Lexi nodded with a smile "Kay" She climbed off her mom's lap  
  
"Kiss baby?"   
  
Lexi reached up and kissed Max on the mouth. Max smiled for a moment and watched her run off into the hallway.  
  
After she was gone Max started again "Were you at home?"  
  
"No" Sage told her "Not this time--It was right after I left the pool hall. I was walking home-" He took a moment, looking down at his lap again. "He was waiting for me."  
  
"Then what?" Max pressured, but gently. She didn't want to scare him off.   
  
"He grabbed me" Sage went on "By my sweater. And he hit me" he touched his swollen bruise.  
  
"Did he say anything to you?" Logan asked, moving to stand beside Max.   
  
Sage looked down again, for a long time. Then "He told me that no one could protect me" these words were barely above a whisper. He stared at the two people watching him. "He's right"  
  
"Sage-"  
  
"No Logan he is" Sage cut off the older man "This has been happening ever since I can remember. And I haven't done anything to stop it. Aunt Trudy, she tried to protect me by keeping me from remembering that I could have died in that fire too. But after B.C. found out I was still alive-" a pause "He's never gonna leave me alone until he kills me. Just like he killed my parents"  
  
Max touched his shoulder, and he looked at her with such sorrow that the last time she had seen that look was when Ben was pleading with her to not leave him.   
  
"I don't wanna die Max" Sage was growing up, but he was still very much a wounded child because B.C., Clyde and all the others would never leave him alone enough to let him heal. "I'm only fourteen. Why is all this happening to me?" he started to cry.   
  
Max leaned forward and hugged him, remembering the last time he had broken down in front of her. /Bastards. Why can't they ever leave him alone?/   
  
Sage sobbed on her shoulder.  
  
Max pulled him back "You ain't dyin' on me Sage."  
  
"You can't change things for me Max." Sage told her "You tried before. And it went away for a little bit, but it came back." He wiped his nose on his sleeve, embarrassed that he had broken down.  
  
Max sensed it, and gave him time to compose himself. She handed him a paper towel from the table.  
  
"You told me you were tired of running" Logan reminded, "You can't run from this now either Sage. Or you'll be running from B.C. for the rest of your life."  
  
"So what am I suppose to do?"   
  
Max touched his shoulder again "I may not be able to change things for you. But you can."  
  
Sage was confused "How?"  
  
"Fate isn't something that's unbendable. It ain't up to the stars to determines what happens in your life." She looked at him "It's up to you. I learned that a long time ago." She glanced at Logan when she said this. "And I can show you."  
  
"What do you mean? Show me what?"  
  
"How to create your own fate" Max finished  
  
*****   
  
9:15 PM  
  
Sage looked around the front of the abandoned warehouse. "Max!" he whispered loudly. She had gone off the side of the warehouse, and asked him to wait there for her.   
  
"Max-"   
  
The front door of the warehouse opened. Max was standing there holding the sliding metal door with one hand.   
  
Sage was impressed "How'd you do that?"   
  
"I'll show you lock picking on another lesson. C'mon before we get caught"  
  
Sage ran through the doors and Max shut it soundlessly. The warehouse was completely dark. It started illuminating a few seconds later by halogen lamps Max set around the room.  
  
Sage watched the place fill with a small amount of light.  
  
"Can't have too much illumination" Max answered his unspoken question "It'll tip people off."  
  
"There's so much I still don't know about you."  
  
Max smiled. Knocking came at the side door.   
  
Sage tensed for a moment.  
  
"S'Okay." Max reassured "It's for me." She walked over to the door and opened it to Logan who was on the other side.   
  
Logan entered the warehouse and closed the door behind him.   
  
"Who's watching your kids?" Sage asked  
  
"Your Aunt Trudy" Logan told him "She's enjoying the company. Told her that you were safe, and you would be with us."   
  
"Thanks" Sage said  
  
"Did you get everything?" Max asked  
  
Logan held up her black cat bugler suitcase. "Everything but the kitchen sink"   
  
She took it from him with a kiss "Second best midnight courier service I ever had."  
  
"Then who's the first?" Logan asked  
  
"Me" she told him.  
  
She headed over to Sage dropping the suitcase on the ground and snapped the lid open. She rummaged around through her crossbow anchor, cat suit and lock picking tools until she found what she was looking for, leather grips. She threw some at Sage. "Put these on."   
  
"Their kinda big." Sage informed slipping them on.   
  
"Their my brothers" Max told him about the grips he had on which belong to Zack. She had thrown them in her pack after he left them at the penthouse one day. "They should fit you better then mine." She pulled out a black tank top from her bag, standing up with it. "Close your eyes for a second" she told Sage who did it.  
  
Max stripped off her sweater and pulled on the tank top, throwing the sweater and Logan who was eyeing her. "Kay you can open'em"  
  
Sage examined her new attire as she slipped on her own grips.   
  
"Have you had any defense training?" Max asked  
  
"Karate" Sage told her "But I only made it to yellow belt."  
  
"You have enough knowledge of the skills though" Max informed, "I don't have enough time to teach you if you had nothing."  
  
"Teach me what?" Sage asked, "B.C. can outfight me. There's not enough time for me to learn how to become a black belt"  
  
"You don't need higher skills Sage" Max corrected "A true fighter uses the skills he has to it's maximum potential." She circled him "Because you took Karate you have basic fighting skills. You know how to block-" she swung at him and he stopped her fist with his hand. "To maneuver" she swung at his face and he ducked, and she hit air. "But there's one thing that you don't know" she flipped over his head and locked him around the throat, not hard. "The unexpected." She let go. "There aren't any gloves in real life fights Sage." She turned to look him in the face "Or neat and tidy rules to protect you from the man who wants to beat your ass down. You can create your fate, but it will only bend to you so far. You have to include the unexpected, because that's your true weak spot." She swung at him again but he grabbed her arm this time and dropped her down. She landed on her feet of course, and smiled at him "Not that he's bigger then you, or stronger then you. He beats you because he hurts you in ways you don't prepare for." She circled him "And you can't defend yourself because you don't know what you're defending against."   
  
"So how do I stop him?"  
  
"By expecting the unexpected"  
  
*****   
  
"Did he tell you anything?" Clyde sat on a storage crate outside of the bar, watching B.C. smoke a cigarette. They weren't allowed to smoke inside and had been thrown out because they didn't want to play by the rules.   
  
"He clammed up like he always does," B.C. took a drag from his cigarette "He's not gonna say anything."  
  
"Then what the hell is he hanging round that chick for?" Clyde asked "She filled his head with fucked up ideas last time to start remembering the fire" Clyde growled in the back of his throat and snatched one of B.C.'s cigarettes from the pack in his pocket. "We shoulda took him out for good like his parents. He's a whiner, and whiner's have mouths. He'll yap us straight to the cops."  
  
"He's just a kid dumb ass!" B.C. pitched his lighter at Clyde's head "He don't even really remember the fire, so he can't pin it on us. And what the hell the cops gonna do about it?" he took another puff and blew out "Not like they did anything the night of the "accident" he made quotes in the air with his hand when he said this.   
  
"He still needs to be shut up" Clyde snapped   
  
"Gotta get him alone" B.C. informed, "That bitch and her man are always around. And as much as I want to pay back that mother fucker but I gotta take care of business with little Sage first. And if they don't know where he is, it'll be easier."  
  
"Hell of a lot more fun too." Clyde agreed, "Though that bitch is a nice piece of ass." He dropped his cigarette on the dirt ground and stomped it out with his boot. "Sure would like to do her up."  
  
"Me too man" B.C. said "But we always jump before we hump" he laughed  
  
Clyde laughed too.   
  
*****   
  
Sage was sitting on the floor of the warehouse, wiping sweat from his face with his shirt.  
  
A bottle of water came into his line of sight.  
  
Sage looked up to Max who was holding it "Thanks" he took it from her and drank.   
  
Max sat down cross-legged on the floor beside him.   
  
After drinking, Sage stared at Max "Think this will work?"  
  
"It's not up to me, it's up to you." Max told him.   
  
"Then I'm good as gone" Sage was serious when he said this "One day of learning how to fight isn't gonna stop B.C. from coming after me and pounding me to the ground."   
  
"The lesson's not complete" Max said, "There's still one more thing to teach you."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
Max looked at him for a long moment, then held up a gun, Logan's that he kept in the drawer of his office. She removed the clip and held the gun out to Sage.   
  
He took it, looking back to her, not getting the meaning of her gesture.   
  
"I never liked guns" Max began speaking again "That's because when I was nine I watched my sister get shot down right in front of me." She watched Sage's eyes get wide "I never want to have to hold one of these things and shoot someone. Even if it means saving my own life." this time she held up a lighter and lit the flame, holding it in front of Sage. "You have every right to be scared by what killed your family. But B.C. and the others, they know it scares you and it becomes their weapon. Fear is the worse weapon in the world Sage. Fire can't scare you if your not afraid of it. But you are Sage, ever since the accident" she called it an accident, letting that description slide for the moment "And B.C. and Clyde will use it against you. That's how they operate."  
  
/FLASH: Emily Gilan pushes Sage into a closet, telling him to stay there through a choked voice. Outside B.C. and Clyde circle the burning house. B.C. smashed through a window and grabs John Gilan   
  
"What are you lookin' at, raghead?" he punched John "You knew it was comin', didn't you? Huh?" he kicked John in the chest and he fell to the floor.  
  
Sage watched, terrified from the closet/  
  
"I can't make those memories go away." She looked him dead in the eye "But you have a right to not live your life being afraid that someone can take it all away in a second."  
  
/FLASH: "Let's torch this sucker!" B.C. poured gasoline all around the house and threw a lit match into it. Fire ripped through the gasoline and the boards soaked in them./  
  
Logan and Max shared a look when she said this.   
  
"The thing about fire is-" Max released the button on the lighter and the flame vanished "Fire can be put out" She threw it to Sage watching him catch it.   
  
Sage looked at the lighter for a long moment then looked up to Max "But what if I'm still scared?"  
  
"Courage is not the absence of fear" she quoted Franklin Roosevelt, which showed the true nature of her personality. A woman who could diss out the hardest criminal before busting their balls, but could also correct a well read scholar on the meanings of philosophy. "It's just recognizing that there are more important things besides"  
  
"Good, cause I'm pretty sure I'm still scared about this" he turned to her "Does that change anything?"  
  
Max offered him a light smile. She reached out and touched his shoulder "Don't change a thing"  
  
Sage stood up, but knelt back down a moment later to hug Max. She put her arms around him too.   
  
He pulled back and kissed her on the cheek, just like he had done that night after he had helped Logan fight of B.C. and the others.   
  
*****   
  
TRUDY'S  
  
"Daddy!" Jessie bound into Logan's arms when he came through the doorway "Look what Trudy helped me make!" he pointed to a paper mache model of the human heart on the table.   
  
"Wow" Logan looked at the model "That's really nice."  
  
"It's a heart" Jess informed "And she showed me how mine sounded with a stethoscope." He mispronounced stethoscope '"STET-A-SCOPE" He was progressing greatly in language skills but he still spoke the way all four year olds did when they learned new words.   
  
"Bet you liked that?" Logan smiled at how excited his son was "Where's your sister?"   
  
"In the kitchen with Trudy. Their making cocoa"   
  
"Mmm" Max commented "Sounds good. I'm gonna get in on that. How bout you Sage?" she turned to the boy beside her.  
  
"Yeah Sage" Jess broke in "Trudy's putting in big marshmallows!"  
  
Sage smiled "Sounds really good Jessie. I think I'll join you."  
  
Jessie grabbed Sage's hand "Then c'mon!" he pulled him to the kitchen.   
  
Max smiled again turning to her husband "You want in on this action?"   
  
Logan came closer to her "I could go for some action" he captured her mouth in a kiss.   
  
She pulled him back "Think it's a smart move to be foolin' around in the middle of Trudy's living room?"   
  
"No I don't" Logan agreed "But I was never really a smart man in these matters" he kissed her again cupping her cheek with one hand.   
  
"You two wanna come in here while the cocoa's still hot?" Trudy's voice called from the kitchen. She eyed the pair, a smile forming on her lips "Or did you already get warmed up enough?" She turned to Sage "So distant last time and now they can't keep their hands off each other."  
  
Max heard Trudy with her sensitive hearing. "Wanna continue this later?"  
  
His look was her answer. They walked together to the kitchen where Jess and Lexi were seated at a round wooden table sipping hot chocolate from blue earthenware mugs.   
  
Max came up behind her daughter, running her hands through her growing hair "Hey baby girl" she kissed her on top of her head "You havin' fun?"  
  
Lexi smiled "Tudy put in five marshmallows" she held the cup out for Max to see.  
  
"She did huh?" Max came around and knelt down next to Lexi. "Bet that makes it taste superPERRbly aiight"   
  
Lexi raised her cup "Wanna try some mommy?"  
  
Max took a sip of the drink she offered. "Mmm." She smiled "I was right. Almost as sweet as you." She kissed Lexi's nose, making her giggle.   
  
"Max" Trudy handed her a mug.  
  
Max took it "Thanks" she stood back up and inhaled the aroma coming from it. "I never had it this good as a kid" she took a sip.   
  
Trudy smiled "Sage loved this as a little boy. Emily would always give it to him on cold winter days with a plate of sugar cookies"  
  
Sage, who was sitting in the chair beside Jessie looked up from his mug. A glimmer of childish wonder passed across his eyes "I did?"  
  
Trudy's smile grew larger "You're mom use to say that if they opened you up you'd have hot cocoa running through your veins instead of blood"  
  
Sage's shoulders sagged ever so slightly and his wonder turned into something sad "I don't remember that"   
  
Trudy's smiled faded "Oh honey give it time, you will. You went through something terrible. But it'll all come back"  
  
Sage set his mug down "I remembered how mom smelled" he paused, a smile returning as he remembered "Like warm lemongrass. It was that smell from Bath and Body Works that she always bought. Dad use to tell her she smelled like she belonged outside. I could smell her all the way from the road where the bus dropped me off after school. And when she hugged me when I got to the front door." He still smiled, holding onto the memory of her before the darkness came into their lives.   
  
No one said anything for a while, letting Sage have his memories.   
  
"My mom use to always wear this green tea essence when she went out" Logan was now sharing a bit of his family memory, wanting Sage to know that he could connect with him. "It wasn't too strong or too light. Just something different enough so she stood out from everyone else's Channel Number 5. And my sister Marie-" he paused, lost in thought from the next scene playing out in his mind "She used to sneak into my parent's room and steal it. I smelled in on her when Mom dropped us off for school. The day before they all were killed when their plane crashed mom gave Marie her own bottle. She took it with her on the flight. I bought a bottle of it a while back ago. Keep it on my dresser, to remember them."  
  
Max who was now sitting down in an empty chair reached out one of her hands to Logan. He took it and squeezed it. Neither looked at each other. They didn't have to.  
  
Sage turned to Logan, with eyes of understanding "I'm sorry about your family"  
  
"So am I Sage" Logan responded.   
  
*****   
  
B.C. rolled his pickup truck down the quiet streets. Curfew had been in effect for the last hour, but B.C. cared as much about the curfew as he did for Sage. He turned to Clyde "So are we gonna do this or what?"  
  
Clyde held up a canister of gasoline "Got the drinks for the party man"   
  
B.C. laughed, a completely inappropriate reaction considering what he and Clyde were about to do, making his laughter have an evil quality to it.  
  
They drove down the road leading up to Trudy's house, cutting off the lights when the old Ford F150 neared the long stretch of dirt driveway. They ditched the car a little over halfway down the length of the dirt, climbing out.  
  
B.C. shifted the gas can to his left hand, shutting the door to his truck. He looked to Clyde "Take out the back windows" he smiled in the darkness "Say we screw with him some more before we do the main shit"  
  
Clyde sneered, and nodded.   
  
*****   
  
CABIN  
  
"Hope Sage will be aiight" Max pulled her sweater back on her head.   
  
"I'm sure he will be" Logan rationalized, lighting a long fire stick match and igniting the log in the fire. "He's a tough kid"   
  
"Doesn't mean he'll always be okay," she argued.  
  
Logan turned his head and gave her a look, one that said 'wonder who that sounds like' He watched her rub her arms through her sweater "You cold?"  
  
"It's spring, so why the hell is it still sixty degrees?" that was her answer.  
  
"Cold snap's came through" Logan said "Local weather station predicts high temperatures in the bottom sixties for the next few days"   
  
"Great" Max declared, "Mother nature is just as much of a freak as I am"  
  
Logan hated it when Max referred to herself as a "freak" but she was just making a crack so he let it go. He glanced at the flames "Just takes a little time for the fire to warm the place up"  
  
"That's kinda a loaded remark"  
  
"What is?" he asked, sitting down on the couch, pulling a blanket over his lower body  
  
"Come on baby light my fire?" her eyebrows were raised "Think I'm old enough to know a come on when I hear it"   
  
"Then COME ON and get under this blanket before I do it myself" He soon felt her weight beside him.  
  
"Baby that was so corny" Max informed  
  
"No popcorn is corny," he laughed dryly when she rolled her eyes "Hey I'm sorry sweetheart but you left it wide open"  
  
"And I'm bout to slam it shut if ya don't knock off the Popsicle stick humor." She snuggled in closer, leaning against his shoulder "You ain't helpin' stoke my fire. You're puttin' it out"  
  
"Sorry" he placed his hand behind her and on her back, rubbing it "How's this?"  
  
"Lower" she felt his hand roam down by her bra strap hidden under her sweater "NOW it got warmer in here"   
  
Logan turned to her "You said something about continuing this course of action at Trudy's" he kissed her sensually on the forehead.   
  
She smiled seductively "I might be persuaded if the right offer was presented" she kissed him, but then stopped.   
  
His brow creased "What's wrong?"   
  
"You were only fourteen when they died?" her eyes held a steady gaze "You never told me that"   
  
"Fourteen and a half" Logan informed, "My birthday was two weeks after they were suppose to come back"  
  
Max's eyes went sad "I'm sorry"   
  
He caressed a tendril of her hair, tucking it behind her ear "I've made my peace with it." A pause "I just think about what it would be like if they were still alive. Maybe I would've come out differently if Aunt Margo hadn't gotten a chance to claim legal ownership of me."  
  
"You didn't turn out to be such a bad guy" Max argued, "Say you got your wish--We probably would've never hooked up, most likely never even crossed paths"   
  
He touched her face with one hand "Mom would've loved you. Dad would've eventually warmed up to the idea after he found out I was divorced from a pill popping drunk"  
  
She put her hand on his wrist, grasping it.   
  
A loud smash from outside jolted them out of their moment.   
  
"What was that?" Max asked  
  
The crash came again, noise of glass being shattered.   
  
*****   
  
Sage was jolted out of sleep by the sound of his window breaking. A large arm reached in and grabbed him by his shirt collar, yanking him up off the bed.  
  
"Wakey wakey Sage!" B.C.'s voice taunted him  
  
Sage yanked himself free from B.C., falling back onto the floor.   
  
B.C.'s head came through the busted window "Now why'd you have to do that Sage? I just wanna play with ya" the can of gasoline was held up through the window next.   
  
"Gettin' a bit cold in here don't ya think?" a laugh, short and sleazy. The sound of a lighter came next. "This oughta liven things up." B.C. ducked back out from the shattered glass and set fire to the siding on the outside of the house. It caught immediately to the gasoline he poured on it. Flames instantly "whooshed" up the wood, and then started to burn under the window paine.  
  
Sage scrambled to his feet and grabbed his blanket from the bed. He beat at the fire with it, but the flames were so large that it didn't do any help.   
  
"Sage!" Trudy yelled at him from the hallway "Get out of the house-" there was a sharp cry from Trudy and the sound of something falling  
  
"Aunt Trudy!" Sage shouted at her. He ran to his bedroom door and opened it. Smoke filled the hallway. Sage ran out into the living room and was met with tremendous heat and flames coming from the kitchen.  
  
Sage found Trudy on the floor. He ran over to her "Aunt Trudy!" he grabbed her arm and pulled her up "C'mon we hafta get out before the place burns down!" he coughed from the smoke filling his lungs.  
  
Something knocked Sage away, throwing him against the counter partician that separated the kitchen from the living room. His head banged with a sicking 'crack' against the counter  
  
Clyde stood over Sage on the floor. "You ain't gettin' away from me this time!" he kicked Sage in the stomach, knocking all the wind out of him.  
  
"Leave him alone you bastard!" Trudy scrambled to her feet and grabbed onto Clyde's arm.  
  
Clyde snatched her by her wrist "Get off me bitch!" he threw her into the dining room table. She hit her back on it and fell.  
  
"Aunt Trudy!" Sage tried to reach for her by Clyde grabbed him by the shirt and smashed him back down on the counter  
  
*****   
  
"Logan!" Max saw the flames rising from Trudy's house through the front window  
  
Logan ran over, seeing the orange fire rising out from Trudy's "I'll call the fire department"   
  
Max ran over the hardwood floor to the front door and flung it open, running out into the yard.   
  
"Daddy what's going on?" Jessie came into the living room in his pj's, woken from all the noise.  
  
"Stay here with your sister" Logan ordered, he snatched his cell phone and ran out after Max. He caught up to her as she closed in on Trudy's house.  
  
"That's B.C.'s truck!" Max noticed the Ford in the middle of the dirt driveway. She quickened her pace.  
  
"Send emergency officials to 12 Beachview Road, there's a fire and people trapped inside" Logan hit 'end' and folded up the cell, shoving it in his pants' pocket.   
  
"By the time the fire truck comes the place will be ashes!" Max snapped  
  
"Let's try to find a way inside!" Logan shouted at her.  
  
A shot rang out , and they felt the air rush by them by an ejected bullet.  
  
They both dropped stomach down onto the dirt.  
  
"You okay?!?" Logan shouted, looking over at her flat on her stomach a few inches apart from him  
  
"Yeah!" she told him, glancing up, spotting B.C. in front of the house armed with a .22 caliber rifle. "We've got company"   
  
Another shot sounded  
  
*****   
  
"What the hell is it?" Clyde called out to B.C.  
  
"That bitch is back!" B.C. shouted from outside "I'm gonna knock her off!" he took aim again.  
  
Clyde looked down with hateful eyes at Sage by his feet. "Not this time little shit!" He picked up a metal crowbar from the ground "This time I'm gonna make sure you don't make it outta here!" he brought the crowbar down, but Sage rolled away from it.   
  
/FLASH: "Fear is the worst weapon in the world Sage."/   
  
The crow bar hit the counter. Sage grabbed the end of it and slammed it into Clyde's stomach.   
  
Clyde gasped. "You shit!" he recomposed himself and grabbed a flaming piece of the ceiling that had fallen to the floor, burning the skin on Sage's arm with it.  
  
Sage screamed  
  
"You're not gonna survive this fire kid!"  
  
*****   
  
Max felt around until she found several smoking bullets in the grass. She picked them up off the ground and broke the shells with her fingers, pouring the powder onto the ground about ten feet to the right of them. "We need to create a diversion!" She looked to her husband "You ready?"  
  
Logan took out his gun that he snatched from Max's kit before he ran out of the house. The clip had only two rounds left. He fired it at the powder she laid down. The powder ignited, creating an explosion that blew dirt and grass everywhere.   
  
"Move!" Max shouted.  
  
They both climbed to their feet using the billowing dirt as a smoke screen to move closer.  
  
B.C. shot at the site of the blast. Max crept up on him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned  
  
"Looking for me?" she punched him in the face and grabbed the gun, slamming the butt into his stomach.  
  
Logan stepped onto the porch, having to duck down a moment later when a piece of fallen wood came down from the roof.   
  
Max peeked inside, spying Trudy on the floor. She backed up and kicked the door in that Clyde and B.C. locked after they entered.   
  
*****   
  
Sage tried to yank his arm away from Clyde, but he was paralyzed by his own fear and by the sheer force of Clyde's grasp.   
  
/FLASH: "He beats you because he hurts you in ways you don't prepare for. You can't defend yourself because you don't know what you're defending against"/   
  
Sage pulled back from Clyde and managed to land back on the floor. He could smell the hair singed on his arm. It was beginning to become too painful to move  
  
Clyde sneered above him, finding the abandoned crowbar and raised it above his head "When I'm done they'll carry you outta here on a body bag!"   
  
/FLASH: "So how do I stop him?"/  
  
/FLASH: (Max V.O.) "By expecting the unexpected"/  
  
Sage took a hold of the crowbar again and this time he made contact with Clyde's leg. Clyde buckled and fell on the ground.   
  
/FLASH: "I'm done hiding. I don't want to do it anymore"/   
  
Sage hit him again in the stomach and then dropped the crowbar. He knelt next to Trudy. "Aunt Trudy!" he coughed and tried to see through the smoke.   
  
"Sage! Trudy!" He heard Max's voice calling in the smoky house.   
  
"Max! Over here!" Sage shouted back.  
  
With her night vision Max found them seconds later, Logan beside her.   
  
"Let's move Sage!" she grabbed his hand so he wouldn't get lost from her in the smoke. Logan picked up Trudy and they ran out of the house through the front door. In the distance the wail of fire engines and emergency officials were sounding off.   
  
= = = =   
  
/FLASH: "The thing about fire is. Fire can be put out"/  
  
"More power!" the firemen shouted to another on the back of the truck. He aimed his high powered hose at the house, hitting the flames on the roof. The fire was finally under control, and would be completely out in a matter of seconds.  
  
An ambulance was parked a few feet away from the house. Trudy was being patched up on a gurney in the back of the rig. Sage sat down on the end of the ambulance wrapped in a brown blanket while an EMT bandaged his arm with burn dressings.   
  
Max stepped out from behind the ambulance door, and approached Sage and the EMT  
  
"How ya feeling?"  
  
"Remember how I told you I hate fire?" Sage asked, watching as she nodded "I still do"   
  
Max offered him a small smile, watching as the EMT finished his work and then left them alone for a moment. "How's Trudy?"  
  
Sage turned to look at his aunt sitting in the back of the ambulance chatting with the EMT, who she knew. "She's got a minor concussion. But she doesn't want to go down to the hospital, she feels that as a doctor she should be qualified to take care of herself"   
  
Max smiled again and moved to sit by Sage on the tailgate.   
  
"Where's Logan?"  
  
"Back at the cabin" Max answered, "We kinda left in a hurry and he wants to make sure our kids didn't get into anything they shouldn't have" She turned to him.  
  
"Where's B.C. and Clyde?" Sage asked pulling the blanket up higher around his shoulders.  
  
"Over there" Max pointed and Sage looked to the back of a patrol car. "Logan's got some friends in higher state police departments. Their making sure the cops of Cape Haven don't let those two get off with only a slap on the wrist this time"   
  
This time Sage was the one who smiled. He looked to the house where smoke was rising from the extinguished fire "Guess we can live in the cabin until this place gets fixed up" he paused "That is if you don't mind"  
  
"You saved my life once. It'd be the least I could to pay that back."  
  
"Guess this makes us even"  
  
Max looked at him, smiling, and put her arm around him.   
  
Sage leaned into her and put his head down on her shoulder.   
  
*****   
  
CAPE HAVEN CEMETARY   
  
THE NEXT MORNING  
  
The sound of a bulldozer rumbled through the air over the grave next to John and Emily Gilian. The man running it shifted a few levers getting the machine to move foward approaching the two gravesties.   
  
Sage stood behind the bulldozer watching the grave marked "Sam Gilian" be torn apart. Trudy stood next to him. Sage's brown suede t-shirt jacket was rolled up on one sleeve revealing white burn dressings wrapped aroundhis forearm.  
  
Max stood back with Logan a few feet from Sage and Trudy, observing the demolition. Each one held one child in their arms. Logan with Lexi and her with Jess.  
  
(MAX V.O) "Our past always comes back around, no matter how hard we try to keep it buried in the ground."  
  
There was a loud "CRACK" when the bulldozer ran over the headstone, splitting it in two. Fragments of it broke off and fell to the dirt.   
  
(MAX V.O)" It comes to the surface like a weed, wanting to be alive again"  
  
Sage watched it all unfold without a sound, seeing the name "Sam" crumble into nothing more then granite fragments.  
  
(MAX: V.O) "They say if you don't remember the past you are doomed to repeat it"  
  
A wind whipped through Sage's hair, tossling it. He felt Trudy slide one of her hands into his.  
  
Max stepped closer to Sage, finally reaching him, being a presence behind him   
  
(MAX: V.O) "But there are those who don't want to repeat it"   
  
She reached out a leather gloved hand, resting it on Sage's shoulder. He didn't move, but she felt his muscles relax some from their tension  
  
(MAX V.O)"They only want to remember it."   
  
(FADE TO BLACK)  
  
*****   
  
END   
  
Haven was such an interesting epi like I said. There was so much hidden depth and pain with Sage. It was very haunting to watch it. This story came to me fast. I've had ideas for a chapter like this ever since I saw "Haven" air for the first time. I wrote a big chunk of this in only three days, and ideas kept coming to me.   
  
I'll keep punching them out.   
  
R/R please  
  
Peace,  
  
Mystic 


	18. TwentyFour

Choices 19-"TWENTY-FOUR"   
  
Mystic25 (yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com) SUMMARY: A run in with White leaves Zack with 24 hours to prevent his own death. Ready, Set, Go.. RATING: PG14 for violence and language  
  
DISCLAIMER: Mr. James Cameron meet Ms.-Non-Profit-No-Law-Suit  
  
A/N: I wanted to do something special for my 19th and 20th chapter. So I came up with this for the first. I once in a while do little lighter fics, but that's not really my style. It'd be like asking Monet to paint a completely black canvas and call it "Water Lilies II"-just can't work. Angsty is how I write, it's what I'm good at and what I like to do.what happens here though)  
  
A/N #2: Zack always had his moments, but I never saw an episode (except "Some Assembly Required") that focused mostly on him. I know Max is the main character, but they gave Alec an episode, and Cindy had her spot with Diamond. So this is Zack's turn. I'm still incorporating everyone else; just he'll be focused on more. His life, what he does when he's not saving his siblings or hanging out with Max.   
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE PUGET SOUND 0800 HOURS (8:00 AM)  
  
The air outside was breezy, updrafts coming in off the water. Silence hung there, save for the few calls of seagulls who came out for an early morning breakfast.   
  
The Sound was seemingly deserted, waves lapped at empty sand. Further up one solitary figure was there. Dressed in black leather and blue wool, with the wind blowing through locks of blonde hair.  
  
A seagull culled overhead and the man, Zack, looked up to see the source of the noise.   
  
The bird cried out again and then did a nose-dive into the water for something it had found.   
  
In it's prime Puget Sound had been a magnificent place, a wild landscape where tourists and Seattle residents alike would flock. Now the chain linked fence surrounding the sand and the litter of various metal from old canning buildings covering the area kept people off the beach.   
  
It was this that attracted Zack to this spot. It was a place believed to be too filthy to dirty anyone's hands in cleaning it, so it was abandoned and barred with gates to keep people out. Zack wasn't one to like a lot of people. He took to the solitude, what years of running and being on the lamb had accustomed him too. Even after everything, rescuing his sisters, being an uncle three times over, having a girlfriend, he still needed time by himself. He was still a solider, now and forever, eleven years of freedom, of trying to find the normal life didn't change that.   
  
His footsteps were quiet as he climbed back over the fence and silently landed back on the other side of it where his black Kawasaki Vulcan stood waiting.   
  
A seagull that had followed him over the fence suddenly culled a sound of alarm, something had startled it. A car, about three yards back stood in the night, off the worn road, and had started it's engine. The vehicle was black, almost concealing it from view almost.   
  
Zack stood perfectly still and listened. His ears and the heightened and revved up hearing inside heard the quiet growl sounds of an engine that was on.   
  
Light flashed him a second later when the occupants of the car blasted their halogens on him.   
  
He revved up his bike and screeched out from the fence, dirt creating a billowy cloud from the tire kickback.   
  
In the rearview mirror of his bike Zack could see the car follow as he made his way back into the heart of the city. The car doubled its speed and plowed into Zack's tailgate. The bike swerved, but because of his good coordination he managed to pull it back upright. He increased the throttle and pulled ahead of the car again.   
  
Another jolt lurched his bike forward and careened it into a stack of fruit crates beside the outside wall of a building.   
  
Zack lost control of the bike and wiped out onto the boxes. He recovered and climbed out of the crates. The car was now stopped two feet in front of him. Now that it was close enough he could see it was a black Hummer. The civilian equivalent to the military's Humvee, minus the triple plated armor and the rotating automatic gunner on top. It was the pansy army's car, and any good soldier knew that if this kinda vehicle came after him it defiantly wasn't government issue.   
  
Men got out dressed in black Kevlar, old body plates since Kevlar became extremely rare after the Pulse. Some carried AK-47's and M-20's while others had military ranking air tasers.  
  
Zack was surrounded, but he wasn't about to go down quietly "You wander away from military school again guys?"   
  
The men with tasers shot them off, launching an assault of electrically powered strings into Zack's shoulders, arms and stomach. He groaned and struggled to break free, but the currents were high voltage and he didn't struggle for long.   
  
Once he was put down another figure rounded the side of the Hummer, his black trench coat sweeping behind him.   
  
Agent White stared down at the unconsciousness X5 "Load him in back. Leave the bike where it is"  
  
"Yes Sir"   
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS 0900 HOURS (9:00 AM)  
  
"Logan?" Max called his name, searching for her husband. She entered the living room, still not seeing him. She stopped her search when she saw him asleep at his computer.   
  
She padded over to him, standing behind his office chair. "Hey sleeping beauty" her hands touched the backs of his shoulders.   
  
Logan came awake then, turning to look for the source of the touch and the noise "Hey" he paused for a moment "Did I wake you?"  
  
She shook her head "You weren't there when I woke up, so I was just curious"   
  
"Sorry baby" he apologized "I had to get some more hours in on this Eyes Only feed"  
  
"Eyes Only is all powerful, but Logan Cale can't function without sleep."  
  
"Yes mother"  
  
She cocked an eyebrow at him "Is that how you see me?"  
  
"Not a chance," he reassured "I never have thoughts about my mother the way I have thoughts about you"   
  
"So long as there are no whips involved" a pause "Coffee in the kitchen?"  
  
"Fresh pot"  
  
She smiled "I could get use to you workin' at the crack of dawn" she headed into the kitchen.   
  
He shut down his computer and followed her "Don't I even get a 'good morning'?"  
  
"Not a good mornin' until I've had my coffee" she snagged a mug from the cabinet and poured herself some black Columbian Supreme.   
  
She smelled his cologne on her a second later when he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her midsection.   
  
"Don't think we're up to havin' anotha baby just yet" she said of his close proximity to her.  
  
"Doesn't mean we can't come close" his head moved and he kissed the back of her neck through her hair.   
  
A knock sounded on the front door.  
  
"Door" Max said   
  
"I heard it"   
  
She tilted her head to face him, breaking out of his hold "This coffee ain't spiked with an aphrodisiac is it?" she left him there and went to answer the door.   
  
"Asha" Max saw the blonde outside the door.   
  
"It's early I know" Asha began, she hesitated for a moment before continuing "Is Zack here?"  
  
"No" Max said, sensing something more in Asha's voice "There a problem?"  
  
"We had this argument" Asha walked through the front door, letting herself inside. She turned around to face Max who was closing the door "He was at my place last night, for-the whole night, but then this morning we got into it and he took off. I just-I thought you might know where he went. He usually just takes a drive and then comes back. He's your brother Max Is there something I coulda missed?"  
  
Max shook her head "Zack thinks alone. When he's in that mode he makes sure he can't be found." Asha gave her a look "It's none of my business what you two were raggin' about. He probably just got on his bike and drove. I do that, and it makes you loose track of things"   
  
"For three hours?" Asha asked   
  
"Zack locked himself in the weapons storage bunker for two days before the escape" Max informed "None of us knew where he was until he shot off a signal with a flashlight on that night"  
  
"He can take care of himself Asha" Logan came out of the kitchen "He doesn't exactly lack self sufficiency"   
  
"Self sufficiency isn't what I'm worried about Logan" Asha informed  
  
"Sure he's fine" Max reassured   
  
Asha turned to her "When has that ever been a guarantee?"  
  
Her answer was silence  
  
*****   
  
(SCENE OPENS TO AN OPERATING ROOM. ZACK LAYS MOTIONLESS ON A GURNEY STRAPPED DOWN IN RESTRAINTS)  
  
Zack blinked his eyes, shaking his head and looking at his surroundings. He pulled one arm up, but doesn't get very far.   
  
"You're wasting your time" a voice comes over an intercom system. "That's tempered tempered steel. King Kong couldn't put a scratch in it"  
  
Zack whipped his head around trying to find the source of the noise. A two-way mirror is in front of him. "Why don't you stop hiding behind a damn two way you fuckin' coward!"  
  
"You are such a hot head 599. You really need to control that temper of yours." A door, that Zack didn't know was there opened and White stepped in. "Is that better?" the door closed automatically behind him. He stepped over to Zack on the gurney.   
  
"Careful" Whit leaned over to look at something behind Zack's neck   
  
At those words Zack tried to yank White down by his face "What the hell did you do to me?"   
  
White pulled back with a smile "There's that temper again." White pulled down the large magnification glass attached to the mobile arm right up to Zack's skin "If all goes accordingly *I* won't have to do anything to you, but I'll still get the result I want"   
  
"What the hell you so happy about?"   
  
White didn't answer him, instead coming back with a sardonic smile. "I'm sure you're use to this 599." He started to slowly circle the gurney "From what I know you were quite popular with the whole guinea pig thing back at Manticore"  
  
"So I'm an experiment to you?" Zack snapped, "Guess now I'm suppose to cry like a pussy"   
  
"CORRECT on the sixty dollar question 599!" White held up one finger like an overly happy game show host. "Except-" a pause "I wouldn't call this an experiment so much as your mission"   
  
"Well ya better re-examine your battle plans cause seems to me my mission is to string you up by your balls to a electric wire and turn on the juice so you light up like fuckin' Christmas lights"   
  
"I'm Atheist 599 I don't celebrate Christmas" White sneered, "I won't even celebrate your demise. I'll just drop you back in the ground with all the other evolutionary freaks"   
  
"What makes you think I'm just gonna sit here and wait for you to kill me?" Zack barked "Cause last time I checked you and I weren't best buddies"   
  
"You don't need to be buddies to kill someone 599" White reminded "And who said anything about ME killing you? Oh no no ---you always underestimate me" he pulled something out of his pocket, a small black box with several buttons on it. He pressed a few and a beeping sound filled the room.   
  
"What is that?" Zack didn't ask   
  
"A marvelous little device. The mechanism of which has been implanted in the back of your neck right below your cerebellum. Nifty little implants that the so-called Red Series warriors used on their kind. Except I tweaked one to go right past a strength inducer and go straight to self destruction." He fiddled with some more buttons on the device, so that the beeping grew louder "That's not your heartbeat 599. Think of it as a mini bomb in your brain"   
  
"You're dumber then I thought you piece of shit if you use the controls right in front of my damn face!" Zack wasn't about to take his self-destruction lying down.   
  
"What this?" White held up the device "No no 599 THIS is only an activation control. I have had far more years of these kind of procedures then your shitty little Manticore training can wrap its head around so I deserve a little more credit then that."   
  
The only door in the room opened again, and the same nameless armed men who had surrounded Zack came inside.   
  
White stared Zack in the face "It has been a pleasurable visit 599, but I'm afraid I've got other engagements now" he turned to one of the men "Drop him back where you got him"  
  
"Yes Sir" the man said before he and another man shot off their tasers.   
  
*****   
  
Zack opened his eyes again to find himself lying in the same pile of fruit crates he had wiped out at. He climbed out of them and looked in all directions into the night, but no one was there. His bike still lay on its side where it fell. There didn't appear to be any sabotage to it.   
  
He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling something just under the skin. On a second thought he checked his pocket. His cell phone was still there, and after looking in the ignition of the Vulcan he also discovered that his keys hadn't been lifted off the bike. Whatever White was planning, he was letting Zack get away, for now.   
  
Zack was always the cautious solider, asking a million questions and suspecting everyone that crossed his path. But right now he just wanted to get the hell outta there and have some relatively secluded place to figure out what the hell just happened.   
  
He mounted the bike and started the engine, only looking back briefly before he drove off.   
  
*****   
  
JAM PONY 9:15 AM (23 HOURS 45 MINUTES LEFT)  
  
"Five bucks Normal says bip bip bip in the next five minutes" Alec stated beside his locker  
  
"I'm not loosin' money boy" Cindy let him know, standing beside him with her bike "Like askin' me if I would give an eye roam if some super fine honey worked her way in here" she looked up at him "Gotta find you a sucker for a sucker bet Alec"  
  
"Yeah but Sketchy's out on a run" Alec informed  
  
Cindy had to smile at that, shaking her head. Sketchy was her boy but he was always a pigeon "Didn't find your sucker, but I found my super fine honey" Cindy gave a nod up to Max who was walking through the entrance of Jam Pony that minute.   
  
"Gotta agree with you on that" Alec stated, watching Max  
  
"Agree but don't act boy" Cindy said straight up "Ain't nobody bustin' up a good thing on Original Cindy's watch"   
  
"Relax woman" Alec reassured "I've been beaten off that road before. Sides its no good chasing a chick who hounds me back and wants to beat my ass down"   
  
"Mmmhmm" Cindy was in full agreement of this "She can do it to"  
  
"I said WANTS to" Alec corrected  
  
"Wants to what?" Max was now joined with the other two.   
  
"Depends on what you want to do Maxie" Alec waggled his eyebrows at her  
  
"Boy you gettin' all those lil testosterone swimmers all over me." Cindy pulled something out of her pocket, throwing it at Alec "Here's a dolla, buy yourself somthin' pretty far far away"   
  
Alec caught the crumpled dollar, putting it in his pocket, underneath his radio strap "Me thanks you for the stiff offer M'lady" he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and pulled back before she could say anything.   
  
"Prince Charmin' reject get outta here and go do your job" Cindy's voice was teasing, not angry. She watched Alec leave before turning to Max. "Lookin' super fly boo" Cindy's eyes checked out Max in her black biker crop pants, gray muscle singlet and black hoodie. "The borrowed man look works on ya, or am I missin' my guess in thinkin' the top belongs to ya man?"   
  
Max plucked at the singlet she was wearing with on hand "Didn't have any clean of mine"   
  
"Say no more boo. Permanent shack ups wid someone includes bein' able to swipe some of their threads." Cindy smiled, "And when that someone is a man, makes any sugah look hotter."   
  
Max smiled herself, and adjusted her black baseball cap that was sitting sideways on her head backwards so that it wouldn't come off when she rode. "Havin' his smell all day is anotha plus"   
  
"Fo' sure" Cindy agreed. Her gaze suddenly shifted to the entrance of Jam Pony "Is that your boy back there?"  
  
"Logan?" Max asked, dropping her eyebrows slightly   
  
"No sugah" Cindy corrected "That blonde, commando fine brotah of yours" Max looked this time and saw Zack standing at the entrance of Jam Pony. "Boy looks like he spent too much time out on the town"   
  
Max's eyebrows creased more when she got Cindy's meaning. Zack looked like he'd been slammed through a jet plane's engine and lived to tell about it.   
  
"You had a lot of potential kid" Normal spotted Zack, and was starting to talk to him "At least I believed it until you turned out to be just like ALL the other slackers"   
  
"Can't bip him down Normal" Max analyzed "He doesn't work here anymore"   
  
"I thought after you got married you STOPPED hanging around with random guys" Normal said   
  
"Guy's not random when he's your brother" Max told him   
  
Normal looked a little shocked. In all the time he had seen Zack he never made that connection between them. Max never told him, she never told him anything about her siblings. He only found out of their existence by coincidence. "I never knew you two were related, you don't look a thing alike"   
  
"What ya never heard of a mixed family?" Max asked   
  
"So all those people that paraded in here were your family and him too?" Normal was kinda taken aback.   
  
"Can't help it if dad didn't believe in birth control" Zack finally spoke out, turning to Max "Need to talk to you"   
  
"Hey just because I find out she's your sister my former prodigy doesn't mean you can distract my employee when she's still on the time clock" Normal informed Zack  
  
"Consider it a family emergency" Max stated walking away with Zack outside Jam Pony outside to the spot where the employees hung out to suntan, and smoke.   
  
Spike was out there, drinking from a brown frosted root beer bottle, but everyone knew it really had Jack Daniels inside of it.  
  
"Hey Spike" Zack called out  
  
Spike looked up from his drink "Hey Sammie boy" he held out his free hand "Where ya been hiding yourself?"  
  
"That's classified information Spike" Zack told him, slapping his hand in a loose shake  
  
Spike just laughed  
  
"Hey man you mind leavin' so I can talk to my sister alone?"  
  
Spike looked at Max, then his smile grew wider and more suggestive "Sure man. I'll leave you two some alone time." He slapped Zack on the back with one hand "I know how it is with sisters, I got a date with mine tonight" he laughed and headed inside.   
  
"Guess Asha's hunch was right" Max said after Spike was gone  
  
"Right about what?" Zack asked  
  
"That'd you'd re-emerge lookin' like you spend last night in a ditch" she clarified   
  
"If that would've been an option I woulda taken it" Zack said  
  
His serious tone is what got to Max "Okay now you're sounding paranoid even for you-" she then noticed red marks peeking out of the U neck on his dark blue sweater. "What are these?" she grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled down, seeing more red patches lower on his skin underneath the fabric   
  
"Mosquito bites compared to what's been done to other parts" Zack spoke cryptically. He turned around and pulled down his jacket collar.   
  
Max reached up with her hand, pushing some hair away off the nape of his neck, seeing something there just below the surface of the skin, underneath his barcode.   
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE MERCY 11:00 AM (21 HOURS LEFT)  
  
"I'm finished now" Sam spoke into the intercom that connected to the inside of the CT scan room. He released the mechanism to slide Zack from the machine, who was lying on the board. Zack soon climbed off. "What is it?" he entered the room where Sam and Max were sitting.   
  
Sam stared at the computer image of Zack's brain scan "It's defiantly some kind of computer device. Surrounding the cerebellum."  
  
"So it's like the Red Series" Max said   
  
"To a certain degree yes." Sam agreed "It's the outer casings from a Red Series implant, but it's been fused with a detonation device, a micro chip bomb that scientists and intellectuals used following the Pulse to destroy what was left of their hard drives to keep the terrorists from obtaining the information. It's designed to give a one thousand volt shock to the hard drive it's embedded in, frying the circuits, and destroying the memory card completely."   
  
"Or in this case my brain" Zack said. He looked up, seeing Max's eyes on him then   
  
"Can you take it out?" Max asked  
  
"It's not that easy" Sam enhanced the image of the cerebellum, magnifying the implant to 500%. "See these?" he pointed to a section of tiny half inch spikes sticking out at measured intervals from the implant into the surrounding tissue. "I count ten of them and they're all embedded into the surrounding brain tissue. Whoever did this set them in such a way that they don't inhibit the normal brain functions so long as they remain there, but if anyone tries to remove this these spikes will tear into the brain tissue in the areas affecting involuntary and motor responses. Even if taking it out doesn't kill right away the damage will leave you mute and cause major organ systems to fail, which will kill you anyway."   
  
"There's gotta be something" Max argued "Zack said they gave him a count down time. There wouldn't be one if there wasn't a way to stop this"  
  
"These spikes look triggered My guess is that they were mechanically set with some kind of outside device, and it can retract them again to remove the implant once it's been used"   
  
"Who'd want an implant after it's been blasted to hell inside someone's skull?" Max was getting more and more agitated.   
  
"The casing on the implant is incredibly strong" Sam told her, wheeling in his office chair for a second to get something off another counter. "This was salvaged from what was left of one of the Reds." He picked up something in a clear plastic bag, holding it up so they could see it, an implant, the same one Max still had in the back of her neck "After it detonates in the target the casing remains intact to be salvaged later. It may be tiny but I figure that these little things cost no little fortune to manufacture."  
  
"So that really does leave me with twenty-four hours to find this outside device before I'm blown sky high" Zack stated "But why do this?" Zack was more impatient then Max, cause after all, he was the one who had the bomb in his brain. "If he wanted to kill me, why not just do it fast, so I'm NOT so pissed off about waiting to die?"   
  
"Maybe he wants something first" Sam spoke   
  
"Yeah well I never returned any favors for him, so he needs to quit fucking with me!" Zack stormed out of room.   
  
Sam watched Max go after him while deleting the scan from the computer's hard drive.  
  
"Thanks for letting me use the CT Maria" Sam said to the Radiologist in the hall   
  
"Not a problem" Dr. Maria Wilkins responded, from the oval desk she was sitting at "Will there be anything else?"  
  
"No, I think I got everything I need" Sam stated   
  
*****   
  
"I a sick of bein' a FUCKIN' guinea pig!" Zack slammed through the front doors of the hospital  
  
"I'm past sick of it" Max agreed "But no one seems to listen to us"  
  
"Yeah well they better, cause I'm not getting blown around like shrapnel just to satisfy some shit's joys of sadist masturbation."   
  
"He'd have to have something bigger then a toothpick for that to work" Max corrected   
  
A phone rang.  
  
"Zack" Max pointed to his pocket "it's you"   
  
Zack looked at the Caller ID 'Unlisted Number' he connected the call   
  
"So you make it home okay 599? I take it you didn't get much sleep last night"   
  
"You're not gonna get much sleep either shit fuck after I find you and slice you balls to confetti"   
  
"Bad idea" White taunted, "You remember that lil bomb stuck in your brain? Well I know where the de-activation device is, and if you kill me, there'll be nothing to prevent you from going off like a teen in a triple X porno movie" there was a long pause "So 599----do you like games?"   
  
"What the hell are you getting at?"   
  
There was quiet laughter on the other end "I thought so. Well you're going to love MY games."  
  
"What if I don't want to play your games you fuckin' pussy?"  
  
"You loose." White stated, in almost a sing song voice "And all the others who lost with you"   
  
"What the fuck are you talking about?"  
  
"Patience 599" a pause "You'll find out." another pause, longer "Oh and I wouldn't loose this cell phone if I were you, or you'll loose a hell of a lot more. Don't bother tracing this call 599, you can't, and besides, I'll be calling you back anyway" the call disconnected   
  
*****   
  
JAM PONY 12:30 PM (20 HOURS 30 MINUTES LEFT)  
  
"Family crisis averted?" Normal watched Max come back inside with Zack "I docked your pay for being late again missy"   
  
Max ignored him, and also ignored the look Spike was giving her.   
  
"You okay boo?" Cindy furrowed her brow at Max   
  
"Coo'" Max told her, shooting a look at Zack.  
  
"Haven't showed yourself around here that much boy" Cindy tried to break the tension she sensed with Zack.  
  
Zack offered her nothing, no remark, no movement of any kind. The only noise that broke his silence was the sound of his cell phone ringing.   
  
He didn't even look at the caller ID this time, he already knew who it would be.   
  
"Very good 599, your reflexes work fine. You'll need them"   
  
"And you'll need a good coffin when I get done with you" Zack growled, disregarding the stares he was getting.   
  
"We'll see" White informed, "How well do you know your classical compositions 599? I'm sure Manticore drummed them into your brain enough to make you learn faster."  
  
"I haven't been schooled in a long time prick" Zack spat  
  
"Then I suggest you remember." A pause "look above you--you see that air vent right above your head? Right over the head of that hunched over looser wearing those thick glasses"  
  
Zack looked and saw it, a diamond shaped vent above where Normal was standing.   
  
"What if I told you sitting right above it is a twenty gallon drum full of Napalm and a machine sealed inside that's programmed to ignite a flame in three minutes that would light up the building faster then a naked stripper walking through. Well I just did, didn't I Zackey-boy" White laughed   
  
Zack ran over to and up the rickety stairs and found the sealed drum. The lid had been mortared shut, red five red coils ran outside the barrel. Beside the drum sat an electric timer, with the count down on two minutes.   
  
"I know you don't know most of these people" White's voice came through the phone again "And why should you care if they burst into flames, but wait, MAX is here. And you know she won't leave you alone once she realizes what's going on-"  
  
"Zack!" Max made her way to the second level and walked over to him, stopping when she saw the drum   
  
"You see those wires Zack? One of them leads from the timer into the machine's circuit module, the rest don't. There are numbers painted on them. 27, 36, 12, 34, and 19. In a minute the timer device will play a section from "Mozart's Requiem Mass", a single measure whose number coincides with one of the ones written on the wires. After which it will leave you with fifteen seconds. Listen to the piece and choose the correct number. That's the wire you have to cut in order to deactivate the machine. You only have one shot 599. Cut the wrong wire and the timer locks out and detonates the bomb via a back up flamer. If anyone else but you cuts the wire it will detonate. If I hear anyone trying to help you it will detonate." Try to move everyone out, and I detonate the bomb in your brain as well as this one before you can get out."  
  
"How the fuck can you tell who does it?" Zack finally spoke  
  
"Hidden camera 599" White taunted "You think I'd miss all the fun?" another pause "You better get started, the final curtains about to fall"   
  
A click was heard and then Mozart's haunting requiem began. Zack could see the small spy camera fused inside the barrel, watching him.   
  
"Its after the second movement, so it's past measure 20-" Zack spoke out loud to get Max's attention on what was happening "The choir speeds up at measure thirty five so it's gotta be in between there, that makes it either 27, or 34,   
  
Max listened to it, weighing it in her mind. Then the music stopped and the timer grew louder on a fifteen second countdown.   
  
15..  
  
Max signaled to Zack it was measure 34.  
  
14..  
  
Zack shot her a look that asked her if she was sure  
  
13...12...11..  
  
Max signaled back she was sure. It had been played right before the training mission with the prisoner  
  
/FLASH: The X5's listen to the Requiem Mass, an open score in front of them. It was used to test their memory knowledge, and also the stopping point would be how long they let the prisoner run for before they attacked him/   
  
10...  
  
Zack grabbed the wire cutters that White so conveniently left there and raised them to the red wire marked '34'  
  
9...8...7...6...5..  
  
He snipped it.  
  
4...3...the timer went black. Both X5's held their breath. Nothing.   
  
"Excellent 599" White leered "You're alive, for now. But it only gets harder after this. The camera by the way was bought at a local black market supplier who rubs off his serial numbers so don't think you can trace it. I'll be in touch again 599. Until then" the phone cut off.   
  
*****   
  
"Guess Manticore was good for something" Max was still in the same spot, so was Zack.   
  
"After everything else that's happened today don't make me picture Manticore being GOOD for something Maxie" Zack stood up from where he was crouched over the drum, brushing past Max and back down the stairs.   
  
"Zack" Asha stood by Normal's desk, though it was unclear how she knew that he would be there.   
  
"Hey pretty lady" Sketchy smiled at Asha  
  
"Sketchy don't-" Max cut in on his move.   
  
Sketchy looked from Asha to Zack and then back to Asha again. "I have deliveries" he left it at that  
  
"What are you doing here?" was Zack's first question to Asha  
  
"I didn't know where you were all night Zack" she confessed, "I just figured you might turn up here"   
  
Zack looked at her, then "I guess you figured right" he brushed past her like he did Max, leaving his girlfriend and his sister looking at him, watching him retreat.   
  
"Disappears again" Normal was watching too "This is why I don't make any money"   
  
*****   
  
6:50 PM (13 HOURS 10 MINUTES LEFT) WATERFRONT  
  
Zack took another hit from the pack of cigarettes he had bought. He never smoked, but tonight it just fit his mood. His revved up body adjusted to the nicotine and tobacco better then normal people so he didn't cough on it.   
  
The beach was dark. Blue-black waves struck on the shore. He took one more drag from the cigarette before pitching the butt into the water. The only sounds in front of him were the waves on the water. A slight wind blew through his hair, but he paid no notice of it.  
  
He stayed out there for three more seconds before silently walking back to where his bike was  
  
= = = =   
  
FENTAL AVE  
  
Asha opened the door before he even got to it. She had heard someone coming and looked through the peephole to see that it was Zack. She let him in without a word.   
  
"Were you smoking?" Asha could smell smoke emitting from his leather jacket  
  
Zack shook his head "I had a swing with a woman who works at a barbeque pit" he ignored Asha's gaze, sliding out of his leather jacket and throwing it on the couch.   
  
"Is that where you were last night?" she picked up his jacket and threw it on top of her dining room table so it wouldn't smell up her sofa.   
  
"I never kiss and tell" Zack headed into her kitchen and opened her refrigerator. He searched for a moment before pulling out a bottle of Heineken. He opened lid with his teeth, then took a swig "You gotta start buying better beer"  
  
Asha didn't say anything and invaded his personal area to shove past him and reach inside her fridge for another bottle of the same beer. She opened hers with a bottle opener and leaned against her kitchen counter as she drank it.  
  
"What happened there?" she noticed a red mark and scratches near his collarbone where his blue long sleeve cotton shirt didn't cover. She stuck out her free hand and barely touched it before he snapped back from her. "Wanna tell me what's going on?"  
  
Zack ignored her and headed over to her couch.   
  
Asha sighed. She took another sip from her beer before setting it down on the counter and walking out of her kitchen. She sat down on the arm of her couch beside him "All right mister take it off, let me see the rest"  
  
Zack whipped around to face her "What the hell are you talking about?"   
  
Asha grabbed a hold of his shirt collar and yanked down before he could pull back "These things didn't just magically appear in the night." She let go of the fabric "So you either show me the rest or I do it for you"   
  
"You think you can take me down?" Zack wasn't convinced at all of her statement   
  
"Cut the crap Zack or you're gonna find out" Asha's tone was a growl. She could've been an honorary X5 at that moment, at least in the 'pissed-off' category.   
  
Zack stared at her for the longest time before reaching around to pull up the sides of his shirt. The cotton went over his head, leaving him bare from the waist up. "Don't think you can get away with making me do this every time"  
  
Asha inched closer "I already do" her eyes roamed over the red blotches that were on his collarbone and chest, along with several abrasions from where he had skidded of his bike and onto the road.   
  
She touched a larger one on the edge of his abs. He didn't flinch even though it stung. He was too hard for that. "These look like taser burns"   
  
"I had to pick a girl who just doesn't sit there and fawn over them"   
  
"Like you'd want that" she snapped back. She pulled back and looked him in the eye "Where were you REALLY last night?"   
  
Zack didn't answer but turned around and showed her the nape of his neck.   
  
"What am I-"  
  
"It's under the barcode" he cut in  
  
She put her hand under it and felt something just below the skin. "What the hell is it?"  
  
"My one way ticket to Slam City" he felt her hand move off his neck "In the words of the fucker who did it it's a nifty little mini bomb in my brain" he turned around to face her then, seeing the complete look of shock on her face.   
  
"A mini bomb-what the hell-can't it be taken out?"  
  
"That would be to easy wouldn't it?" Zack slid back into his shirt, reaching for the rest of his beer.   
  
Asha still had that shocked look on her face, and rightly so "So what can we do about it?"  
  
Zack took a sip "If I knew that I wouldn't be sitting here"   
  
"So you just dropped by here to tell me that you're gonna blow sky high in a few hours?"  
  
"Twenty-two if my calculations are correct"  
  
"Dammit Zack!" Asha spat "Stop pussy footing around this! There has to be SOMETHING we can do about this. You're a fuckin' solider for cripes sake!"   
  
Zack reeled on her then "Don't you act like you know what it's like being who I am Asha cause you   
  
DON 'T. And what the FUCK do you think 'we' can do about it? The last time I checked YOU didn't have a fuckin' piece of metal on a timer in your neck!"   
  
"I'm sorry I thought being in a relationship meant that the two people involved HELP each other in a problem. That was MY understanding at least."  
  
"In case you haven't noticed YOU'RE not dealing with a normal relationship Asha!" Zack snapped "If you think you are then you're very much mistaken little girl. You need to crawl out of the puddle you created from your own pussy and see the real world!"  
  
Asha towered above him then "Get out! She went to her table, grabbed his jacket and pitched it at his head "And take every little piece of shit you brought with you! You know you think this is just YOUR fight Zack, that every damn thing that happens to you ONLY affects you. Well you need to wake up and smell the fuckin' shrapnel soldier, that IS the real world!"  
  
"Don't even act like you know what you're talking about!" Zack cut in "You've gotten a glimpse of my life for just a little over a year and you think you can sit an analyze it. I've had to deal with the shit all my fucking life! You think this is the first attempt on my life I've had? The first time I've ever this shit fall on my head! You think you can snap your fuckin' fingers and make it all go away?"   
  
"I said GET OUT!" she shouted at him, pointing towards her door.   
  
"You throwing me out?" he was a CO, he didn't TAKE orders, he delivered them  
  
"Yeah I am. See it's not just about you anymore Zack. It STOPPED being about you the moment we hooked up. That's what HAPPENS in a relationship. After all this time I THOUGHT you understood that, but I guess I was fuckin' wrong. So go and count down the hours you have left to live on your own pal, cause I'm not sitting here and doin' it for you!"   
  
"Have a good time on your own" Zack growled   
  
"Fuck you!" Asha spat, hearing her front door slam so hard it rattled the walls.   
  
= = = =  
  
Yo they say this love wasn't meant to be Two people from different worlds we wasn't be It must have been faith you were sent to me We'll make it threw these hard times eventually The standard fight brought by faith not by sight We all the same color when u turn out the lights I take the sunshine with the pain Grab my Sara gone sad that when it rains No French kept the food on the window pain We all breath the same air so we all the same I am trapped in this ghetto maze trying to make it out If you don't know me don't judge me what you talking bout I am dividable by broken dreams Single moms you my heroes you my queens To get my mom out the hood that is my hopes and dreams To reach my son to be a solja by any means   
  
= = = =  
  
*****   
  
CRASH 10:00 PM (11 HOURS LEFT)  
  
"You aiight boo?" Cindy leaned over the foozball table for her next maneuver "Been actin' kinda wiggy all night" she scored a point in Max's goal "Somethin' on your mind?"   
  
"Nuthin' really" Max argued shooting the ball through the hole again   
  
"Means it's something girl" Cindy lost control of the ball and Max scored a point. She looked up to the doorway, seeing Zack enter Crash. She looked from Max to Zack "Somethin' goin' on with your boy? He don't look right"   
  
Max looked over her shoulder at her brother. He looked as usual to her, except maybe a little more keyed up. She finished scoring another point and won the game again "How bout a pitcher?"  
  
"Aiight" Cindy agreed as they left the pool table.   
  
Max slid into the seat beside Logan at a table   
  
"Zack's here?" Logan looked over to the other man. He didn't normally frequent Crash. Just on occasion. Asha tended to come here more often then him.  
  
"Probably just felt like a drink" Max took a sip of her almost empty mug.  
  
Cindy came to the table carrying a full pitcher. "Ain't that why we're all here?"   
  
"Where are the kids?" Max asked, Logan had been keeping his eye on them.   
  
Cindy pointed over the rim of her drink "Over there with Alec"   
  
"You let my children play with Alec?" Max cut in  
  
"The nightmares shouldn't be permanent" Logan joked  
  
Max shot him a look and got up from her seat.   
  
"Hey Max" Alec heard her approaching "Thank God you're relieving me from my babysitting duties"  
  
"More like saving my kids" Max returned "You're not exactly Dr. Spac" She roughed up her sons hair who was sitting on the bar near Alec "Where's your sister?"   
  
"She's right-" Alec turned around and pointed "there" his brow creased when he saw the stool beside him was empty "She was sitting right here"   
  
Max was already looking around the bar, jumping over it to look behind the counter   
  
"Hey!" the bartender called out to her "No freebies!"   
  
Max ignored him, searching the crevices. She jumped back up "Lexi!" her eyes roamed up and down the room, not seeing her in the crowd.   
  
"Max?" Logan heard all the commotion "What is it?"  
  
"I can't find Lexi" she told him, making his interest peak to full status   
  
"Saw her with Alec twenty minutes ago" Cindy said. Cindy started to look too "Lexi" she started walking around "If you're playin' a game sugah it's time to stop!"   
  
From across the bar Zack was about to go over to Max when his phone rang.   
  
"I take it your you were successful if you can answer your phone"   
  
"Guess your disappointed" Zack spat  
  
"On the contrary 599-" White taunted, "If you would've failed the first game I wouldn't have gotten to do all the others. Like the one that's going on right now." A pause "Bet 452 is starting to get frantic looking for your niece"   
  
Zack looked at Max again then.   
  
"I mean I would if I ever lost my kid"   
  
"What the hell did you do with her?" Zack was growling into the phone   
  
"Women walk below invisible tunnels 599" White went for a cryptic poetry style for his reply  
  
"What the fuck is that suppose to mean?"   
  
"It could be anything 599" White taunted "Could mean that I kidnapped the girl and have her in a sub basement with pipes, hence "invisible tunnels" Or I could've just made all of it up and dumped her alone somewhere. But if you want to find her I suggest you figure it out." The line went dead  
  
"There's no sign of her in this room boo," Cindy admitted to Max, trying not to sound too panicky, but isn't working.   
  
"She's only two" Max was more frantic then Cindy "She couldn't have gotten very far. She knows not to go with strangers, And to scream like hell if they force her to go." She saw Logan approach her   
  
"No one saw anyone leaving with a kid at the front door"   
  
"Logan these guys are too wasted to see ANYTHING" Max ran a frustrated hand through her hair "I just want her back" she wasn't about to have this happen to another child of hers.   
  
"Woman might've gone into the bathroom with her and took her out the window" Alec threw in his two cents, which wasn't helping "There's a big ring for that kind of stuff with little girls-"  
  
"Oh God" Max didn't believe in God, but she was desperate.   
  
"Boy shut your mouth!" Cindy barked, shooting daggers at him. She put one hand on Max's shoulder "We'll find her, but sugah you need to calm it a lil or you're not gonna be able to think clearly."   
  
Max didn't say anything for a moment "I should check the bathroom-"  
  
"Women walk below invisible tunnels-" Zack muttered to himself. He looked up and saw two women leaving the ladies room. "She's there-" he ran ahead of Max  
  
Women made startled noises at the sight of Zack entering the Ladies Room. Some also made noises of appreciation in the back of their throats.   
  
Max busted through the door a second later "Where is she?" she heard Zack's declaration and demanded an answer.   
  
Zack searched around the ceiling, finally spying what he was looking for, an air vent "Invisible tunnels" He ripped the metal grate off of it exposing the empty hole. "Lexi can you hear me?"   
  
There was a muffled noise in response   
  
"She's up there" Zack looked to Max "You're smaller then me, you'll fit better"   
  
Max had no arguments about that. She took off her jacket so it wouldn't get caught and stepped into the foothold Zack had created with his interlocked hands.   
  
He hoisted her inside and she grabbed the sides of the metal duct system to pull herself the rest of the way.   
  
"Lexi" she called out to her daughter "Baby can you hear me?" she crawled on her belly through the darkness, using her night vision to see.  
  
"Mommy..." her daughter's voice was faint   
  
"I'm coming to get you sweetie, but I need you to keep talking so I can find you, can you do that for mommy?"   
  
"Mommy it's dark in here. I don't like it"  
  
"I know hon, I'm gonna get you outta here" she finally reached her daughter who was tucked up against a side of the duct. "It's okay sweetie" Max touched her "Are you hurt?" she couldn't see any injuries "Did they touch you?"  
  
"No" her woice was wimpering  
  
"Okay. We're gettin' outta here."  
  
Ten minutes later Max slid out the hole head first doing a flip to land on her feet. She quickly turned around to grab her daughter and lower her down  
  
"Is she okay?" Zack asked  
  
Lexi was crying by this time, clinging to Max's body.   
  
"Just scared the piss outta her" Max said in a low voice to her brother. She rubbed Lexi's back and cooed to her "I got you baby, it's okay. Shh-" she put a hand on her forehead, smoothing back the hair.  
  
A phone ringing cut through the air.   
  
"Is she safe and sound now 599?"  
  
Zack didn't answer and threw the phone against the wall, casing a chunk of it to break off the body.   
  
Max felt something bulky in the pocket of Lexi's jacket. She pulled it out. It was a piece of folded paper with Zack designation hand written on it.   
  
Max held it up in front of Zack's sight. He took it from her and unfolded it.   
  
*65 Industry Way. 6:00 AM*  
  
*****   
  
An hour after Zack left Crash Asha sat at the bar downing shots of straight Tequila. She didn't hear someone come up behind her until the seat next to her was filled.   
  
"Take it that's good hooch" Alec watched her slam her third shot.   
  
"So long as it's alcohol it doesn't matter" she set the empty shot glass back on top of the bar. She stood up grabbing her coat of the top of the bar.   
  
"You look a little down Asha" Alec analyzed "Anything I can do to put a smile on your face?"  
  
Asha slipped on her coat "You can wipe the shit eating one you have off" she turned and left.   
  
Once outside she stuffed her hands into her coat pocket, walking slowly to her car.   
  
She opened the door to her Cherokee and was about to get in when something grabbed her around the neck and pulled her back.   
  
"Hey pretty momma, where ya goin'? Your ride is this way"   
  
A needle pierced her neck and she fell. After she was out the man hauled her off to a black vehicle parked a few feet away.   
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
"Don't turn off the light!" Lexi cried, clutching at her stuffed rabbit. Ever since being rescued at Crash she had been scared to have anyone leave her alone or leave her in the dark.   
  
Max sat on the edge of her bed and gathered her in her arms "It's okay honey. There's nothing that can get you." She rocked her back and forth like she did when she was an infant.   
  
Her bedroom door opened and Logan came in. Seeing his daughter crying he joined his wife on her bed.   
  
"Sweetie you're safe" Logan reassured her, stroking her baby fine hair. "Mommy and I won't let anything else happen to you"  
  
"Just don't turn out the light daddy, please" she begged  
  
Logan touched one had to her tear tracked face "Sweetie I want you to close your eyes-Close your eyes" he said again trying to coax her to do it this time. She did. "Tell me what you see"  
  
"It's dark" Lexi rested against Max's arm.   
  
"Can you see stars?" Logan asked  
  
"No. Just black"   
  
"Imagine the twinkling stars that come out at night, filling the sky with sparkling flecks" he waited for a moment "Do you see them now?"   
  
"Yeah. Lots of them"  
  
Max smiled at Lexi's declaration "Are there any shooting stars?"  
  
"No" she said, eyes still closed "Just ones that twinkle"   
  
"That's okay" Logan reassured "Now every time it's dark and you're afraid, just close your eyes and find those stars and you won't be so scared anymore." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.   
  
"Daddy?" a pause "Was I put in the dark cause I was bad?" her eyes opened, two huge blue saucers staring at him  
  
Logan shook his head "No honey. You weren't bad. You didn't do anything to deserve that."   
  
He shared a hard look with Max.   
  
*****   
  
5:00 AM 65 INDUSTRY WAY   
  
Zack dismounted his bike and looked at his surroundings. Industry Way was a street filled with abandoned warehouse buildings. It was a perfect place to go if you wanted to hide, or play in a futuristic looking playground.   
  
He scanned the night, looking for other people, forms. But there was nothing there but himself and the quiet hum of some kind of motor that was running somewhere in the darkness.   
  
Another sound soon filled the air after a phone rang. But this time the ring wasn't Zack's cell phone, it rather belonged to a payphone that was welded to one of the sides of the warehouses.   
  
Zack walked over to it and picked it up.   
  
"Take it you got the memo" White's voice came through the other line   
  
"I'm starting to loose the little patience I have mother fucker"   
  
"Patience is a virtue Zack" White called him by his name for the first time "If you loose your temper and slip up you have only yourself to blame for the consequences it brings"   
  
= = = =   
  
White turned to look at the woman he had chained by her arms with handcuffs metal pipe suspended in the ceiling. "You're familiar with a woman named Asha aren't you 599?" using Zack's first name was over "Thin blonde, but still has a nice body, looks like she needs to spend more time in the sun"   
  
Asha could only glower at White. She had woken up chained to the pipe and after several failed attempts to break the cuffs she just hung there, panting from the strain, and trying to think of something else to get out of them.   
  
"What would you say if I made her part of our little game?"   
  
= = = =   
  
"You are one dickless prick you know that?" Zack growled   
  
"You could write for Dr. Seuss 599." White leered. "But what if I told you that strapped around her body is a bomb set to detonate at 7:30, two and a half hours from now. And if you don't find her in time and deactivate it, let's just say the results will be grizzly."   
  
"You shit!" Zack shouted into the phone. His patience was now gone "You think this FUCKIN' game will drag me down and submit me to your fucking bidding!"  
  
"That's exactly what I think 599. I know you better then you think I do. Better then you know yourself. You act like such a tough macho solitary soldier, but we both know that if I stick any one of those sniveling soldier wanna-bes you call your brothers and sisters in harms way you'd risk everything in order to save them. 452 is living proof of that isn't she 599?" there was a long pause. "Tell me something 599, are you close with this woman. I mean are you giving her a good screw to keep her coming back for more every time you roll back into the city?"   
  
Zack didn't answer, but apparently it gave White all the answer he needed "Never figured you for a lover 599. But then I guess the right woman can give any man the right kinda sensations down in his head"   
  
"If you hurt her I swear the only kinda sensation you'll feel in your head is that last sharp pain after I slice it off"   
  
"Have I found your weakness 599?" White jeered, "Should I call up 452 and tell her that she's not the only one-"   
  
"Don't you FUCKIN' touch Maxie you dick head!"   
  
"Relax I have no reason to this time. My superiors wanted me to find the leader of the 2009 Manticore escape and bring him in alive to HQ. But I don't always listen to my superiors 599. I've been trying to erase you more times then I can count, but this time I can't fail. Knowing your enemy's weakness soldier is to know how to bring them down. This bomb I've set will go off at 7:30, THIRTY minutes before the one you're programmed with is gonna blow you out of your skull. Her location is exactly thirty minutes away from where I've placed the de-activation device to stop the countdown on your brain. At 14 and 21st street on the roof of Seattle Mercy Hospital. There isn't enough time to disengage both bombs before they go off. Don't think you can arrive here early. Even at your speed, from your location it will not give you enough time to make any leeway. This dilemma has only two possible outcomes. If you try to get to the hospital first you will have enough time to deactivate the device and keep yourself alive, but she dies. If you save her first, you're a noble soldier six feed under the ground. Heads or tails, your life or hers? Which is more important? Don't think you know the answer first hand, cause you might surprise yourself. The clock is ticking 599-" the call ended.   
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS 6:30 AM (1 HOUR 30 MINUTES LEFT)   
  
"Everything around Seattle Mercy are businessness still in function. There'd be no way to put a kidnapped woman in hiding with people still around" Logan typed on his computer, bringing up a street map of Seattle. "The only thing that isn't up and running anymore is an abandoned Marina just west of the hospital. He enhanced the map to get the street name "On Fowler and 14th"   
  
"How far away is it from there?" Zack asked  
  
"White was right on the money" Logan informed "Thirty minutes."  
  
Zack looked at the screen for the longest time, before turning to grab his jacket. He slipped it on, looking to Max. He took something out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was his cell phone "Voice Mail code is 0285364. Zane sometimes gets drunk when he calls so you have to decipher through all the babbling." He looked up to her with a long pause "Promise me you'll keep fighting them Maxie. This is YOUR life now, not theirs" before she could say anything he left, the door closing quietly behind him.   
  
Logan stepped over to her after Zack left "You ready?"   
  
She nodded   
  
He handed her a mic to slip under her ear, she took it, sliding Zack's cell phone in the pocket of her jacket.   
  
*****   
  
FOWLER AND 14TH   
  
"Is that too tight baby doll?" White leaned down next to Asha, grabbing onto the metal chain that was wrapped around her body and also chained to the floor, securing the bomb in place. He pulled a loose chain and yanked the links tighter around her body. She gasped through the tape covering her mouth "How's that?" He looked over at the timer on the bomb "599 doesn't have much time" he looked to Asha leering, "But I guess you're the kinda girl who likes to takes things slow huh?"   
  
*****   
  
Zack's motorcycle sounded like it was ready to break at the speed he was pushing it too. People cursed him for nearly running them off the road. But he never gave a rat's ass about what people thought of him  
  
*****   
  
7:26 AM  
  
The Vulcan slowed down in front of the once prominent Marina. Now it was dilapidated and crumbing from the years of neglect. Rats and pigeons lived solely inside now. Well tonight they added one more rat to their list of occupants. Zack searched for a way inside, finally finding a smashed in window twenty feet above his head. He took a few steps back then using most likely his cat genes, leapt up and grabbed a hold of the wooden sill and used his upper body to pull himself inside. He ducked into a barrel roll when he hit the dirt two stories down, landing on it and bits of broken glass. Climbing to his feet he searched the darkness, not calling out her name so as not to compromise his location.   
  
There was a half crumbling stairwell two yards to his right and below it there was a small shadow cast. It was this that he ran too, and sure enough found Asha chained to a pipe that somehow managed to stay suspended above on the staircase support beams.   
  
She tried to say something to him, but with the tape on her mouth nothing came out but garble. Zack didn't take it off, concentrating fully on the set of multicolored wires locked around the timer device that now showed only four minutes and a handful of seconds left.   
  
A noise came out from behind him, Max appearing out of the darkness with a phone, his cell, in her hand. It was up to her ear. She approached where he was, still listening to the other person talk on the end.   
  
"It's a standard self district device" Max was talking to the person on the other line, looking at the bomb strapped to Asha's body. "There are three sets of wires, blue, red and yellow." She listened, then looked up at Zack "Jondy says the yellow wire should run from the timer to a metal canister of explosive somewhere in back."  
  
Zack looked, and could see an aluminum tube like container where the wire was wrapped around.   
  
"You have to cut the wire from the timer and the canister to prevent any back up mechanism from activating and setting off the bomb."  
  
Two minutes were now left. Zack had no knife, so he searched for something, anything to cut through the wires. The glass shards he fell in were also under his feet, and he picked up one of them, using it to saw through the wires. It was a tedious job. The glass cut into his hand and with lack of a good angle for gripping made it hard to use. One end of the wire fell loose from the timer, which still counted down from the power supplied by the other wires. He worked, ignoring the one-minute warning. At the thirty-second mark his sweat and blood made the glass slip out of his hand and get lost in the sand. Zack didn't try to find it and instead twisted the wire around in his hand to loosen it, pulling on the plastic to get it to rip.   
  
The wire fell away at nine seconds. The timer went down to three, two, one and finally zero. Even though it had been deactivated, everyone held their breath, waiting. Nothing. Asha breathed the biggest sigh of relief.   
  
Zack finally took the tape off her mouth. Even though it was raw and hurt, she didn't complain "Thought you might like it quieter around here for a change." She yanked at her arms, trying to get them free from the cuffs. Zack used a piece of splinter wood to free the mechanism and unlock the cuffs. Asha's wrists were raw from hanging there so long, but all she did was rub them even though they hurt like hell.   
  
"You still have time" Max spoke again "There's still twenty five minutes left"  
  
"There's no way I can make it in twenty-five minutes and get to the roof of the hospital in time Maxie" Zack informed her. Even though he was talking about his own demise, he still was a hard ass about it.   
  
"Not by going on the ground you can't" she stated elusively   
  
*****   
  
ROOFTOP  
  
Somehow they all managed to get on the roof of the Marina without it falling on them. Max handed Zack her crossbow.  
  
He took it "You always bring your equipment with you everywhere you go?"   
  
"Seem to recall learning that from a brother I know"   
  
He glanced at her, before shooting off the crossbow into the air, catching it on the roof of the next building.   
  
"Before you go-" Max's voice made him turn back to her. She held out his cell phone "You'll need this back"   
  
He took it from her and then slid down the black rope over to the next building's roof.   
  
He landed with barely a sound on top of the next building. He took the cell out of his jacket and opened it up. "Okay all powerful Eyes Only tell me where to go" Zack walked around the roof.   
  
"There's a five story hotel on your right" Logan spoke into the phone. He was tracking Zack's movements on his computer, directing him to which rooftops led to the hospital. "It should be almost a level landing"   
  
"Almost isn't good enough Logan you know that"   
  
"I'm not a perfect creation Zack" Logan reminded   
  
"Maybe you and Maxie are really made for each other" Zack aimed the crossbow and shot off "Kinda like the Yin and the Yang"   
  
"Like you and Asha?"  
  
"Yeah well if I make it outta this thing alive remind me to thank you for that" Zack jumped to the next building.   
  
= = = =   
  
10 MINUTES LEFT   
  
"The clock is winding down Cale, which way?" Zack now stood on a low-level office building.   
  
"It takes time to process Zack" Logan said, typing, working to find the next building   
  
"Well time is something I'm a little short on. And you are vastly decreasing your chances of getting any thanks from me"   
  
"There" Logan said, "It should be right in front of you. Wind socks and all"   
  
Zack looked, and sure enough saw the illuminated roof of Seattle Mercy. "Did I ever tell you you're my hero?"   
  
"You're not gonna start singing are you?"  
  
"I'm not on a suicide mission." Zack returned. He launched the crossbow for the last time. Once it was secure he slid on it hitting the side of the roof. He grabbed with his hands and pulled himself the rest of the way. The helipad was empty, the windsocks blowing in the natural breeze, not from the blades of a landing Medivac unit.   
  
"So what the hell do I do now?" Zack spoke more to himself then in the phone. He started walking around the expanse of the rooftop.   
  
"Looking for this?" White was behind him, holding up a control switch "I must say you impressed me 599. Manticore was taught to keep itself alive at all cost of civilian life. You went against your instincts."  
  
"It's not instincts when they beat it into your head" Zack growled, hanging up on Logan.  
  
"You must be sitting on top of the world now 599." White circled him "Not only did you get to save the girl you also have enough time to save yourself" there was a pause as he walked over to the ledge "Too bad I don't believe in fair games" he dropped it over the edge of the building.   
  
Zack didn't scream out "No!" but he tried to catch it before it fell, it slipped out of his fingers, and fell into the night  
  
"Don't think that'll it break down there and stop the timer, it can handle being run over by a freight train"   
  
The box fell down the four stories, landing hard on the concrete. It was just at that time that Asha jumped off behind Max on her Ninja and saw the thing fall. She ran to where it landed and picked it up.   
  
"Still in tact. Ames White really is a rich white bastard" she hit a few buttons on the computer device. The device had a lock out code to prevent just anyone from deactivating it. White planned to double cross Zack with it, but now- "Give me your barcode string," she said to Max who was behind her "I can't deactivate it but I can override the system by making it think it's been programmed to blow up the wrong X5 all this time"   
  
Max read off her barcode numbers to Asha who punched them into the computer. It beeped a few times   
  
*System Override-Program Lost*   
  
= = =   
  
Both White and Zack, being otherworldly human could hear a tiny sound of a mechanism releasing.   
  
"You have a guardian angel 599" White approached him "Too bad this is the real world. See I never really intended to let you walk out of this thing alive. That timer may have shorted, but the internal one planted inside the casing in your skull hasn't, it's called backup. In the form of a simple pop device I once set up to try and deal with another smart mouth X5. And if you don't have the implant removed from the back of your neck in the next seven minutes you won't live to regret it" White grabbed Zack around the neck "Didn't I tell you I would get the results I wanted?"   
  
= = = =  
  
Asha and Max came through the ER reception area of the hospital.   
  
"Hey you need to sign in first!" one of the receptionist called out, waving the phone in the air that he was talking on.   
  
Asha didn't stop in her running pace to find the elevator. Max pushed the button, watching the numbers light up slowly.   
  
Max had it "Stairs" she instructed the other woman. They both turned to the door leading to the stairwell.   
  
"Hey!" the receptionist called out again   
  
"Fuck off!" Asha shouted before banging through the stairwell door  
  
= = = =  
  
"I never believed a fucking thing you ever told me" Zack pulled White's hand off his neck and threw him to the ground. He was about to attack again, when a jolt, almost like an electrical shock threw him to the ground.  
  
White was on his feet again "It's already starting to take affect 599." He towered above him "I added that little extra myself, isn't it great? As much as I love to watch this I have things to do but I'll be back to pick you up after you've expired" he walked to the edge of the roof and leapt off, jumping from the hospital to the building behind it until he hit the ground.   
  
*****   
  
"Zack!" Asha found him first. He was writhing on the ground.   
  
"Take it out!" it wasn't a request "As long as it's inside it can still kill me" he looked at his sister "Maxie Asha carries a switchblade"  
  
Max retracted the blade after Asha handed it to her. "This is gonna hurt like hell Zack I don't exactly have anesthesia with me"   
  
"I don't fucking care!" Zack spat "Just do it!"  
  
Max gripped the back of his neck "Hold still, I don't wanna know what happens if I cut the wrong spot." She pierced his neck with the blade, twisting it in a circle then pulling up. The implant came out tinged in blood. It remained still for five seconds then popped in a small explosion, but one that would've defiantly killed someone if placed in the right spot of the brain.   
  
Zack had stopped having spasms from the electric shock and stared at the device, feeling blood trickle down the back of his neck.   
  
*****   
  
8:20 AM   
  
Bling finished stitching up the laceration in the back of Zack's head "No major veins or arteries were hit" he snipped the suture thread "Just a lot of blood and drama. You're lucky you had a good surgeon" he set down his scissors.  
  
Zack turned and faced him, feeling Bling's handiwork.   
  
"Any double vision or fuzziness?" Bling asked looking back at Zack   
  
"If I ever saw two of you Bling I'd put that implant back in myself"  
  
"Thanks for the love Zack" Bling chuckled after a minute.   
  
"Okay if he has visitors?" Max walked over to her dining room table where Zack was sitting with Lexi in her arms.   
  
"Fine by me" Bling stood up and leaned down to kiss the baby.   
  
"Uncle Zack have an owee?" Lexi asked  
  
"Yeah he does" Max answered   
  
"Does it hurt?"   
  
Zack looked up at his niece "Whadda you think?" he said it without any anger so it didn't sound like he was reprimanding her.   
  
"Yeah but Uncle Zack's tough, he can take it" Asha stated, standing up from the couch. She didn't take her eyes off Zack.   
  
"C'mon sweetie, let's go brush your teeth" Max said to her daughter  
  
"But I don't wanna brush my teeth mommy"  
  
"But you need to little miss, you've got all that oatmeal still in them"  
  
"Yeah c'mon Lexi, me and your mom will help ya" Bling said. He followed Max with the baby to the master bathroom.  
  
Logan shut down his laptop in his office. He stepped out into his living room "I'll just-go-help."   
  
"You guys aren't very subtle ya know that?" Asha informed   
  
"Who said anything about being subtle" Logan argued before disappearing into the master bedroom.   
  
Asha still stood the same distance away from Zack as before.   
  
"Guess I'm still alive" he still didn't look at her  
  
"Guess so" she responded   
  
"How'd you know how to override the system?"  
  
"You think Logan's the only one who knows anything about computers?"  
  
Zack finally turned to face her  
  
"I taught him a lot of the things I know" she stepped closer   
  
"Guess I don't have to thank him after all" a pause "Which is good cause it keeps from spoiling my record of never having to kiss his ass."   
  
Asha managed a tiny smile then. "Ames White slithered back into the night for now"   
  
"A snake will always slither it's way back out again."   
  
"Guess I'll have to keep my ass stomping boots close by"  
  
"Where did you get ass stomping boots?"  
  
"I borrowed them from you"   
  
This made him go quiet   
  
"Want them back?" she asked   
  
"I suppose you could hang onto them for a while"  
  
She moved again, until she was two feet in front of him "Can I hang onto a few other things too?" she came right into his personal space  
  
He didn't answer. He wasn't a hopeless romantic kinda guy. He just looked at her, a gaze that she understood.   
  
She leaned in to kiss him. She was acting by herself for a few moments before she felt on hand move around the back of her neck.   
  
= = = =  
  
I see you're true colors shinning through I see your true colors and that why I love you I see your true colors shinning through (straight up) I see your true colors and that's why I love you baby...  
  
= = = =   
  
*****   
  
6:35 PM  
  
"Agent White, this committee is baffled by your repeated failures to bring in ANY of the Manticore escapees we have assigned you to track down" the chairman for the committee sat in his seat, glowering at White through his glasses. "These failures are causing us substantial financial losses that we cannot keep recuperating"  
  
"With all due respect Mr. Chairmen I think this agency is under the impression that tracking down Manticore fugitives is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel."  
  
"No one is undermining the difficulty of your job Agent White," the chairman argued "We all here know that Manticore made some tough hard to find freaks, but your numerous failed attempts to catch any of the damn things is a disgrace to this agency. Even now when you were in the closest vicinity to the X5 who led the first revolt of Manticore in 2009 you were STILL unable to apprehend the subject and bring him back to HQ. You are an excellent agent, Agent White but your sloppy track record is tarnishing that reputation."   
  
"I request the permission to speak to you privately after the session Mr. Chairman" White asked "Maybe between the two of us we can work out the problems with my track record once and for all"   
  
"Very well" the chairman agreed, banging his gavel on the desk "This meeting is adjourned"   
  
*****   
  
CRASH  
  
"Guess your boy ironed out his problems" Cindy looked over at Zack sitting with Asha. "With a little help from his sista"   
  
Max took a sip of her beer "I didn't do anything but carve his neck up"  
  
"If that ain't love sugah I don't know what is"   
  
= = = =  
  
"Hey Sammie" Spike found Zack, he slapped him on the shoulder with his free hand. "See you got another date with a "sister"   
  
Asha was looking at Spike funny /What the hell is he talking about?/  
  
"Goodbye Spike" Zack cut in  
  
"Hey, ooo, sorry Sam, didn't mean to wreck your vibe. Gotta go find someone to make beautiful music with" he left  
  
Asha cocked an eyebrow at Zack after Spike was gone "Sam? What the hell was that all about?"   
  
"I'll tell ya later"   
  
"Anything you say 'Sam'" she sipped her beer.   
  
He grabbed her arm, pulling the mug away from her face "Shut up" this time he kissed her.   
  
*****   
  
"What is it you want to talk to me about Agent White?" the chairman closed the door to his office. "Please" he gestured to a chair.   
  
"If you don't mind I'd like to stand"  
  
"Fine" the chairman stated, taking a seat behind his office desk "Now what is this all about?"   
  
It's about my record Sir" White responded "As far as it being 'tarnished'"  
  
"I'm sorry to crack down so hard on you Ames, but we've got an agency to maintain. And that agency thrives solely on the capturing and studying of Manticore's creations. It is the only thing on our agenda"   
  
"I understand Sir" White agreed "But in my best interest I only did what was necessary"   
  
The chairman was confused "You best interest? What do you mean by that?"   
  
The door opened, revealing a figure clothed in a dark red robe.   
  
The chairman stood up from his seat, staring at the figure  
  
The robe lowered and revealed the face of the tattooed Priestess.   
  
"You see I have my own agenda Mr. Chairmen" White went on, as the Priestess approached him "I've had them for hundreds of years. Joining your agency was the perfect stepping stone I needed to have exposure to these transgenics, to understand how they function, and what must be done to bring them down."   
  
The chairman backed up "What the hell is this? Who are you?"   
  
White turned to him, fixdating him with a stone cold gaze "I am Ames, son of Aaron, grandson of Sir'us, a powerful ruler who spent his lifetime seeing that his children, his grandchildren and beyond are bred and ready for the Second Coming"   
  
"The second coming of what Ames?" the chairman shouted "What kind of a sicko freak are you?"   
  
"You are mistaken Sir" White said "The only freaks are the ones your agency spends all their time trying to track down"   
  
The priestess removed her hands from her robe and produced two diamond head rattlesnakes coiled around her arm. She turned her painted head to the chairmen "Sirno'ah moa kariff mo'ss" the snakes reared their heads and bit the chairman on the neck and face. He cried out and hit the floor, falling unconsciousness a minute later.   
  
They stood staring at the still form of the chairman   
  
"Fen'os'tol" White said in a low voice  
  
"Fen'os'tol" The priestess turned to Ames "Maha ka'at kirh nok le'ouah k'note res reu-ah" ("They will discover the body soon enough we must leave")  
  
"E'pnorah musa k'noss. Mo'ta'ak' nos'ke re'oat moab no'atka'ia" ("Leave one snake. It will look like it simply crawled it's way from the forests to get warm")   
  
The priestess set a snake down and it immediately crawled around the chairman's body. "We'nok muah loa'k mei e'akei? ("Was the test successful?")   
  
"Ea'a ,("Yes,") M'ar t'kenob k'rot ah lu'nin k'att minua we'fa kne' ken'da hiif raiir me'asn ne'k a'ah" ("The transgenics lack our strength but have powerful minds to compensate in solving our situations")   
  
"R'mik ("Good") "T'wana me'akah w'ak liia r'ajk'ah so'wa hi'kata" ("Your son will be ready for the trails in ten days.") "R'ak meiak l'noa h'kia lunia k'akra'ah ("Then the work shall be set in motion") "Our day is coming Ames" she spoke to White in English this time "The preparations have begun" she placed her hood back over her head and left out the door, White following her.   
  
(Close up of the snake slithering around the chairman's neck)  
  
(FADE OUT)  
  
*****   
  
The 'unfinished' ending is setting itself up for another chapter. The way the Familiar's speak to me sounds a lot like Ancient Egyptian, as far as the harshness of the vowel sounds and the way the words are arranged. And in the show they used hieroglyphs so I just made up the words for White and the priestess talking using the word formation I've seen when researching a paper for Queen Nefrititi, wife of Ramases the II. They had inscriptions written in ancient Egyptian, and it used a lot of 'ak and K sounds, so-I just made it up...at least it looks authentic.   
  
I didn't realize until I wrote this that the plotline was almost like "Proof of Purchase" where White put a bomb in Alec's brain and made him murder all those transgenics or he would kill him. It was pure coincidence, but once I found out about it I ran with it (i.e. having White have a back-up bomb, the same thing he tried to kill Alec with)   
  
The song I used in here was "True Colors" by Fredo Star from the "Save the Last Dance" soundtrack. It just fit the moment, so I stuck it in there.  
  
R/R please. 


	19. Identity

CHOICES 20-"Identity"  
  
AUTHOR: Mystic25  
  
EMAIL: little_girl_island34@hotmail.com   
  
SUMMARY: "Please, I need your help. You're the only one I remember ever giving a damn about us. He's stalking us, he follows us everywhere, he's gonna kill us-" Call made from a U.S. payphone at 8:00 am by a young woman named Sara Phillips  
  
RATING: PG14  
  
A/N: This twentieth chapter will bring back many old season one characters plus a few I invented in this series. Not giving it away. Ooh also there are a lot of plot twists, so look for those I want the moments to build. And rest assured in knowing that this will NOT be the last chapter. I don't know how long I will keep witting this, but I will most likely keep going until computers aren't around anymore or I have carpal tunnel so bad that my wrists fall off.   
  
WARNING: This chapter contains images and scenes of domestic abuse. These pictures are not pretty, but they are sadly and terrifyingly true. If you or anyone you know are the victims of such crimes contact your local law enforcement agency immediately.   
  
A/N#2: Release the balloons and streamers I made it to chapter twenty! And since I write these long chapters, they are, to quote a reviewer "each like a mini episode of DA". So I have written 20 DA episodes, wow. My story is as old as me. I have said it a lot, but I want to REALLY thank everyone whose ever read or seen or commented or praised or reviewed or given me traffic on my website about this series and made it what it is. And right now I will attempt list some of them by name: BTW: I'm sorry this took soooooo long to get up, I've been having a lot of problems lately and if they aren't going away anytime soon I might as well write to pass the time. Anywho onto the thanks:  
  
Jess- (Northern Star) My girl, who always had something to say about my writing. Good bad or indifferent. Who gave me ideas and comments, and encouraged me when I had writiers block, and who cracks me up all the time at TBW.   
  
Black Rose: Another sistah from TBW, whose also given me great ideas, and gave me fics to read while I was on a break from mine. (also the same thing for Jess, so she doesn't get upset)   
  
Callie and Mel: The lovely mods of The Broken World. Who created a great site for me to meet more fans of DA, and see how much my "Choices" series is liked. And whose board helps give me ideas.   
  
"The Broken World" a great multi-shipper board to meet fellow DA fans and talk about the show, or just whatever comes to mind. Could always count on the people there to make me laugh, or give me ideas on fics when I didn't have any.  
  
Zaz: for everything she wrote about the series, and the constant insistence that I post the next chapter asap  
  
"Dark Angel Archives" where I first posted this series. I don't know who runs it. But thanks to them I got exposure.  
  
Fan fiction.net -a blessing and a curse. A site that's constantly being shut down, or messing up, but where I found an easier way to post stories   
  
"Darkangelfan.com" for having episode transcripts so I can make my work sound more believable   
  
"Kawasaki.com" for always being up when I needed to search it for motorcycle names...:)   
  
BlackWolf he never reviewed this fic, but his stories gave me a lot of drive for creating a lot of my chapters.   
  
Tab- for reviewing. And for being there, always, love ya my sistah   
  
"Google.com" a great search engine for helping me find information on DA and just about anything else.  
  
Every reviewer who's come out of the wood work to tell me that they like this series, but never got around to reviewing it until now. And every reviewer who hasn't been afraid to tell me that my grammar is off, or there's some stuff that doesn't sound right, who don't kiss me where I don't wanna be kissed.  
  
To EVERY reviewer: It makes me feel-good-to know I wrote something that people look forward to reading.   
  
*****   
  
6:50 AM  
  
SEATTLE  
  
"Mommy, the door is knocking"   
  
"Don't answer it Michael" Sara got out of bed in bare feet and only a tank top and her briefs.  
  
The pounding got louder as she got into the small living room Michael ran to open it  
  
"No no honey!" Sara whispered to him, calling him back to her with her hand motions. "Come here. Stay behind me" she pushed him behind her body.  
  
The pounding on the door continued "Fuck it Sara I know you're in there!"   
  
Sara crept closer, looking through the peephole at the raging form of the man outside. The one whose eyes looked like her son's, but she would never tell him that.   
  
"You can't hide my kid from me forever!" the pounding grew louder and part of the door started to give way.   
  
"Go get some clothes on honey" Sara ordered to her son "Hurry up and pack your back pack with the rest"   
  
Sara pushed the green leather couch over in front of the door to block it. She then ran across the dirty floor to her own bedroom, pulling on a pair of jeans and shoving her feet into flip-flops. She hastily shoved handfuls of clothes into a duffel bag along with her wallet. She then ran to her son's room "Come on honey we've gotta go down the fire escape"   
  
"Mommy I'm scared" Michael looked at her wildly   
  
Sara didn't try to comfort him she just ushered him out to the living room and pulled back a table to where the fire escape window was   
  
The door opened, but didn't open very wide because of the couch blocking it. Two eyes glowered at her "You bitch!"  
  
"Go baby!" Sara yelled to Michael pushing him onto the landing of the stairs. The couch wouldn't hold him for long. She spied her keys on the table in front of the door. She climbed back in the apartment to grab them.  
  
"Bitch!" a hand reached out and grabbed her hair and slammed it against the door.  
  
"Mommy!"  
  
"Run Michael!" Sara pushed the door shut again, slamming it on his hand. He screamed. She didn't try to lock it again just ran to the escape stairs and hurried down them.   
  
He stuck his head out at her from the window "You fucking whore!"  
  
Sara caught up with her son on the stairs, took his bag from him and threw it to the ground with hers. She picked him up and continued running.   
  
Once she reached the bottom level she grabbed the bags and her son and ran to her car. Her flip-flops tore in the process, but she didn't notice it.   
  
Her red twenty-year-old Altima sat against the building and she popped the trunk and threw her bags inside. "Get in and buckle up" Sara told Michael as she climbed in the driver's seat. She looked in her rear view mirror and saw him running towards her car. She cranked the ignition and floored it.   
  
His car kept following her. It lurched forward and rammed into her, almost causing her to loose control.   
  
"Hold on baby" Sara turned sharply into an alleyway, one that he didn't see so he couldn't follow her.   
  
His tires screeched as he cursed and did a U'ey back to the spot.   
  
Sara turned the car again onto another street to confuse him. She drove right through a sector stop, ignoring the cops yelling at her.   
  
She continued driving for an hour, always looking back, but she didn't see him. She had lost him, for now.   
  
*****   
  
7:50 AM  
  
Her car started giving out. She hadn't had it check recently. She slowed down next to a payphone on the side of the road, parking the car behind it. She unbuckled the car and opened the door to the backseat, undoing Michael's seat belt "Lie flat on your tummy, don't look out the windows okay?"   
  
She closed the door and locked it running to the booth.   
  
"Directory Assistance how can I help you?"   
  
"Give me the number for a Max and Logan Cale"  
  
"One moment please" "The number is 555-3285. Would you like me to dial it now?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"It costs $1.00 to do so"  
  
"It doesn't matter just make the call"  
  
"One moment please"  
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS   
  
8:00 AM   
  
"Yeah?" Max picked up the phone from the nightstand.  
  
"Please, I need your help. You're the only one I remember ever giving a damn about us. He's stalking us, he follows us everywhere, he's gonna kill us-"  
  
"Who is this?"   
  
"It's Sara, Sara Phillips. I met you at the maternity ward two years ago, we shared a room. My boyfriend broke into my place this morning. He's trying to kill me-"  
  
"Where are you?"   
  
"At some payphone in the city. There's a garage across the street. Dell's Auto-"  
  
"I know where that is. You and Michael stay there and I'll come get you"  
  
"Please hurry" she hung up.   
  
*****   
  
THIRTY MINUTES LATER   
  
Max cut off the engine to her Impala and climbed out of the driver's seat. She glanced around the street but didn't see any sign of Sara or her son. Movement from a red Altima caught her eye a few seconds later. She walked over to the car, and after peering through the windows saw the form of Sara laying flat in the back seat with her son under her arms.  
  
Max tapped on the window with one hand. Sara looked up, seeing the face of the woman she hadn't seen for over two years, but it was a welcomed sight. She crawled over the seat and opened the door. Max backed up on the road, watching Sara push her son Michael ahead of her and then climb out herself and shut the door.   
  
"Sara?" Max acknowledged the other woman by name "You okay?" Sara didn't know it, but she looked like she had been mauled by a bear. A long gash ran just below her hairline from the impact of her boyfriend slamming her into the door when she tried to get her keys. Blood from the gash had trickled down one side of her face, leaving a crimson track on her cheek. She also still bore the bruise on her collarbone from where he had gotten mad one day and threw her face first into the coffee table.  
  
"Yeah" Sara's reply was shaky at best. She moved to pull a chunk of hair behind her ear and her hand brushed against the cut on her forehead. She hissed and pulled her hand back, seeing the blood for the first time "I didn't even know about that one" she managed a dry laugh. She saw the way Max was looking at her "It's not that bad, really. Can we just get going? Please, he's pissed, and he's gonna come looking here soon"  
  
Max didn't say anything, but grabbed the bags from the trunk after Sara opened it. She reached into her own trunk, to the tool case in back, pulling out a wrench "Take out any ID papers and anything with you or Michael's name you got stashed in the car" Max knelt next to the license tag attached to the back of the car, and sliding the tag out from the car. She walked over with it to her Impala and threw it in the trunk along with the screwdriver and the bags.   
  
"My daughter's car seat should be in back" Max opened the back door for Sara.   
  
"He's use to riding without one" Sara buckled Michael in the car seat. She couldn't afford a toddler car seat, so after Michael outgrew his infant seat, she buckled him in with old cushions for him to sit on.   
  
"Mommy where are we going?"   
  
Sara fastened the harness to the car seat around Michael's body. "Someplace safe" she rubbed his face with her hand then shut the car door.   
  
All through the drive back to the apartment Sara was quiet. She got the held she sought out, but she wasn't in the mood for conversation.   
  
Max sensed it, and allowed her space.   
  
When they reached the parking garage of Foggle Towers, Sara leaned closer out her window for a better look. "If this is just the parking garage I can't wait to see the rest"   
  
Max smiled at the joke, pulling inside the concrete enclosure.   
  
*****   
  
"Come on in" Max held the door open for Sara, who was leading Michael by the hand. The other woman looked around the living room, at the over stuffed leather furniture sitting on the wood floor.   
  
"Sit down" Max's voice was gentle to Sara, watching her sit with such exhaustion, but still with a caution, Michael climbing into her lap a few seconds later.   
  
"Mommy you're bleeding" Michael crawled closer to Sara's face, reaching one hand to touch a rivulet blood that had dried to her cheek.   
  
"It's okay baby" Sara reassured, touching the blood "It only hurts a little"   
  
Max had disappeared for a few minutes, but soon came back into the living room this time with Logan in front of her.   
  
"Here" Logan held out a wet cloth in front of Sara's face. His blue eyes looked at the younger woman with compassion.  
  
Sara took the rag from him "Thanks" she held it to her face, holding Michael in her lap with the other hand.   
  
"How long has this been going on?" Max sat on the edge of the sofa, on the arm, questioning the other woman, but gently. She had just been through shit, she didn't need an interrogation right now.   
  
"He's always knocked me around if that's what you want to know" Sara informed "We dated during high school and he use to hit me back then too, bruises and scrapes, same as now."  
  
"Has he ever-"  
  
"No!" Sara cut in Logan's statement with a vengeance. "He never tried to mess me like that" She wasn't defending her ex boyfriend on purpose; it was just a reflexive act she had no control over. Even though she didn't want it to happen she had been with him long enough to develop an attachment to him. It wasn't an attachment of love anymore, but there was still a connection. One of two things that had a connection to him that she could never shake off. The other one was her son.  
  
"That doesn't mean he won't" Max spoke out from her spot on the couch. "Guy who beats you up like this isn't exactly a man who knows how to control his urges"   
  
"I know him Max" Sara's brown eyes locked on hers over the little boy she was holding "I'm not saying that the way he bangs me up isn't bad, or that I deserve it; but he wouldn't do that. In all the years we dated in high school and even after he NEVER tried to touch me when I didn't want it. Sure he'd throw things, hit me, but I never felt like I'd be violated by him."  
  
"What about your son?" Logan asked, "You think it doesn't violate his sense of safety to watch his mother get kicked around by a man right in front of him?"   
  
"I know you're trying to help Mr. Cale, but with all due respect you don't have the first clue what my life is like"  
  
"You called us remember?" Max chimed in "Why would you do that if you didn't think we could help you?"  
  
"I was scared. There was no time, I didn't know what to do"  
  
"So you're just chalking this whole thing up to a big 'ol adrenaline rush from being scared? You're gonna just keep sitting around waiting for anotha time when he scare the heck outta you again before you do anything?" Max took up an argument  
  
"It's my life Max" Sara went on the defensive   
  
"It's not just yours anymore Sara. You have a son. First rule of motherhood, kids needs come above yours. He needs a safe environment, and a mother who isn't afraid to answer her own door."  
  
"He's my baby" Sara looked down at Michael who was now asleep "I wouldn't do anything to hurt him." One hand stroked his brown hair "He's the only thing that's going right in my life"  
  
"So do right FOR him" Logan looked at Sara with gentle eyes.  
  
*****   
  
"That damn bitch took my son!" the guy spat in the corner of the bar with a far-reaching launch, spitting out most of his beer at the same time. He checked his cheap gold wristwatch, watching the time even though he didn't care about it, it was just something to do.   
  
The barkeep looked at him warily through hazel green eyes and black long hair that hung somewhat in his face "You gonna be able to drive home tonight man?"  
  
"Mind your own damn business" was the patrons reply before he exited the room  
  
*****   
  
JAM PONY   
  
6:15 AM   
  
"I'm outta here" Max slammed her last package down on Normal's desk.   
  
"Hold it missy" Normal as always wanted to rain on her parade "I need that time sheet or you're not getting out of here until pigs fly" he held out his hand, waiting to receive his prize.   
  
"Yeah but you can't get off the ground" Max slapped the paper in his hand with that remark "My advice to you Normal, get a hobby"   
  
"My advice is for you to leave Max before my new hobby is firing your smart mouth"   
  
"Yes Sir" Max smiled at that, and turned around from the desk  
  
"See ya later girl" Cindy called out behind her   
  
"Meet up at Crash" Max agreed "After I go home and spend time with the kids"   
  
"Aiight" Cindy smiled  
  
Max left the building without incident, mounting her black Ninja. The revving of the engine echoed in the night air as she raised the kickstand and drove off.  
  
The streetlights cast shadows on her face and glasses as she drove past them, several streetwalkers were already out on the curb working it. One of them whistled at Max when she passed, obviously pleased at what she saw "Work that baby girl"   
  
Max slowed at an intersection she passed everyday, checking the traffic. The roads were clear and she pulled the bike out to cross. A rumble came in her ears and she turned at the last second to see a car speeding down what she thought was a clear path.   
  
The driver knocked into the front of her bike sending the entire Ninja in a tailspin. She tried to regain control of it, but after several attempts the Ninja careened off the road and sideswiped into a wall, knocking her full force into the brick. She heard everything for a second before she passed out.   
  
*****   
  
Noises were barely audible now in her ears. She wasn't really awake, more like floating in and out of consciousness. She heard people talking, but none sounded near her.   
  
"What the hell did she smoke?"   
  
"Must've been good shit" some laughter   
  
She thought she felt movement again, nearer this time. But she couldn't tell before she passed out again.   
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS   
  
"Yeah Cindy I'm sure everything's fine. Max is a big girl" Logan really didn't sound too convinced as he paced his living room talking to Cindy on the phone and watching his kids at the same time. "She must've gotten caught in traffic"   
  
There was a knock on the front door  
  
"It's open" Logan called out, watching the front door open and Lucia come in.   
  
"Yeah-" Logan went back to his phone call "I'll call you if I hear anything" he hung up, looking towards Lucia.  
  
"Shouldn't you two get going?" the older woman asked of Logan "Me and the little ones like our alone time" she smiled "Where's Max?"  
  
"She's not here yet"  
  
There was something in Logan's tone that worried Lucia "did she get off work already?"  
  
"Over a half hour ago" Logan informed   
  
"She must've gotten stuck in traffic" Lucia rationalized  
  
"Did you?"  
  
"I came from a different way Logan" Lucia informed, "It's more traffic the way Max goes. So I'm sure that's what happened"  
  
"Then why don't I believe that?"   
  
"She's you're wife honey. You're naturally gonna worry about her. I'm sure she's almost here by now." Lucia removed her coat "Why don't you go on to Crash and I'll tell Max you left when she gets here"   
  
Logan still looked hesitant   
  
"Go" Lucia ushered "I'll call you the second she comes in. It'll be fine"   
  
*****   
  
Sara panted, sitting in her car. She had very little physical strength and had no idea where the hell she managed to find some to lift and carry the 5'7 woman to her rusty box shaped Crown Victoria.   
  
Her body slumped against the backseat, listless. There was blood on head and matted in her hair from where she had hit the brick wall head on.   
  
She couldn't tell if anything was broken because she wasn't a doctor and the girl wore a heavy leather-riding jacket over her body.   
  
She took a wad of paper towel from her ashtray and wiped down the unconsciousness woman's forehead. The paper towel was dirty from old stains but it was better then letting her bleed to death. She then realized that it was Max who was in the accident, and her heart skipped a few beats "Sweet Jesus" she touched Max's head "Max, Max can you hear me? It's Sara-"  
  
She secured the paper to Max's forehead, or rather the blood congealed on it and stuck to her skin. She reached inside of her leather jacket looking for identification, and also slid the key to her Ninja inside her jacket. She couldn't take the bike with her, but it looked expensive and it would get stolen in a minute out alone on the streets. So She hauled it as far as she could behind an alleyway and covered it with old trash bags that would never be picked up, taking the key from the ignition.   
  
The name "Max" sounded very familiar to her. Not just because they shared a hospital room two years ago, but because of something else. Suddenly it hit her, like a question she had finally been answered, by a answer man ramming into her with a freight train.  
  
/FLASH: "Hey! You kids out here?" her father wandered around the house looking for the two girls. His eyes were enraged from having his game on TV suddenly go off, not even realizing a major terrorist action had just swept the entire Untied States.   
  
She and Max hid behind the couch watching him search for them like he wanted to kill them.   
  
She was crying, but she kept the tears silent, holding one finger to her lips to keep Max from saying anything  
  
"Where the hell are you?"/  
  
Sara blinked. What were the chances of this happening? She had not seen this girl in over ten years. She didn't think they would ever meet again. Max took the chance and left when she could. She so wanted to go with her, but by the time she realized Max was gone it was too late. Her dad really went cave man on her then. She still had the scars on her back neck and face from him knocking her around on the mirror in the bathroom.   
  
For a long time she thought Max had abandoned her. She had never had any other sister, and she felt so betrayed by her leaving her alone with her abusive father. But all the years of rage disappeared now when she saw her lying there. Why should she blame her foster sister for escaping that terrible life and being happy? That's what she wanted herself; Max had just had courage to do it first.   
  
Her face was so pretty now. When she had first come to live with them she strangely had shaved hair. It eventually grew to her shoulders and she wore it down all the time. Now her hair had grown out way past her collarbone, still colored a deep lustrous brown. Her eyelashes were long and thick and her lips had grown even more full then they had been as a kid, if that was even possible. She was beautiful, even with the blood on her forehead.  
  
"Logan?" Max's head shifted, but she never opened her eyes.  
  
She didn't say anything because she didn't know what to say. The name sounded so sweet on her lips, and trusting. She had only met Logan all of twice and she still envied Max for having a real relationship with a man who obviously loved her.   
  
Sara dabbed at her forehead again with another napkin, still not saying anything. Max went still again, her head falling back in the same position.   
  
She really needed a hospital, but Sara was afraid they'd ask too many questions that she couldn't answer right now, for her son's sake. She wouldn't be of any help to Max if something happened to her. And she wasn't about to just dump her in the ambulance bay. Logan didn't even know what had happened. The health care system was so bad now that it might be days before any medical staff contacted family members after an accident.   
  
Sara put her hand in Max's jacket again, looking for anything with an address on it, because she didn't exactly have time to ask where Max lived yesterday during running away from her psycho boyfriend. She came up with something better, a wireless phone. She didn't know how to bring up the phone book memory so she just hit the redial button and hoped that it went through to someone Max knew and not some takeout place she had just called. She didn't even know the number of the penthouse, a pretty stupid move, considering her son was now sleeping there  
  
*****   
  
Lucia was busy reading a magazine, trying to look busy was the better word. She was worried about Max. She had only found out about her existence a year ago, but still felt a powerful connection to her daughter. Something didn't seem right. Max was never late in all the times she babysat for them. She never let on to her grandchildren how worried she was. They were like their mother, very perceptive and would pick up on even the slightest hint of it. She had been on the same ad for Pepsi for the last fifteen minutes.   
  
The dog cocked her head at the sound of the phone ringing. Lucia looked up; the ringing was coming from the computer room. Thinking it might be Max she got up and went to answer the call.   
  
"Max?"   
  
"---"  
  
"Hello?" Lucia asked after she didn't hear anyone say anything on the other end.   
  
"You have to help her"   
  
"Who is this?" Lucia's tone rose at that last remark. Help who?   
  
"She got into an accident and she's bleeding a lot. Someone hit her bike-"  
  
"Are you talking about Max?" Lucia knew it, but she had to ask "Where are you? Please tell me where you are"  
  
"I can't take her to the hospital. He'll find me, and I can't help Max if I'm dead"   
  
"Tell me where you are honey, please." Lucia was desperate "I'm Max's mother. I can help you"  
  
*****   
  
Sara went quiet /Mother, I wish I had had a real mother/ "The sign says Industry Way" she looked around to see if anyone had seen her bring Max into the car. "Tell me where you are and I'll come to you. She's already in my car."   
  
"I think I should come down there-"  
  
"NO!" She shouted into the phone "Please, you don't understand. I didn't hit her, it was someone else. I'm not trying to get out of medical bills. She's got a cut on her head, but she doesn't look too bad. Please tell me where you are and I'll drive there."  
  
"Okay honey, but be careful, I don't know how badly she's been hurt. I'm at 363 Lyell Drive in Sector 5, the very top floor, penthouse."  
  
*****   
  
Lucia stood outside the hallway waiting, wringing her hands on the small gold crucifix that hung from a chain on her neck. She wanted to go down to the parking lot and wait but she couldn't leave the babies alone, including that little boy who was visiting them, and she didn't want to scare them by bringing them down, even though she was scared shitless herself.   
  
She had called Logan at Crash, and heard him nearly drop his drink from what she told him. He was on his way back with Max's friend Cindy who didn't trust Logan to drive, but they weren't there yet.   
  
Her eyes fell to footsteps, struggling footsteps coming down the hallway.   
  
"Sweet mother of god" Lucia gasped under her breath when she saw the blonde haired girl almost falling to carry the weight of Max who was unconsciousness and bleeding.   
  
Lucia ran to them and draped one of Max's arms around her shoulders "Bring her inside" with one hand she turned the knob and kicked the front door open.   
  
Lucia and She laid Max on the long couch in the living room. Lucia immediately knelt down next to Max's still form   
  
"Max sweetie, can you hear me?" she took note of the gash She said would be in her scalp. It was jagged and still filthy and leaking blood over a soaked bit of paper towel. "In the kitchen there are dish towels in that drawer by the fridge, wet one and bring it here."  
  
Sara left obediently in a run to the kitchen. Lucia tried to fleck off the visible dust she could see coming from the wound. She was scared to remove Max's jacket because she couldn't tell if anything was broken and she could hurt her more by moving things.   
  
Sara came back with rag and just stood watching as the older woman pressed it to Max's forehead.  
  
Max shifted at the contact   
  
"Max, Max sweetie can you hear me?"  
  
"Logan-" Max said her husband's name again  
  
"Logan's on his way baby I need you to stay awake. You got hit in the head and it could be worse if you go to sleep, stay awake okay?"  
  
"Luc-" Max was about to say her name, but then stopped, and said something she hadn't ever said before "Mom-"  
  
Lucia had to shove away the feelings and the shock that word brought to her and focus on Max "It's me honey, stay with me okay? You know how dangerous it can be to fall asleep with a head injury."  
  
"Damn my head hurts" Max was still her under all the injury  
  
"I know it does sweetie" Lucia gently reached out to stroke the hair above her injury. "But we'll take care of it okay-"  
  
At that moment two little figures came into the living room, curious, then scared   
  
"Mommy-" It was Lexi who spoke up first "Why is mommy asleep in day time nana?"  
  
Lucia looked at the little girl, then at She "Take them into the nursery, they'll get scared if they see all this blood. It's the second door on the right in the hallway" she looked at her grandchildren fully "This lady's going to take you to the nursery okay? And I want you to stay there with her and color for a while." A pause "Kay?"  
  
Sara really didn't know what to say. She never really figured kids into this equation, even though it was a perfectly natural step in marriage. She ushered the two little kids gently to the door with her hands, hoping that they wouldn't ask questions as to who she was. Thankfully the children were well behaved and walked ahead of She down the hallway to the nursery where Lexi slept. Michael was asleep in the guest room and as much as she wanted to check on him she did as she was told. She could tell if Michael was in any danger, she always had that sense.  
  
Sara shut the door quietly before turning back to the two strangers who were brimming with a million questions and could ask them now out of sight of Lucia.   
  
"Who are you?" Jess took the initiative and spoke first. His brown eyes looked inquiring, but also demanding, almost in interrogation as to what this stranger was doing in his home. "Why you in our house?"  
  
"I'm somebody" She gave him the simplest answer "Me and my son are just here for a while"  
  
"Did mommy get hurt?" Lexi talked next, but her tone was simply more scared then her brother's.  
  
"Yeah she did" She didn't lie to them. She didn't know them well enough to find out if that sort of thing would work with them. "But she should be fine"  
  
"How did happen?" Lexi spoke again  
  
Sara didn't know if she should tell the gory details to such a young child, but the girl looked almost on the verge of tears and She knew what it felt like to be that little and not get a straight answer from an adult. "Do you know what a car is?"  
  
Lexi and Jessie both shook their heads in affirmation   
  
"Okay someone driving a car wasn't driving the way they should and they drove too fast down the road and hit your mommy on her motorcycle." Sara's voice was the same as it was when she talked to Michael, soothing, but also not treating a child like they were ignorant, there were actually very perceptive  
  
"Did the motorcycle die?" Lexi asked   
  
She shook her head, such was a question of a two-year-old girl. "No, it got a little banged up, but it didn't die."   
  
"Is mommy gonna die?"  
  
That question brought the reality back into the situation "Your mommy's strong" She comforted "She's been through a lot in her life before you two were born, and she won't let something like this lick her"  
  
= = = =   
  
"My god girl" Cindy saw Max before Logan as she came through the front door. She all but ran over to the couch where Max was still laying, almost deathly still, and it scared the shit out of Cindy. Max was not a still person.   
  
Logan knelt down next to Max beside the couch, taking in all the dried blood he saw on her face and the beginning formation of blue bruises on her neck and collarbone from the contact point of her body with the wall.   
  
Logan gingerly stroked one of Max's arms, not wanting to move it too much if there was a fracture there "Baby can you hear me?"   
  
Max opened her eyes around the bruising in a half squinting gaze. "Logan?" her voice was hoarse  
  
"It's me Max" Logan reassured, taking one of her hands "I'm here" her palms had road rash on them so he was careful not to irritate that. "Can you move your legs?" he turned to look down towards her torso. He let out a sigh of relief when she managed to get both legs to move enough so he could see it. "Wiggle your fingers for me sweetheart" he held out her hand, watching as she did it with each one, but when she came to her pinky finger on her right hand she couldn't do it. The digit was starting to swell and the unnatural angle it jutted out in made Logan suspect that it's broken.  
  
"It almost worked" Max joked weakly.   
  
Logan smiled a small smile at that, but Cindy didn't. She was still very worried about her friend. She still had remnants of a lot of blood on her body. She sucked in a breath along with Max when Logan raised her t-shirt over her torso to reveal a dark mass of blue and black bruises along her tummy and abs and a few blotches also along her ribcage.   
  
"Baby I appreciate this-" Max gasped when Logan lightly touched a finger over her ribs to see if any were broken "But I'd like to have someone with a AMA license do the exam-" she was too sore to stroke his ego.   
  
Logan was too worried about her to be upset at that "I'll call Bling" he got up from the couch, looking at Cindy and Lucia "Talk to her, make sure she stays awake"   
  
"Great reason to miss work tomorrow huh?" Max said softly  
  
This time Cindy smiled, although it was forced "I don't consider this a great reason sugah" she stroked a bit of Max's hair the same way Lucia had done before they arrived.   
  
Max shifted her gaze to the older woman in the room "Where are the babies?"  
  
"The woman who brought you here, she's with them in the nursery. She didn't seem shady or anything" Lucia comforted Max's gaze that wanted answers as to why a complete stranger was with her children "She drove you all the way here and carried you all the way up to the house. The kids should be fine with her. You need to worry about yourself right now hun" she leaned over and kissed the top of Max's head, whispering "thanks for calling me mom" in her ear before pulling away.   
  
*****   
  
ONE HOUR LATER   
  
Bling tied off the bandage that held the splint on Max's pinky finger "It wasn't a compound break so it should heal fast" he lowered her hand down gently to the couch's surface "You do have a concussion Max," he looked at her "Not to mention three bruised ribs and bruised collarbone and various scrapes and smaller bruises over other parts of your body"   
  
"You sure know how to put a girl at ease" even with her pain Max was forever a smart ass.  
  
Bling wouldn't have it any other way. It would scare the pee out of him if she were quiet. He didn't quip back, but looked at her with a serious, steady gaze "You were lucky Max"  
  
She picked up her injured hand gently, looking at the splint and feeling the swelling under it "No one told me luck would hurt like a bitch"   
  
"Hey at least you can still feel the bitch" Bling answered, slightly humorous, but still concerned about her. She was a tough chick, but she still had gotten pretty banged up in the accident. She really needed a hospital, but the reality of that was it wasn't as easy as just coming through the ER. "You want anything else for the pain?" he only given her a local of lidocane in her finger to set the break, she didn't ask for anything else, the way she held herself though looked painful, and he didn't know if it was pride that was holding her back or past conditioning that she had to handle pain like a real soldier and not complain.   
  
"Just aspirin" she answered "I don't want anything that makes me feel off" she lowered her hand back down by her side "Number one rule of pushing meds, it takes the edge off pain, but it makes your sense dead. As long as you hurt stuff's still workin'. All doped up your hand could fall off and you wouldn't even know it."  
  
"At least let me give you a prescription pain pill" Bling advised "about 600 mg ibuprofen tablets. It doesn't do the healing process any good for you to be hurting all the time. Just take it slow, one at a time since you have a concussion, but it'll help."  
  
"Thanks" her voice was sincere  
  
Bling leaned over and kissed her forehead lightly "Not a problem girl" he pulled back to look at her "You up for having visitors?"  
  
"Do I have a choice?" she came back   
  
He smiled at that "I'll fill you're prescription" he stood up and walked over to a black bag sitting on the edge of the couch. Filling Max's prescription actually meant grabbing one of the many bottles of pain pills he kept on him. Pharmaceutical companies charged way to much for medicine now, so he just stocked up and gave people a free "prescription" Also he was a PT, and didn't have any medical to order meds. He just used aliases and filled the prescription claiming it was his or that it was for a friend.  
  
Logan's form filled the spot Bling had just left "How ya doin'?" he sat down on the edge of the couch, reaching to take the hand without the splint on it.   
  
"I've been better" she told him   
  
He smiled for her benefit. She looked so-human, not like the super solider he thought in the beginning was indestructible. In many ways she was, but whenever she was sick or hurt the image was gone. She was just a woman who he loved, and hated to see in pain.   
  
"Do you remember anything?" he asked  
  
She didn't say anything for a moment or two, thinking "Not much. After I hit the building everything was so hazy. I don't even know how the hell I managed to get here"   
  
"Lucia said there was a woman who called her and told her you were in an accident. She wanted to go down there herself, but this woman brought you here herself" Logan looked at her long and hard before continuing "Max it was Sara-" there was something in his tone that told him there was more too it then that.  
  
"Where is she?" Max asked   
  
"She's with the kids" Logan responded "Luc told her to watch them so she could watch you"   
  
"Hey honey" Lucia, as if on cue came into the living room, a huge smile on her face at seeing Max awake and talking. Cindy followed right behind her with the same expression.   
  
Lucia put her hand on Max's forehead and offered her a kiss "Glad you decided to join us again"  
  
"It got boring where I was"  
  
Lucia managed a small laugh, then said in all sincerity "You scared the shit outta me sweetie"  
  
"Goes for me too" Cindy joined in next to Lucia "Had my first heart attack today girl. Some slime shit comes and puts my girl down, I about went to find their ass for a smack down, but my boo came first" she took in the wraps that Bling had done as well as the brushing itself. "Shit girl that fool laid you out hard"  
  
Max shrugged, or shrugged as much as she could with how sore she was "Give it a few weeks, I'll bounce back. No fool ever laid me down completely."   
  
"Amen girl" Cindy agreed "I got your back with Normal. Tell him all about it, and if fool bips his mouth off thinkin' I'm lyin' I'll drag his ass down here myself so be prepped for company tomorrow girl"   
  
"I'll pretend I'm asleep" Max reassured. A strange face came into her line of sight. A woman standing there with blonde hair, pulled into a ponytail. She watched her standing in the hallway for a long time.  
  
"Hey" Max called out to Sara "You the one who brought me back?"  
  
Sara nodded, but didn't move from her spot "Yeah, I uh-you were hurt bad-"   
  
"Thanks" Max interrupted, wanting to take away the girl's awkward moment. She still looked at the young woman, she looked so familiar, but she couldn't really place it. There was something about her face. She seemed to know her from somewhere else. "I know you"   
  
Sara looked completely confused "Max if you don't remember we met at the same time our children were born-" Sara was trying to joke, but she was failing  
  
"No-It's something else" Max cut in, she had a very weird sense about this "Not in the hospital-somewhere else-"  
  
/FLASH: "This is my daughter" her father wasn't very loving when he said that, introducing his new foster child to his other child "She'll show you what you have to do"   
  
Max stared at the girl with the blonde hair. She smiled at her, walking over to her.   
  
"Hi, I'm glad you've come to live with us. I've never had a sister before"/  
  
"You just look very familiar" Max went on, watching She with brown eyes   
  
/FLASH: "Where are you two brats at?" She's father came pushing through the hallway towards She's room that she and Max shared. "I told you two to have dinner waiting when I came home!"  
  
She stopped in her reading, terrified. She had been reading a new book she had checked out from the library and had totally lost track of time. It was six-thirty.  
  
Before she or Max could even move the door to her room flew open and her father stood there enraged. He spied his daughter with a book and grabbed it from her "How many times do I have to tell you when to put dinner on the table you little bitch!" he grabbed her by the arm and slammed her to the floor.   
  
Max didn't move at first, but then he started kicking She and she was scared that he was going to kill her. She grabbed at her stepfather's arm, trying to yank him off her.  
  
He caught Max off guard and threw her against the wall. "You little shit!" he dropped She in a pile and focused his rage on Max "Don't you EVER lay a hand on me again!" he grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her up, slamming her hard into the wall and slapped her hard in the face.  
  
Max and Lucyboth had bruises on their face from all the other times he had done this for one reason or another.   
  
He had been drinking again; Max could smell the Bourbon on his breath. She had never done anything against him when he became violent against her and Lucy; she wanted so badly to fit in with these people and doing what she knew how to do would get her ratted back to the base.   
  
Lucy didn't move on the floor, and her father released Max to turn back and kick Lucyagain "Get up you baby! You need to take a fuckin' punch better then that!"  
  
Max watched him kick She again for all of two seconds, and before she realized what she was about to do she grabbed the 5'11 210 man's arm and threw him into the wall.   
  
Before he could react she was on him, locking a hand around his throat and squeezing. But before she could do what she was about to, she heard one of the neighbors came through the door, calling out his name and hers. Max released his neck and jumped out the bedroom window  
  
"Max!" Lucy watched her go, pulling herself to her feet/  
  
Lucy didn't say a word, her eyes were very hard, almost misty as she remembered something.   
  
Max turned back to Lucy with a look that said everything she couldn't. That she couldn't save her, she could only save herself./  
  
"Lucy-" Max finally made the connection to who the woman was. She had not seen her in over ten years. She had grown up, but her eyes were what remained the same. Lucy and Sara were one in the same Sara WAS Lucy. They had the same eyes, same bone structure, she had changed her name to Sara- but her father, he wasn't named Michael. Sara said she had named her son after her dad. Lucy's bastard father had been named Peter  
  
"You left me with him Max" Sara went on, lost in her memory "They didn't keep daddy in jail but over night. Then he came home and broke my arm and my nose. He said he had to keep me from running away like that bitch I should've told him to take in"  
  
"Lucy -" Max tried to say something  
  
"I'm Sara!" Sara was in a rage "SARA!" "My son is Michael. I told you I named him after daddy. Peter Michael Wallace. My Michael, my son, daddy can't hurt him if he has his name. NO ONE can hurt him if he has my father's name. No one hurts my father. No one hurt daddy right up till the day he died." Sara turned and left then, heading back into the guest room, slamming the door.  
  
Her body sunk to the floor and she cried into her hands.  
  
Michael had woken up, and looked at his mother crying. He simply got up off the bed, and like he had done so many times before crawled into her lap and hugged her tightly while she sobbed.  
  
*****   
  
8 AM   
  
THE NEXT MORNING  
  
Max's concussion caused her to fall asleep early on the couch. So after everyone had gone to their respective homes she didn't even feel Logan pick her up off the couch and place her in their bed, nor did she hear him allowing Sara a spot in their guest room to sleep for the night.   
  
Sara put up a fight, she didn't belong with this family. Max and her had known each other so long ago that the ties were gone now. But Logan had insisted so much that she finally gave in and fell asleep a few hours after Max in her clothes on top of the bed, clinging to Michael like a lifeline.   
  
Max's eyes opened, even though they didn't want too, to a knock at the front door. A knock from a caller who paid visits at eight freakin' o' clock in the morning.   
  
Before she even had the chance to move Logan got up from his side of the bed, replacing the covers back over her body where they fell from his movement. "I got it"  
  
She didn't say anything, but opened her eyes and lay there listening alone in their bed to who was here at this god-forsaken hour.   
  
Logan walked into his living room in a black set of men's pajamas and his red robe, stepping over to his front door in bare feet, a little on alert because no one usually came by this early.   
  
Opening his door revealed Cindy standing there looking highly upset, though it wasn't directed at him but rather at the person she had brought with her.   
  
"I call it the way I see it" were Cindy's first words to Logan "Sorry for doin' this boy, but like I said there are those among us who don't believe his employees can get knocked around and hafta miss work" she stepped inside the penthouse, all but shooting Regan Ronald Normal who had followed her there like a bad disease.   
  
"I have a business to maintain missy" Normal argued "And as such I can't have my employees taking off when ever the impulse strikes"   
  
"Boy for the last time my girl got hit by a car" Cindy was getting really pissed. She had just spent a ride with him in her beat up car all the way up here. She wasn't in the mood. "That's 2,000 pounds of steel going at 65 miles an hour, do the freakin' math! She's didn't get killed but cars can still knock a person around if they hit them. And you're here tryin' to shake a sistah down because she didn't decide to limp down to work with broken bones?"  
  
"So you say" Normal argued "I have about as much trust for you kids as I do for Bill Clinton, you all try to get out of work. I need to know if this is one of those times"   
  
"One of those times for you to get your brain checked out for this whacked out idea" Cindy shot back  
  
Max could hear everything through the bedroom door, and decided to make an appearance to finally get Normal to shut up about thinking she was just pretending to have been in an accident.   
  
She didn't put on a fake dramatic show for Normal coming out into the living room; she didn't have too. Her entire body was sore; the adrenaline and shock of yesterday was a distant memory. She did her best to keep her composure and not looking for pity, but she still was limping badly from trying to walk and manage the pain of bruised ribs and a bruised collarbone at the same time.   
  
Cindy looked surprised to see Max even up and around. But that was Max; she wouldn't sit still even if her legs were cut off at the knees. "Girl you should be lyin' down"  
  
"I wanted a change of scenery," Max joked making her way slowly to the couch. She turned a look to Normal who was standing in front of her sofa "You mind movin' so I can sit before my legs give?"  
  
Normal didn't move but two inches but the look on his face had changed dramatically when he saw how badly he had been proven wrong.  
  
Max hissed under her breath when she sat in soft cushions of the sofa. Her muscles screamed at her for making them move so quickly after what had happened to them.   
  
"How big of a car was it?" Normal had changed his tune dramatically  
  
"I didn't get the chance to look" Max replied. She settled into the cushions and fixed him with a hard look that told him to bip it up his own ass "Did you want something else?" she wasn't in the mood to be scrutinized.  
  
For once Normal didn't say anything "You need workers' leave?"  
  
Max fixed him with almost a bedazzled gazed "We actually HAVE that?" she would've laughed if it didn't hurt so much.  
  
"Four days"  
  
"How about I quit now and get my spot filled with someone else who can't work?"  
  
"Okay five" Normal haggled  
  
Max held up her pinky, showing him the splint on it "This isn't on here for decoration"   
  
"You need more then a broken finger-" he was interrupted when she lifted up her shirt, not to flash him, god no, but to show him the bruises on her torso and the taping on her ribs.  
  
"Fine twelve days, but that's it" Normal fixed her with a glare, or tried too anyway. She actually looked hurt this one, and even HE couldn't argue with that. "Now I have to get back before another one of you kids goes out and busts up something else and puts me out of a job-"  
  
"Mommy-" This was Jess who had come to stand beside Max "Why did he call you a kid?"  
  
"We're all kids at heart baby," Max told him, roughing up his hair.   
  
"Some more then others" Cindy returned, glancing at her and Max's boss. She walked over to him "C'mon time to bip bip bip and let my girl get her rest" she grabbed Normal by the arm. "Late boo." Cindy left out the door.  
  
Max watched them go with a half asleep gaze. "Is Lu-" she stopped, in a correction she had just now understood, and was still trying to understand "SARA, still asleep?"  
  
"She's been asleep since one" Logan answered, sharing a look with her. This was all new to him too. The woman he had met almost three years ago had been Max's foster sister, the same sister who had undergone the brutal treatment by her father with Max. And now it was happening again, with Sara's boyfriend, the father of her son; a cycle of abuse that was very hard to break.  
  
"I should've left her there Logan" Max blinked, saying all of that before she finished opening her eyes. "She was only a kid-"  
  
"So were you" Logan reminded   
  
"But I was stronger then that" Max was arguing in full passion despite her injuries. "I left her because the "mission" had gotten too hot and look what happened. She left her father's house only to meet another man who was just like him, a world she can't get out of. It's not gonna stop cause she's still the little girl who watched her daddy beat her up and couldn't do a damn thing about it except take it."  
  
"She left her boyfriend" Logan interjected "She's doing something about it now"  
  
"Yeah cause he tried to kill her" Max looked at him with eyes that knew. "It was a basic survival instinct to protect her son, she doesn't care about her own life. If it wasn't for Michael-" Max could've continued with that sentence, and no doubt would've but Sara came out from the guest bedroom she had been sleeping in with her son at that moment. Her eyes were very emotionless, not cold or unfeeling, but more of a sad wary look. Such was a woman who had been through seven kinds of hell.   
  
"How's Michael?" Max asked this so non-chalant that Logan looked at he like she had put her shirt on backwards.  
  
"He's sleeping" emotionless was Sara down to a tee; she had years of practice. She could go from the rage she expressed yesterday to a poker face in the blink of an eye "We don't do much of that now a days" a dry laugh forced it's way to her throat, one void of any kind of humor. She walked so that the balls of her feet rattled the wooden boards of the floor and made them creek ever so slightly. "He hits me, I told you" she stopped in front of Max "Never really hard, only bruises and once a broken finger. But I don't let him touch Michael. He tries but I NEVER let him touch my son"  
  
"Michael must know this" Logan said with a gentle firmness "He has too"  
  
"I do the best I can ya know?" Sara laughed again, only this one was terribly sad and desolate a laugh caught in a place of only crying. "If I try and take Michael and run he'll come after us, he's done it before, more times then I can count." She took a breath, a short but significant one "He wants to kill me." Sara looked so calm for what she was saying, though tears were now pooling around her eyes "He wants Michael and knows I won't let him have him. I've filed a restraining order, changed our locks phone number, moved three times, had Michael different clothes to school then what he had in the car, worn wigs but it never works" this time her eyes were dead serious "I lied before. I do EVERYTHING I have to do to protect my son. If I piss him off-there won't be ANYONE to protect Michael."  
  
"Does he sleep with you?" Logan asked, asked about Michael sleeping with Sara.  
  
She nodded and his suspicions and fears were confirmed about what 'everything' meant for Sara protecting Michael from harm. "He never wakes up when it happens-"  
  
"Sara-" Max had to say something, something about all this. About all the things that Lucy put up with as a girl, and what Sara, who use to be called "Lucy" puts up with now.   
  
"I have to Maxie" she called her Maxie, like she used to do after her father left them bruised and scared locked in her room "He'll hurt Michael. I don't care what happens to me, it's only my body-  
  
a tear hit the floor. "It's only my body. If I can protect Michael from ever having to face that I will." She started to leave, barely hearing Max's words which caught her at the end.   
  
"You have to protect yourself for him" her eyes and Sara's were almost one in the same "You said it yourself."  
  
Sara didn't reply and instead disappeared to the bedroom, not looking back. Michael was still asleep on the queen-sized bed in the guest room; his little body almost swamped in the blue green comforter. She crept quietly over to the bed, sitting on the edge, the mattress making a barely audible creaking noise from the weight of her body.   
  
He looked so peaceful when he slept, so innocent. When her boyfriend Rodger would be there she would look at Michael's face, seeing it through the half-light of the Superman shaped night light she kept plugged in for him. With every thing he did to her she never took her eyes off of her son, it kept her grounded. It made her make it through the hell, looking at the reason she endured it all. It helped her pick up and go one, because Michael needed her and she had to survive-for him.  
  
She touched his cheek, tracing the light soft skin delicately with one finger. He had Rodger's cheekbones, his color hair, but he had her eyes. That was the one thing she had wanted most when he was born. She loved her son, no matter the sadness and pains her conception partner brought to her life, but she didn't want to see Rodger's look in her child's gaze. Jerry's eyes were just like her daddy's, strong, but very demanding. Something she had painfully sought comfort in. She knew what to expect with men like them, knew what they would and wouldn't do, so she was prepared. Though she knew it really wasn't a comfort thing, but a terrible dependency. Michael's eyes were her eyes, strong, delicate, sad, scared. She could relate to so much in his young gaze. He was one of her only friends left, her child. It was heartbreaking for her to have her son carry such a burden as being his mother's only joy and friend in life, but after Max left she had no reason to hope until Michael came along.   
  
She might have killed herself, might have just ended it all if she didn't find out she was carrying him. Seeing him in the hospital, alive, breathing; a creation from her own body had made up her mind to go on living for her son.  
  
"Mommy?" it was a slight whisper, a delicate question in a half asleep state.   
  
She stroked his umber brown hair "Right here baby, you can sleep a bit longer" she kissed him where his hair gave way into his forehead.   
  
Her voice comforted him and he fell back asleep.   
  
*****   
  
3:20 PM   
  
Logan set down the papers in his hand on the coffee table. He looked to the couch and one hand hovered over Max's body. The hand wandered in the air, following just above the curves of her form, finally settling on the skin of her forehead, stroking it gently as he had done many nights and had done on that first night of comforting her seizures on this same couch so long ago.   
  
Unlike the first time, he did more then just touch her forehead, and leaned over to kiss her. Cause she was his wife after all, and any excuse to kiss her would be justified.   
  
Her eyes opened, she was very perceptive this one, and she looked at him "Hey"  
  
"Hey yourself" came the old adage "How are you feeling?"   
  
"Sore" she was honest, blinking a few times to clear gunk from her eyes "Guess that's how you're suppose to feel when you get hit by a car" she shifted her body, sliding one leg off the couch with a wince, then the other one.  
  
"Whoa where are you going?" Logan put a hand on her shoulder, trying to stop her "You need to take it easy baby"  
  
"I gotta pee" Max informed him "So unless you're hiding a catheter behind you're back I can't do this any other way." She was now standing up completely and taking slow ginger steps down the hallway, walking like someone who had gone one on one with a heavy weight champion and lost.   
  
"You could fall-" Logan supported her arm, trying to help her.   
  
"I can pick myself up too" Max corrected. They were married, but she didn't want anyone to do something she could even remotely do herself. "I can also still walk"  
  
"It's not about you being able to walk Max," her words echoed off his lips in his context. She had said this to him when he had that first failed attempt to use the exoskeleton on the anniversary of them first meeting.   
  
"Stand outside the door if ya want too" Max finally agreed "You've seen me naked before baby but I gotta draw the line somewhere" she smiled to let him know she was kidding.  
  
"How about you just fall against the door if you're in trouble?" Logan suggested, making a joke  
  
She turned to him with a mock glare on her face "How about you kiss my ass?"  
  
"Later sweetheart" his look wasn't phony.   
  
He waited diligently outside the hallway bathroom like he said he would. A door opened further down the hallway and Sara entered again, this time holding Michael by the hand. She stopped a few inches behind Logan.  
  
"Guess there's a line" she smiled at Michael, giving an indication as to what they were doing there.   
  
Logan looked to the little boy, he had such blue eyes, like his own, but a slightly more muted robins' egg blue, he did have the look of his mother. He smiled to the child, who looked at him timidly, but without fear or even joy, without any emotion all together. His eyes were just expressionless, but then something glimmered in them, a look of childish wonder passed through them, and he smiled at the man.  
  
Logan couldn't help but smile back at that genuine look of happiness on the child's face. A minute or two later Max came out of the bathroom, no worse for wear then when she had gone inside.   
  
"See?" she looked towards her husband, with a look of jest in her eyes "Did it like a big girl and everything" her eyes caught sight of Sara and Michael, and she addressed the younger of the two "Need to get in here kiddo?"  
  
Michael made no hesitation to nod at Max, which showed that he really had no fear with women, only with men, one man in particular.   
  
Sara looked at Max, holding onto her son's hand tightly "How are you Maxie?"  
  
Max took a moment to take stock of her body, and answered like she always did, honestly "I'll live" she offered a smile to Sara, who didn't smile back but the feeling was there. "You doin' okay Luc-Sara?" she caught herself on that remark, almost like a Freudian slip, almost. Sara didn't answer, and Max didn't expect her too. "Better get in there before you loose your down payment" she made a joke about what Michael might do if they didn't get in the bathroom in time.  
  
Sara smiled at this "Yeah, why get kicked out of a good thing?" she disappeared after that remark with Michael and the bathroom door closed. She turned to Logan "Told ya all along I wouldn't fall. I can handle myself"   
  
"I've always known that baby," Logan agreed. There was a pause there to fill space "So what do you want for breakfast?"   
  
"Food" Max remarked flippantly  
  
Logan looked at her "Ha ha. How about something to drink with that food?"  
  
She shot him the same look "Guess it's okay to go nuts once in a while"   
  
Max sat at the kitchen table, sipping from a coffee cup while Logan was in the kitchen cooking. She pretended to be interested in reading the Seattle newspaper in front of her. It made a very interesting picture of a nineteen fifty's American domestic house scene except for the man and woman being in opposite ends of the scope.   
  
The sound of the eggs flipping over was the only noise that echoed in the room besides the rustling of the newspaper as Max turned the pages. Soon a plate of eggs and bacon was set in front of her eyes.  
  
She looked down on it with satisfaction, almost like she was a child and had a received a new toy, almost, except it looked more like she had just gotten really good sex and was basking in the after glow of it all. She didn't say anything, but her killer smile was enough to get Logan to understand she appreciated it.   
  
The two guest figures emerged from the hallway, with Michael being led by the hands of Sara, who despite everything was wearing a warm smile on her face if only to show Michael that sometimes people have to be brave in harsh moments.   
  
"You guys hungry?" Logan held up the spatula he was holding in his right hand like a scepter, gesturing it towards the frying pan on the stove eye.   
  
Sara didn't say anything, but Michael looked with longing eyes at the food being cooked, like the last meal he had received had only been poison and he had forgotten what real food tasted like.  
  
Logan didn't say a word as he scoped up some more eggs into a white plate with the red stripe on the edge and handed it to the little boy, who took it in both hands to hold the weight of it with his small strength.   
  
"Sit over here" Max patted the seat next to her gently to coax the child into coming over. She smiled non-threateningly, setting down her newspaper and looking at the boy with the same warm eyes she reserved for her own children. He walked slowly over to her, with very big eyes, grasping tightly to his plate.  
  
Max took it from him with a careful hand to aid him in setting it on the table. She handed him a fork and gave him another motherly smile watching him start to shovel the scrambled eggs into his tiny mouth.   
  
Her own children had finished breakfast long ago and were now at their respective places. Jess had begun to go to preschool, in the same place Case had gone, minus "Uncle Donald" trying to work his fucked up magic on her baby. Whatever he was, she still didn't trust him with her children, creator or not, no matter how much he had "changed" Lexi was on a play date, with interestingly enough Asha's five year old niece Suzette. Asha had completely forgotten about babysitting the child, mostly being wrapped up in herself and Zack so much so when her sister-in-law reminded her of it she just about hit the roof. It reminded Max of the time Logan had to baby sit once before they were married (note to readers: I'm talking about Bitsy's child, I know the timeline is off, but bare with it..just pretend...heehee) He had been a major wreck.  
  
Max had suggested that Lexi come along to, basically keep Asha sane. The little girl easily made friends with the other child when Max had dropped her off at Asha's apartment and had coaxed the other girl into a fun game of make believe and coloring, leaving Asha somewhat befuddled but content that she wasn't going to loose her apartment and her sanity to a day of babysitting two little girls. Max had left the woman on the phone with her brother watching the two girls play "spy" around Asha's modestly decorated living room.  
  
This had been going on for a few weeks now, the children being out of the house, so it was kind of a welcome change to have a little one in the house again, doing all the things their own kids did when they spent twenty four hours a day with them.   
  
Michael finished his eggs in quick order and looked at the empty plate so longingly until Max pushed the remainder of her eggs onto his plate.  
  
"Thank you" it was the first words he had spoken to Max since he had arrived at the penthouse yesterday, and even now with the four years of experience she had raising her own kids, it made her puddle just the same  
  
Max put a hand out to smooth down his hair, gently at first to gauge his reaction on it. When he didn't pull away, she touched the brown hair with a smooth stroke, ignoring the pain it produced. "You're very welcome"   
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE  
  
BOKER BAR  
  
"Hey!" the man entered the dimly lit bar, though not with enough gusto to interrupt the football game that was blasting on the suspended TV overhead.   
  
Not getting the reaction he wanted made him pissier and he picked up an empty Heineken bottle and threw it against the wooden wall to illustrate his own frustration.   
  
A few patrons then turned upsettingingly away from the football on TV then to look at the idiot who dared interrupt their Pre-Pulse American past time.   
  
A very heavy set pale white man stood up from one of the bar stools with an even more enraged look on his face the man who interrupted the game. "You got a problem prick? Cause we got a game going on" he walked to him in a way that threatened, like a wolf on the prowl.  
  
The man held up a picture, pulling it out from his black jacket pocket and brandishing it out for the small gathering of random men to see. "You seen him?" he held up an image of a small child, smiling, a professional photograph taken a Christmas time with a fake tree background and a smiling cardboard cut out of Rudolph the Red Nosed Rein Deer. The boy looked to be about two in the photograph with a large smile showing all teeth and dressed in a red sweater and blue jeans.   
  
"Cept he's older now, like four. His mom took him from me and I want to get him back"  
  
The man who wanted to fight with him looked at the photograph for a few seconds, whether or not he was actually looking at it or just faking it, there was no indication, but he did a good show if it was just a fake. "No man. I don't spend time looking at kids. I'm not your old lady"   
  
"I just want to know where my kid is man" he responded, tucking the picture back in his jacket, and blinked.   
  
"Lady came by here a few days ago with a kid" The barkeep looked at him, now breaking his silence. "Young nice body,"  
  
This got his attention "Was the kid a boy?"  
  
"I told you man I didn't pay attention" the barkeep argued while he wiped his filthy counter with one a white rag that was more holes then cloth. "Cept to the woman, she had a damn hot package, all fitted out big knockers, brown hair"   
  
"Where'd she go?"  
  
"She never came inside man how the hell should I know?" the barkeep had stopped wiping the bar and just sat with the rag poised in his hand. "She was driving this red car, nice little sporty thing and the kid was with her, across at that corner market."   
  
"I saw her" the fat white man spoke up "Hot chick is right. She was here yesterday, on a motorcycle and got sideswiped by some car, shame with a body like that" His beady brown eyes were almost black under a head of red/brown hair that was receding in the back under a white Florida Marlins baseball cap  
  
"Was the boy with her?" the man was relentless  
  
The guy with the baseball cap took a moment to think "No, she couldn't fit a kid on that bike. She got splattered pretty good though. The game came back on a few seconds after so I kinda lost interest, and then I turned and she was gone, some boxy car was driving off after that, mighta been her pimp"   
  
"A red car?"  
  
"Fuck man what are you a cop?" the guy took a long swig of his now warm iceless beer "I don't keep tabs on EVERYTHING" his beer mug slammed on the wooden bar with a gentle thump, moving around the water ring that was already there.   
  
The other man blinked again "Look if any of you know anything, I'd come forward or I'd stop looking all googly eyed at me"  
  
No one made a sound "Told you man, I don't know where she went" it was the voice of the barkeep who blinked too, a cruddy blink since he had so much gunk caught between his eyelids.  
  
The man's face turned an even darker shade of red and he turned and stormed out of the bar then without a word. On his way down the alley he wandered off into an alleyway, and stumbled a bit, tripping on a couple of trash bags, but swearing as he hit something hard.  
  
"Fuck it!" he picked himself off from where he had landed on his ass and looked over to what the hell had made him loose his balance. There was something hard, black and chrome lying under the large pile of trash and debris. He pulled the garbage away to reveal the tale end of a motorcycle sticking up through the plastic trash bags.  
  
/"She was riding here yesterday on a motorcycle and got sideswiped by some car"/  
  
A cynical smile came across his face as he pulled out a cellular phone and dialed a local number. The wind blew through his black hair as he waited for the call to connect "Yeah hi, I found a motorcycle abandoned in an alleyway and I'd like to have the owner fined for breaking Seattle Penal Rubbish code 23.92-" He laughed for a moment "No I'm not a cop, I just keep up with the law. Yeah-" one hand reached to scratch his head "It's just a hobby." He turned to look at the tag on the bike "The license number is 34-234B. Sure I'll hang on doll" he hummed to himself "Cay-sera-sera" of all things /"Cay-sera-sera-whatever-will-be-will-be-the-future-looks-bright-to-"/ "Yes? You say that there's NO record of a bike with this tag? That can't be if it's issued it HAS to belong to someone. It's some kind of sport's bike, a Ninja I think, and black- "he sighed this time, frustrated, and pissed off" I'll hang on "he muttered 'bitch' under his breath while he waited to fake sweet talk the woman again "There was a bike like matching this description confiscated by Sector Police before?" a smile was back "Who owned it? You have a last address?" the smile grew larger.   
  
Rodger always like bikes, he had worked in a bike shop. That's how he knew so much, and how he had met that super fine bitch who had taken his son away from him. She had been a good hump from the start but she had always had a way to fuck his buttons. But that was all about to correct itself.  
  
*****   
  
SECTOR 10  
  
Cindy sat on the couch in a maroon and black leopard printed top painting her toenails a deep purple. Her thoughts were so entranced into concentrating on the nails propped up on the coffee table that she barely missed the knock at the door. "Hold up" she picked up the remote beside her bottle of nail polish and turned down the TV to a dull muted sound.   
  
The knocking grew louder   
  
"I said hold up!" Cindy's voice was getting 'Ms. Thang and don't you uh-uh me' tone. She stood up and waddled with cotton and wet toenails to answer the front door.   
  
Upon opening it the face of a man greeted her, a strange man, a creepy man.  
  
"Look sugah whatever you're sellin' Original Cindy ain't buyin. So you can just take your Amway, Avon sellin' vaccume cleanin' trip somewhere else-'" she went to shut the door but the man pushed it in, hard  
  
"Now hold up with that whack crap!" Cindy stated, making her presence known, holding the door tighter with one shoulder that was bare because she was wearing a purple tank top.  
  
"Where is she?" the man knocked in the door all the way, making Cindy fly backwards and hit her butt hard on the floor, the cotton falling off her toenails and scattering around her bare feet like tiny little snow balls.  
  
Cindy scrambled to her feet and grabbed the first thing that was handy to her, a serrated kitchen knife from off the counter, holding it out in front of her in a position of attack "Original Cindy's the only 'she' around here whacko and you better get the hell outta her house before SHE breaks your ass!"  
  
"Where are you hiding the kid?"  
  
Cindy was still confused "What kid? Freako I'm ain't got no seeds, I'm straight up lesbian and even if I was you'd never get a nasty ass hand on a child!" the knife blade lunged, missing, but keeping safety distance between this freak and herself.  
  
"I know she got in that motorcycle accident bitch!" he came closer, but Cindy kept her distance with the knife, lunging again and this time hitting the flesh of the man's arm.   
  
He flinched, but the action didn't really faze him, he was forever relentless in his fury. He grabbed Cindy and shoved her onto the counter. "I know she lived here-" he grabbed her by the neck about to choke her.  
  
"Surprise!" a voice made the two people in the room turn and made the person who said it gasp.  
  
In an action of complete shock Kendra dropped her hands, dropped her Dior knock off hand bag and screamed. Before she got the chance to get the words out Walter was in the room with a gun aimed on Cindy's attacker. He was in full riot gear, which made him look ridiculous for this basic low risk task.   
  
Walter screamed like a true cop "Back away from her!" he fired a warning shot in the air.  
  
The man flinched at the noise and released Cindy, only out of worry of being shot "Tell me where she is bitch!"   
  
Walter grabbed the man by the arm, pulling him away from Cindy. He fought back like a bear, punching the sector cop in the stomach. Walter gasped, doubling down to his knees  
  
"Oh god baby-" Kendra exclaimed, but really made no move do to anything. She was still kind of a wuss about things like this, a girlie girl.  
  
Walter struck the man in the face. Blood gushed out of his nose and hit his uniform shirt, spattering it with crimson "That's enough!" Walter reached for his handcuffs, trying to pull them on the man, but being older then him he was overpowered and thrown to the floor, the handcuffs clattering around him like Cindy's cotton balls had done earlier.  
  
"Where is she? That bitch has my kid! Her motorcycle was traced to your address you slut!" he slapped Cindy hard in the face, making her fall back again. This time she caught herself on the coffee table.   
  
"Look calm down okay?" This time Kendra tried to do something besides play damsel in distress "We don't know about any kid. She doesn't know either-"  
  
"I want my boy back. That bitch has my boy-" the man spied a piece of mail on Cindy's coffee table, something that read: "Max 363 Lyell" on the return address. He didn't say anything, but there was a change in his gaze, a dangerous change, one that was about to commit one of the seven deadly sins.   
  
It suddenly dawned on Cindy what was happening, and she turned tail to run into her bedroom while the man was distracted with Kendra. She grabbed her phone off her bed and went into her closet dialing the auto dialer number one. It rang twice, three times-the bedroom door opened and Cindy went quiet, shrinking in the back of her closet, not making a sound. Her favorite red sling back dress brushed against her face and she had to keep from sneezing because it was made from cashmiere The closet door flew open a few seconds later, the idiot was an idiot, but he found her  
  
"Leave me alone fool!" Cindy hit him in the head with the phone, which did stun him and clawed her way out of the closet, making sure to hang up the call so he couldn't find out where she was calling too.  
  
This time he didn't go after her but ran out of the apartment. Kendra immediately raced over to Cindy, her eyes were wide, mascara running around the sides of her lids, making her look like a raccoon the prowl. And that would have been enough to be funny if the situation wasn't so damn serious"Oh god are you okay? What the hell was that?"  
  
"Not now hun" Cindy grabbed her phone, pulling herself to her feet and dialed the number again.  
  
Walter was still standing there, gun in the air, calling on his radio for backup. Cindy had a million and one questions for Kendra coming back but right now her mind was somewhere more important  
  
This time someone picked up.   
  
"Max" Cindy's voice was frantic, but hurrying along to get in her end of the conversation "Some whack boy was here, he's looking for your girl. Get her out of the house"  
  
"How does he know where I live?" Max wanted to know  
  
"I'd never give it away normally sugah, but freak ass boy just grabbed some mail and found his own 411"  
  
"I'm on it" Max said, "You okay? Did he hurt you?"  
  
"I've been better boo, but I'm worried about him hurtin' you, you're not exactly up to par."  
  
"I've handled worse flat on my ass" Max assured her "I'd say bye, but this is not one of those moments" she disconnected the call, looking to Logan who was in the living room, paying attention to her talking on the phone. "Get them out and under lock down" she talked like a soldier to Logan about putting Sara and Michael in hiding. "The bedroom, lock them in, best we can do on short notice."  
  
"Take them next door" Logan corrected, "Mrs. Moreno went to visit her daughter out of town and asked me to water her plants" he tossed Max the key, and she caught it in one hand.  
  
"I'm not running" Sara stood beside Michael picking him up off the chair he had been sitting in.  
  
"It's just next door" Max didn't pay attention to her remark "We gotta get you two outta here"  
  
"No Maxie" Sara looked the other woman dead in the eye "Daddy never let me run away. He always told me to stay" her hand not clutching her son's was balled into a fist so tight that the nails were digging into it and making her whole palm red. "If he wants to kill me he'll eventually do it-" she put her face to her son, holding his head to hers with one fierce loving hand, then she looked at the boy with such love that there was none like it before or after on any human face, except for the Christian believers who saw the face of Jesus and it touched them.   
  
Without a sound or another movement Sara kissed Michael as hard and deep and motherly as she could. "You know mommy loves you very much baby right?" she stroked his hair again  
  
Michael just nodded at her, indifferent; he already knew she loved him.  
  
"Okay" she kissed him again, a kiss Max read as something to remember her by, in case. She looked to Max with the look that only one mother to another could understand "Take him into that other apartment. If Rodger wants to find me, he'll find me here, but he's not getting my son"  
  
Max picked up the boy from Sara's arms "Wanna go on a great adventure kiddo?" she headed the boy out of the room and out the door to the apartment of Mrs. Moreno. She had no sooner started limping inside the building and shut the door when the sound of the elevator on their floor opened, like it was a staged skit on some dramatic TV show about their lives.   
  
Inside the apartment Logan opened the drawer to his computer desk and picked up his gun, unlocking the safety from it, again like it was staged and he was on a TV show. Like that could ever happen, TV about a woman who escaped from a secret government facility.   
  
The door didn't open like a normal door it was busted open, and a dark haired man entered. He eyed the penthouse only briefly, before settling his eyes on the woman.  
  
"Where is he skank?" Before he could lunge Logan aimed the gun at him "Unless you want this to end badly I suggest you turn around and leave"  
  
"Naw this ain't gonna end badly prick" 'Rodger' Sara's boyfriend finally had a name "Cause Sara's gonna give me what's mine."  
  
"You were never a father to him and now you want him?" Sara finally spoke out for herself, eyeing her ex warily and with frightened eyes. She looked like half feral wild cat have caged rabbit.  
  
"Yeah I want him, he's half my kid bitch! You have no right to keep him from me!"  
  
"What do you want with him Rodger?" Sara did her best to stand up for herself, trying to break the cycle that started a long time ago.  
  
/FLASH: "What do you want with her daddy?" Lucy looked to her father who was trying to drag Max out of bed, who had been weakened by seizures that night.  
  
Lucy's father grabbed the girl by her shirt and pulled her up "She needs to learn her place"/  
  
"He needs a man to show him his place" at that moment Rodger's eyes and her father's eyes were exactly the same.  
  
Someone tapped Rodger on the shoulder and he turned around in time to face Max's fist punching him in the face. Rodger reeled back and landed on the floor, blood dripping out of his noise "You didn't need a man to show you yours" she looked down at him on his ass.  
  
Rodger jumped up and looked at her hatefully "You bitch!" he grabbed her by the shoulder and   
  
Max reeled around and snatched his arm and threw him back down "You also wanna watch who you call a bitch"   
  
Rodger kicked her legs out from under her and because of her weakened condition she fell, landing hard on the floor.   
  
"I know whose the bitch!" he left her there pulling out gun of his own and going for Sara "Once you're gone, you can't tell me I can't have my son" he grabbed her by the neck and pointed the gun at her chest "What's mine is mine." His hands found the fly of her jeans "Though I wouldn't mind doin' ya one time before ya hafta take the train to another slam city" his hands reached out to grab her crotch, then he pointed the gun at it when she resisted "You don't want to share kids with me, I'll fix it so you can't have kids at all-" the gun when off, and in a flurry of activity Rodger was jumped on by Max and Sara was knocked out of the way, and both women were thrown to the floor, the off shot bullet had hit Sara in her thigh  
  
Logan grabbed the gun before Rodger could, pointing it and his own at Rodger's face "Don't move!"  
  
"Freeze!" everyone's timing seemed to be perfect because Kendra's cop boyfriend chose that moment to come in brandishing his gun and still in his riot gear "Get down you punk monkey! You're not getting the run on me this time! PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" Walter was very assertive; one of the reasons Kendra probably liked him.  
  
With Rodger being handled by Walter Logan dropped his gun and knelt next to Max who to his horror, had started seizing again, after a year and a half of nothing  
  
"Max!" he pulled her body off of Lucy, but Max protested, "She's bleeding hard from her femoral artery, she needs a doctor-" her hands were shaking but she held them onto Sara's bleeding calf. "She could loose too much blood-" the rest of the words were lost on her own shaking.   
  
"You need meds-" Logan couldn't believe that he had just thrown out the expired bottle. Max hadn't had seizures in over a year.  
  
"God Max-" Kendra was more worried now then happy at seeing her old friend "Man we could've met better"  
  
Max turned her head towards Kendra's voice "Hey girl-you came back for the party-" her shaking happened again "I would've baked a cake or something"   
  
"We don't have any more tryptophan-" Logan cut into the conversation. "Dammit, why did I through out that bottle-" all his scolding didn't do anything to lessen his worry as he watched his wife shake in his arms.  
  
"Tinga" he suddenly remembered a vital part of information "She has some-"  
  
"Yeah I need an ambulance to 363 Lyell, there's been a woman shot here-" Cindy seemed to be taking charge of the situation in the midst of this chaos and the sounds of Rodger being handcuffed. "Well tell them to hurry the hell up!" she hung up the phone and looked worridly to Max. "Take her Logan to her sistah, I'll stay here with Sara until the meds come rollin'"  
  
Logan didn't say anything, the worry was still there. Max was shaking so bad that he had to pick her up in his arms and carry her out the door. It would be faster for him to drive there then for Tinga to come.   
  
*****   
  
"Tinga?"  
  
"Logan?"  
  
"Something's wrong. We need your tryp"  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Max is seizing"  
  
"How long?"  
  
"Ten minutes now. They haven't been letting up. God she's so cold-"  
  
"I'll get it Logan-"  
  
"I'm on my way over to your place"  
  
"I'm waiting"  
  
*****   
  
"What do we have?" the medic dropped his kit beside Sara, looking at the wound in her leg, yet still asking what was the problem  
  
"She got shot miracle worker" Cindy let him know straight out "Do your job and quit asking dumb questions!"   
  
Another medic opened up the kit, looking at the bullet in Sara's thigh. The door to the apartment creaked open, revealing the face of Michael looking inside  
  
"Mommy-" he called to Sara, but he still couldn't see her.  
  
Sara was panting from the pain, but still looked to her son "Oh god-" a raspy breath "Please-" her eyes were pleading towards Cindy "Please don't let him see me, it'll scare him-"  
  
"Mommy-" it was too late.  
  
Cindy picked up the little boy who struggled against her "It's okay boo. Mommy will be okay-"  
  
"Mommy!"  
  
*****   
  
"Max!" Charlie opened his front door with a gasp when he saw how pale his sister-in-law looked being carried in their apartment by Logan.   
  
Tinga rushed forward, taking charge of the situation. She felt Max's pulse, wiping some sweat off her sister's brow in the process "Put her on the couch"   
  
Tinga knelt down next to Max's shaking body, injecting a needle into her arm, liquid tryptophan, also taking in all the brusing around her body "Damn, what the hell happened to you baby sister?" the needle went in.  
  
*****  
  
"Start her on a IV drip, push 20 cc's of Demerol for pain" the medic stuck the IV in Sara's arm as she was being wheeled outside on the stretcher  
  
Cindy held onto Michael, who had finally calmed down enough to let the woman hold him.  
  
"Where's mommy going?" Michael looked wild eyed at the retreating form of his mother  
  
"She'll be okay" Cindy rubbed Michael's back, talking soothing to him like he was her own son  
  
*****   
  
"You'll be okay Maxie" Tinga rubbed her sister's forehead with a wet rag, smoothing down her brown hair. She stuck a thermometer in Max's ear and after pulling it out observed the temperature for a moment, a long moment  
  
Logan looked worried from his spot next to his wife on the black and red sofa. Extremely worried "What is it?"  
  
Tinga looked from Max to Logan, and then back to Max. The two sisters shared a look "Temps 99.6" Tinga blinked "Are you on your time?"  
  
Max gave a half nod, sharing something that only she and Tinga seemed to know about.  
  
"On what?" Logan was way past antsy and was heading towards pissed "What the hell is going on?"   
  
Tinga looked up to her brother in law "Her temps up slightly, her seizures are back. Her body is getting shocked with something it hasn't dealt with in a while. Her serration is low again because it's being redirected towards one place" Tinga's brown eyes locked on his, her long ponytail unwavering  
  
"What the hell are you saying?" Logan wasn't anymore enlightened  
  
"She's pregnant" Tinga finally came out and said it  
  
*****   
  
"Negative on the pregnancy" The RN looked at the test   
  
"Good" the doctor looked over to Sara who was on the gurney "That means we don't have to go lenient on the drips for this procedure" he put his face right up to Sara "Ma'am we need to take you to the OR to repair the damage to your leg. Is there anyone you'd like me to call?" the doctor's brown hair was concealed in his cap.  
  
Sara shook her head as best she could, looking up to the doctor with bleary pained eyes "My son, he's outside, please talk to him if I-"  
  
"You'll be fine ma'am. The tear isn't that bad" the doctor sounded reassuring to her while the OR set up for the surgery.  
  
*****   
  
"You look about five weeks along Maxie. I don't see any tears in the sac or any dissattachements of the placenta from the uterus-"The whir of a sonogram machine was heard in Tinga's apartment and the face of Syl was right next to it. Being a midwife paid off very well. "Always seem to forget that Manticore moms always start loosing serration after the first month" Syl came over after Tinga called, pulling the sonogram machine, actually stealing it from the hospital where she worked for a few weeks to get her apartment. Syl had good timing as well, she also happened to be in Seattle at the moment Max needed a sonogram. It WOULD'VE made a very interesting TV show their lives.  
  
Syl stopped the wand, showing a small image of the tiny embryo, which was just big enough to be picked up on the machine. "How do you feel?"  
  
Max took a breath, looking at the image, asking with her eyes  
  
"Baby looks fine Maxie" Syl reassured " Strong healthy heartbeat. No damage from the accident, thank god. It's you I'm worried about"  
  
Max breathed then "I'm okay" she felt Logan take her hand and squeeze it  
  
*****   
  
"It's okay mommy" Michael looked at Sara who had just been admitted to a private room after a successful surgery.  
  
Sara reached up with an IV hand to stroke Michael's head. She was still groggy from anesthesia, but seeing her son alive made her smile. Michael hugged her hard then and tears hit his hair as she hugged him. Only this time she felt so much relief that something was finally over.  
  
*****  
  
ONE WEEK LATER   
  
SOUTH SIDE MARKET BUS STATION  
  
"Will the baby have to have my room?" Jessie stood beside Max at the Southside train station where Sara stood with bags packed with Michael at her side. People rustled in and out of the busy mark  
  
Max glanced down at her son. Ever since she told him he was going to have another sibling he'd been worrying about that. "No honey. You may have to double up with Lexi cause we just about ran out of room" she felt pretty good right now, healing up nicely, little bit of morning sickness was hitting her. And all this time she thought she had eaten her breakfast too fast.  
  
"Mommy no!" Jess complained "Why'd you have a baby now anyway?"  
  
"Ask daddy" Max made a joke of it, although Logan wasn't there to defend himself. Her eyes drifted upwards to Sara, who was on crutches but looking considerably better then the last time they met. Max handed her a small white envelope containing two tickets on the bus to go to Canada. It had all been arranged by Logan to send Sara there, to start over, give her and Michael a chance at a real life.  
  
Both women just stared at each other with a unifying look, not knowing what to say, or really how to start.  
  
"Call when you get there" it was Max who broke the silence with this remark, the wind blowing her hair slightly, making it dance across her face. She also looked considerably better then last week. She was Max, so that came naturally, and in her "condition" she was glowing.   
  
Sara was speechless for long moments. There had been so much happening in such a short amount of time. She really had no idea what to say to the woman who had taken her and her son in.   
  
"Maxie I-" she started to say something but was at a loss for words. Her lips trembled on a word that wouldn't escape her mouth, and in the next instant she locked her arms around Max in a deep hug.  
  
/FLASH: Lucy looked to Max with big eyes as she hugged her "I've always wanted a sister" She could see her father looking at her the whole time, but she didn't care/  
  
Max hugged her back just as strongly. She pulled back to look at Sara and Michael both "You're gonna be okay. You're informant at the U.S. line is Richard. He'll set you up with your place, sector passes, everything"   
  
Sara looked back to Max again She watched everything through her blue eyes. "If the baby's a girl-"  
  
"Lucy's my mom's name anyway so it'll be win win" Max answered what the woman was trying to say but couldn't. "She doesn't have any kids named after her"  
  
"Sara" Sara corrected, she didn't want to be reminded of Lucy, of all the things Lucy had to go through. At least Sara was grown woman and could defend for herself. At least Sara had one man who would always love her.  
  
"How about both?" Max struck a balance "Sara-Lucy Cale?"   
  
This got Sara to smile "You're mom's Spanish right?" she didn't wait for an answer "How about Lucia Sara Cale instead? It sounds better, plus it'll make her happier" her voice was longing, she never had a mother, and never even got a chance to know hers like Max did. Her mom had gone a long time ago, somewhere where Daddy wouldn't tell her. She just hopped it was heaven.  
  
Max smiled "Deal" there was a long second "Take care of yourself" she touched Sara's shoulder and backed away so she could board the bus.   
  
Michael waved at her from the rickety bus window and Max had to wave back at a gesture so enthusiastic  
  
The motor of the bus rolled over, coughed, and roared to life pulling out of the shabby station.   
  
MAX: V.O. "Sometimes it's hard to figure out who you are and where you're going-" (she watches the bus leave)  
  
(FADE OUT TO SHOT OF MAX ON SPACE NEEDLE ALONE AT NIGHT. SHE WALKS A FEW FEET AND SITS DOWN ON THE COLD METAL, STARING OUT INTO THE BROKEN CITY)  
  
MAX V.O "I've always agonized over what happened to Lucy because I didn't want to save her. I only wanted to save myself-"  
  
/FLASH: her father slaps Lucy to the ground and she cries. Max waits in the corner alone, silently for her turn/  
  
MAX (V.O) "But in a way I guess I did save her-"  
  
/FLASH: to scene at hospital where Max gave birth to Lexi. Sara is her roommate, looking over at her newborn son Michael sleeping in his little plastic "tray" Her eyes are so loving, the eyes of a mother/  
  
MAX (V.O) "I owed her one anyway" (a pause as Max smiles, looking out into the sky) "Guess I'm gonna have to go through the ups and downs of hormonisms again. But it's not that bad. As long as I get my reward in the end" (her smile broadens) "Lucia Sara Cale. If he's a boy he's just gonna have to deal with that name, maybe Luke or something, cause I owe something to someone and we won't love him any less because of it. Kendra's back now so she'll want in on the name early so she can go buy monogrammed stuff, even though I still have a butt load of it from the other pregnancies"  
  
(ANOTHER LONG PAUSE THEN) "Another baby, name after another sister. That is awesome"  
  
*****   
  
END   
  
WHOOO!!!! I did it WHOOOO!!!!! Heehe...ya like my "Female Trouble" ending? I just thought of it...and I swear on everything that is holy and righteous this is the last kid the Cale's are having...I like big families but too many children just makes it hectic. I debated long and hard about doing this..and well my story so there...no I just thought...well I never had Lucia is there for Max like mothers do when their 'kids' are pregnant. And the bits about it being like a TV show..i've had so much worry over the last few days I need to unwind, and was soo fitting..cause lots of times TV shows are so conviently staged where everything fits perfectly and timing is never off. So why not make fun of it?  
  
This took too damn long, I've been in a funk and sick...still sick but I gotta do something.   
  
Let me know what ya think...and free cake if ya come to the celebration party.  
  
Peace  
  
mystic 


	20. Youth of the Nation

CHOICES 21-"Youth of the Nation"  
  
AUTHOR: Mystic25  
  
EMAIL: little_girl_island34@hotmail.com  
  
SUMMARY: Max attends a genetics conference with Kendra, but the day turns deadly when a terrorists movement takes the event hostage   
  
DISCLAIMER: I own everyone who isn't Cameron's, unless he wants to make me an offer.  
  
A/N: SORRY it took so long to get this up, no real excuse for me, just sorry. In case the summary sounds familiar, it is. This is my version of the Season one episode "Prodigy" I've had two attempts at this chapter so far, then I decided to go with this. I enjoy setting old episodes into my fanfic time line. I know I write things with a lot of hostage situations and such, but I don't like the whole 'sit down and wine and dine' story line, there's only so much cuddling I can take.   
  
A/N #2: A side note to the title; it's the name of a song from the band "POD"  
  
THANK YOU'S: Major props to my beta Sammi for all her great "polishing" work on this.  
  
*****  
  
"I was not a child prodigy, because a child prodigy is a child who knows as much when it is a child as it does when it grows up."  
  
~Will Rogers  
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
9:35 A.M  
  
"Mommy this stuff stinks!" Lexi complained loudly at the smell of the peppermint extract and baking soda shampoo combination that Max was using at the current moment to wash her daughter's hair. "Why can't I use the strawberry one?"  
  
"Sorry baby," Max worked the homemade shampoo into Lexi's wet brown hair. "The store doesn't carry that brand anymore." A group of teenage protestors had torched a warehouse shipment that was headed towards one of the only remaining chain stores in the city two weeks ago, protesting against supplying things such as Q-tips to a store's shelves when the aisles where food was suppose to be stocked remained empty. In a lame effort to keep other businesses from becoming targets the sector police shut down all major business in the area for an "indefinite" amount of time. The streets were now filled with people waiting to buy off the black market or swapping recipes to improvise on items like shampoo, baby powder, even coffee.   
  
"Tilt your head back," Max raised the shower head sprayer and rinsed out the small amount of foam from Lexi's hair. "Done," she smiled at the three year old, "Hop on out."  
  
Lexi wriggled her small naked body over the edge of the bear claw tub, stepping on the plush bath mat and into the blue cotton towel Max held out for her.  
  
Max rubbed Lexi's growing brown hair dry with one edge of the towel and wrapped the other around her body which served as more then enough covering for her. "Think ya can get dressed on your own or you need some help?"  
  
"Mommy-" Lexi wasn't even a teenager yet, but she had that annoyed tone down pat.  
  
"Hey sorry girl," Max held up one hand. "Didn't know I was talkin' to a big league playa" she kissed her on the forehead "Aiight, go get changed in your room and come out to let me see the threads kay?"  
  
"Kay mommy," Lexi agreed. She looked down towards her mother's stomach which was now enlarged in five months of pregnancy. "I'm going to change now Lucy, but I'll come back." Max had already told her kids the name she had picked out for the baby. This time she had found out the sex when the ultrasound tech asked her about it. After she had done the "surprise" thing with Alexis she wanted to know the sex. It gave her more of a chance to start bonding with the baby.   
  
"Hey honey," Kendra lifted her black boot clad leg to let the little girl pass under it. "Where are you headed?"  
  
"I'm gonna put on my yellow sweater to show you aunt Kendra!" Lexi informed on her way to her bedroom down the hall.  
  
"Okay girl. I'll be waiting out here with your mommy to see it." Kendra turned towards Max with a smile. "She's really grown up, she's starting to act like you." She leaned carefully on the   
  
doorframe so her white crocheted button up sweater wouldn't get snagged. "But that just means she's learning from the best," she smiled again. "How'd my shampoo go over? " She had stopped in to give Max two bottles of homemade shampoo she had concocted last week. Max wasn't exactly hurting for money anymore being married to Logan, but this business shut down had affected people from every walk of life. "The peppermint oil makes for a heavenly aroma and it also cleanses the scalp to the extreme."  
  
"She didn't take to the smell, but you get my props for a good improv." Max praised Kendra's handiwork. "What I don't get is, we're in a marketplace lock down due to our corrupt city government but you can still find peppermint oil."  
  
Kendra looked at her with a sly smile. "If you know the right people." she watched her friend pull herself up into a standing position "Lexi's not the only one who's really grown." She waited a few seconds as Max walked over to her before continuing. "You gonna let me have my way into naming this one?"   
  
"Honey-" Max put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Morgan's a name that's just gonna get my baby beat up on the playground."  
  
"Like any of that matters with a mom like you Max." Kendra had chosen the name Morgan when Max was pregnant the first time, but like now it didn't take. "I'm sure you'd have his back."  
  
"True," Max admitted, letting her hair down from the green butterfly clip she had stuck it up in. "But I already told my mom I'd give her the honors." she raked her fingers through the long brown length to loosen any snarls in it.   
  
"Glad to see you're connecting with her," Kendra hadn't met Lucia yet, but she had heard about her. "I just hope you're not getting involved too deep with someone who's just gonna hurt you." Kendra's mother had given birth to her at seventeen and had put her up for adoption when she was born. She had tracked her down when she was twelve, only to have the woman tell her that she wanted nothing to do with her. All this for the soul reason Kendra took after her biological father, her mother's exboyfriend.   
  
"It's coo'. " Max reassured her, silently touched at her concern. She knew the deal with Kendra's past. "At first I thought she was runnin' a scam, but I haven't been played for a fool yet."  
  
"So long as you're happy girl."   
  
"Oh I'm there," Max agreed. She killed the lights in the bathroom and headed through the hallway to the dining room where Kendra immediately picked up a packet of paper several sheets thick from the marble table in the center of the floor.  
  
"Hey Max how do you spell- uh-" Kendra took a moment to look at her typed sheet to try and pronounce the word as best she could. "Poly-merase?"   
  
"P-o-l-y-m-e-r-a-s-E," Max spelled out the word for her. "Except it's pronounced "Poly-meraze with a "z" like enzyme, which is what it is. Responsible for the duplication of the DNA molecule by allowing oglionucleiotides primers to bond to the individual strands. Scientists became interested in it in the US, Japan and China after molecular biologists from South Africa discovered a way to clone an entire DNA pattern of a human being without sub coming the copy to any defects at the chromosome level."  
  
"You're such a dork you know that?" Although Max had just rattled off facts that would probably get her on a research committee at any bio tech laboratory Kendra thought she was kidding.   
  
Max nodded at the stapled papers in Kendra's right hand "What's all that?" she let the dork remark slide. Original Cindy and Alec were the only two of Max's friends who knew the nature of her background, Alec for very obvious reasons of course. Kendra was Max's girl, but Max had just been closer to Cindy and never found opportunity to tell her other friend what her real deal was.  
  
"Got a gig for this Japanese doctor who's in town," Kendra's voice was proud as she told Max she landed a higher second job then just translating racing forums for Japanese businessmen. "He's giving a paper on gene sequencing, RNA nucleotides and correcting genetic abnormalities at the cellular base. Don't ask me what any of them mean. All I know is this job pays cold hard cash."  
  
"Nice," Max nodded her head in approval. "You want some coffee? I need my fix."  
  
"Max uh it's nine o'clock in the evening, and I don't think it's a good thing to be drinking caffeine when you're five months pregnant."  
  
"I've been through this drill before girl," Max walked into her kitchen in bare feet with a tiny silver toe ring on her middle toe. It had been a late birthday present from Lucia. Max didn't normally wear jewelry with the exception of her wedding and anniversary rings, but she liked the color of it, and the reason it had been given to her. She opened the cabinet right above the black Hamilton Beach coffee maker sitting on the counter top and pulled out a bag of Columbian Supreme Decaf. "It doesn't matter the time or the condition I'm in. I've gotta get my coffee no matter what. 'Cept on some occasions I just gotta go with the virgin stuff." she held out the decaf up so Kendra could see what had been brewed in the coffee pot. "You can't tell me that there's not something satisfying about having authentic Columbian Supreme instead of that freeze dried crap you have to get off the back of the ration supply truck."  
  
Kendra inhaled imaginary coffee aroma fumes and sighed with content. "You're right about that. Walter managed to find real provolone cheese last week at some boarded up shop at the South Side Market, but I'd give it all up for one cup of real coffee." She opened her eyes and came back down to earth for a moment. "Makes me kind of wish I held out for a handsome man like you who has enough money to hire Juan Valdez to personally pick my coffee."  
  
Max handed her a green stoneware mug filled with the black steaming liquid. "Girl I think you better drink this before you keep goin' whack with hallucinations." She paused to take a sip from her own mug. "I thought Walter was totally movin' your furniture."  
  
"Oh he is Max. Believe me he is." she took a sip from the mug in her hands. "Damn this is the next best thing to sex, even if it's decaf." She sighed deeply in the back of her throat "Maybe if this thing holds together long enough we'll be shacked up as tightly as you and Logan."  
  
"So long as there's not some hot doctor at this genetics conference to sweep you off your Faragomas."  
  
"Knock off Faragomas Max." Kendra examined her black leather stiletto boots she had gotten off the black market. They were a steal for twenty dollars; even generic designer brands were high up on the expensive items list. "And Walter and I are perfectly happy with our love set up." She drank from her cup again. "This whole conference is kind of dope. This doctor-Tanaka, he took a premie crack baby with no chance of a normal mind- kid had the IQ of celery, and turned him into a genius." She held up a photograph of a little boy in with a Page boy haircut and silver wire frame glasses staring down at a chessboard with rapt interest. "Isn't he cute?"  
  
Max studied the picture in front of her. "So they eradicated the problem by futzing with his genes after he was born?"  
  
"Guess so." Kendra smiled at the photo "He almost looks like our man Jesse except for the glasses. 'And Jess is cuter then this of course."  
  
"But this kid comes in at a close second," Max, took the photo from her with her right hand "Mind if I tag along for the event? I'm kinda a buff when it comes to gene sequencing and DNA duplication."  
  
"That's kind of why I'm here-" her eyes adapted a guilty puppy dog look, "You see this conference is in the high end of town and you need a class three security pass to even get into the hotel." She put down her coffee cup,"So I was hoping-"she linked her fingers together and lowered her hands to her lap in an act of nervousness. "That Logan could hook me up with a pass. I know they issue them to all the wealthy businessmen in the area and with Logan owning his fare share in his family's industries-"  
  
"Kendra you're babbling," Max tried not to laugh at her girl's fidgeting. "I got you covered." She glanced over the brochures Kendra had laid on the counter of the Stienlitz Hotel where the conference was being held. "They puttin' you up in this high end crib for the event?"  
  
"Not a chance," Kendra said sadly. "I could've scored some towels in a place as nice as that. But since Walter and I only need one I guess it's not that big of a deal-"  
  
Max made a disgusted face. "I will get Logan to get you in the front row if you keep your water conservation techniques to yourself."  
  
"Front row of what?" Logan rounded the corner into his kitchen with a mesh bag of groceries in one hand that he had just picked up at the South Side Market; at one of the stalls the cops couldn't close because it was on the black market and hidden in an alleyway. He set the bag on the counter, pulling out a head of lettuce on the very top. "Hey Kendra how's it going?" He kissed the woman on the cheek before unpacking his load. He had gotten lucky by finding a stall owner who smuggled items from a supermarket to her shop. There was almost a twenty-five person long line, but most of them had nowhere else to buy food.  
  
"Can't complain at all Logan." Kendra smiled at the kiss Logan had given her. He was the nicest man Max had ever hooked up with and she couldn't be happier for her friend for keeping him.   
  
"Kendra got a job as a research assistant for a Japanese doctor, Tanaka." Max began regaling Logan with the conversation that was going on before he had come in.   
  
"Really? That's fantastic." Logan agreed, "Tanaka? Isn't he the genetics doctor giving that conference tomorrow?"  
  
"Yeah," Kendra agreed. "He hired me to translate his research report from Japanese to English and wants me there to keep his work organized during the event." She looked to Max, silently reminding her of their deal.  
  
"Kendra was wonderin' if you could hook her up with a security pass for the Steinlitz Hotel where the conference is goin' down tomorrow mornin'." Max asked.  
  
"If it's not a problem I mean." Kendra jumped in, turning on the charm with her big eyes, not for seduction, but for guilt.   
  
"I think I can meet that request." Logan put the last item in the grocery bag inside the freezer and shut the door. "I'll drop it off at your place before you leave in the morning."  
  
"Really?" Kendra stepped over to Logan and hugged him. "Thanks. I appreciate this a whole lot."  
  
"You're welcome," Logan told her after Kendra pulled back. "Is 9:30 okay for you?"  
  
"Fine, I have to be at the conference at ten anyways." She looked to Max "This one's a keeper girl."  
  
"Oh I already know Kendra." Max agreed.   
  
"So I better get going." Kendra walked out of the kitchen to grab her black knee length suede coat with the feathery pattern on the front. "Thanks for the coffee Max," she hugged her. "Ooo-" she pulled back when she felt the baby in Max's stomach kick out against her body "I'm not the only one who wants to get her show in the road" she put a hand on her friend's belly "Ride it out a few more months kiddo and Auntie Kendra will give you the best coming out party you've ever seen." She attempted to kiss Max's belly but Max stoped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Kendra I love ya, but stick to kissin' my baby after she's born."  
  
Kendra made a sheepish face. "Sorry." she pulled back. "See ya tommorow then?"  
  
"Aunt Kendra you didn't see my sweater!" Lexi came running out to the living room, buttoning up her canary yellow sweater over her dark blue jeans.  
  
Kendra caught her when Lexi leapt into her arms. "Sorry honey I almost forgot." She held her at arms length to look at her clothes "I would say that's one great outfit." she kissed her "You are definitely going to turn some heads in that." She kissed her again, on the nose.  
  
"You think it's slammin like Aunt Cindy said?"  
  
Kendra laughed "Most defiantly. Alexis Marie Cale is the most slamming girl in Seattle." She set her down on her feet, turning her attention back to Max "Can you pick me up tomorrow Max? I hate to take the bus, it'll look so unprofessional." she lowered Lexi back down to a standing position on the floor.  
  
"I'll be there at nine thirty with the passes." Max said. "I'd hate to be a contributor to any non-professional behavior."  
  
"Great." Kendra adjusted her black purse strap to sit more over her right shoulder. "Who knows? With the right kind of sweet talk I still might be able to score my free towels." she walked over to the door and opened it. "Buy guys," she waved at them once more before heading out.  
  
Max chuckled softly at Kendra's remark. "So you bring me the merchandise?"  
  
"What merchandise baby?" Logan turned back to his wife, confusion on his face, which he masked a few seconds later to pick up his daughter, "You all set for school today kiddo?"  
  
"Daddy it's vacation," Lexi stated in a matter-of-fact voice that sounded almost identical to her mother's. Every two months all teachers, from preschool level to PhD professors were required to pass a federal mandated teaching exam. This was enacted after a case at an elementary school two years after the Pulse where a second grade teacher was arrested for preaching the Communist Manifesto to his class.  
  
"Oh that's right I forgot." Logan rested his forehead against her's. "Well then Jess said something about playing fetch with Kaja this morning, why don't you find him?"  
  
"Kay daddy I have to help, he can't throw at all." She squirmed to be set down, and after her feet touched the floor she took off to find her brother.  
  
"You hard of hearing or something? Actually one of my facilities that's still in tact," Max remarked of Logan's early question after Lexi had left to go find Jesse.  
  
"I knew you had that 'Logan I want something' look on your face" he stepped over to her and kissed her.  
  
"Don't I always?" she quipped, falling into the kiss. "Was that sugar to suck up cause you didn't make good on the deal?"  
  
"No, it's because I love you and think you look just a little hot standing here right now." he gave her a sexy smile.  
  
"Nice answer," she pulled closer for another, longer kiss. "Now where is it?"  
  
He drew back from his wife, with a small sigh that he hid. He couldn't believe that he had just gotten interrupted, by food of all things. "It's in the freezer."  
  
She walked over to the black door for the freezer side of their refrigerator and looked for the item she wanted. "Ben and Jerry's Raspberry and Dark Chocolate." She pulled out the pint sized container of ice cream and closed the door, snagging a spoon from the drawer beside the fridge a few seconds later. "You are so the man right now."  
  
"A guy likes to hear that from his wife every once in a while," he gave her a coy smile. "I was just lucky that Tamika had that in stock. Ben and Jerry's went almost non existent after the Pulse."  
  
"You got connections baby," she spoke around a spoonful of ice cream. "Nothing the all-powerful Eyes Only can't handle."  
  
"Speaking of connections." Logan had to suppress a laugh at his wife almost diving head first into her ice cream. She had rarely gotten cravings with the first two pregnancies, but now-he once had to call in a favor with a friend at the Chinese Embassy in New York to obtain Tempura from one of their catering services who serviced the ambassadors. "I take it by your conversation before I walked in that Kendra wants you to go with her to this genetic's conference tomorrow?"  
  
"Mmm." she talked around her ice cream again, swallowing another spoonful before continuing. "I want to check it out. Dr. Tananka is presenting a paper on genetic research."  
  
"Yeah I think I heard something about that," he joked, ducking when she pitched the lid off ice cream cylinder at his head.   
  
"He is one of the world's leading authorities on genetic abnormalities," She threw the now empty cardboard container in the trash. "Claims he can cure what ails you by just moving your genes around. If his ideas are on the level maybe he can help me out with this pregnancy."  
  
Her pregnancies normally went off without a hitch except for one thing, seizures. And they weren't exactly a minor complication. They were non existent all other times, but when she got pregnant, the low seritonin levels in her brain due to the fetus taking up more of the hormone caused them to return. With both Jesse and Lexi she had gone into premature labor due to seizures triggering contractions. Jess had to be delivered via C-section and she had to be on bed rest for three months with Lexi because of preterm labor contractions. Already her OB Dr. Anna Janston had scheduled several dozens exams and tests to check Max's seritonin levels to prevent a miscarriage and pre term delivery. But none of these things were a solution to the problem. Janston went even so far as to prescribe Tegratol, a drug for severe grand mal seizures should her seizures become bad; but that had it's extreme risks in causing fetal birth defects in certain percentages of pregnancies. Tryptophane was working for now, but Max was worried about what would happen when it stopped being effective.   
  
"You think Tanaka can help?" Logan was skeptical about any guy who claimed to have a miracle cure. He had heard enough of them during his battle with paralysis. "What if he's just in it for the money? Supe up the kid and show his off for public display and commendation?"   
  
"Think my cynicism is wearin' off on you baby," Max leaned against the connecting wall that joined the kitchen and the living room. "This is just somethin' I gotta look into" her tone turned serious. "Cause I'm not in the mood to have another complicated pregnancy."  
  
He approached her then, and laid a hand on her stomach, feeling their baby kick out against her black button up X large top. "I'll get it set up." He kept his hand where it was for a few seconds before pulling away.  
  
"How long do you need to swing two security passes?" she came back.  
  
"One," he corrected. "Kendra's the only one who would need a pass for clearance. Being married to one of the prime shareholders of the Cale industries makes you something of an heiress in the eyes of the upperclass. And it doesn't matter if you have didn't have any prior knowledge about genetics. Just the fact that you're Mrs. Max Cale will get you in the door with the staff catering to your every whim. These kind of events are always looking for money for private research funding."  
  
"Guess I should bring my check book then for a little donation then dah-ling." she spoke in a fake British accent "Does this mean I don't get to go as Rachel Glasser?"  
  
He was confused at that remark."Who's Rachel Glasser?"  
  
"A geneticist from Connecticut. Use to work for the CDC before she opted for a more covert practice in the woods of Wyoming." she went for the honest answer. "She was eradicated after the batch of RNA nucleotides she replicated for placement in interbred X-series created a rash of mutants, babies born without any pituitary gland, mute, no eyes. She was doing some sort of side project of her own. Tryin' to see how long a kid like that would live for some kind of privately funded grant."   
  
/FLASH: Max laid on a metal exam table with a sheet covering her legs as Dr. Glasser, a young raven haired brunette extracted ova from her body. It had already been several weeks since Max had miscarried the X-series baby she had been inseminated with. The techs were trying something different now, breeding the interbred X-series into petri dishes.   
  
"Dr. Glasser-" Lydecker stood over the woman in full surgical gear. "This latest extraction better be a success" his eyes shifted over to Max on the exam table. "We cannot afford any more abnormalities."  
  
"The ova from the last X5 was damaged Sir." Glasser explained, capping off one vial containing a set of ten of Max's ovum in preservation fluid. "The radiation levels we used for super ovulation were over the safe limit, causing the DNA to mutate. However I'm glad to say that we've corrected the problem by using less radiation therapy and more manual extractions."  
  
Lydecker looked at a piece of medical equipment behind him, a small black box shaped machine used to admit radiation for the ovulation process. A smaller portable version of what used to be used to treat caner patients in the early nineties. "The level of radiation is the same as used on the previous soldier doctor, you made a note of it in your chart. So how can this be a factor in mutations I've got sitting in a VC unit?"  
  
Glasser looked at Deck nervously, silently cursing herself for being so stupid as to leave such a blatant paper trail./  
  
"And yet you want to impersonate this deceased doctor and have your face attached to a long chain of strategically planned medical mistakes all for the sake of a four hour conference?" Logan didn't understand Max's logic in this matter.  
  
"Some of the eggs used in her gene manipulation game were mine and I thought I'd just pay the bitch back for wasting my perfectly viable ova for a scrambled egg fest."   
  
/FLASH: "You wasted perfectly viable ova for your own personal gain Dr. Glasser." Deck glared coldly at the woman. "You think that I'm blind and only look for researches who can get their head good and stuck up my ass?"  
  
"Colonel Lydecker, if you'll allow me to explain-"  
  
"There's no need for explanations doctor." Deck pulled something out of his leather jacket, a black military issue revolver. "As of today, you're terminated." the gun went off point blank into Glasser's forehead.   
  
Max flinched as she watched the doctor fall right over top of her. Her eyes moved up to the Colonel's.  
  
He expressed no trace of remorse, or any emotions what so ever at having just executed someone. "Get dressed immediately and help dispose of the remains soldier."/  
  
"Given the fact that Manticore probably kept records of all doctors on their staff I doubt this would be a tactic that you could pull off." Logan crossed his arms over his chest hidden under amaroon long sleeved cotton U neck shirt.  
  
"You doubtin' the skills baby?" she raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"No sweetheart." They always tended to pour on the pet names when they were in a debate about something, even if it was meant in good humor. "I'm doubting the method of delivery."   
  
"How bout this method of delivery?" She approached him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissed him in a single, suck-the-air-out-of-his-lungs-move.   
  
After he recovered from the effects of her taste on his mouth, he pulled back. "It's not a fair assessment of skill level if one party has tactical advantage over the other."  
  
She smiled seductively, "Don't hate the playa. Hate the game."   
  
*****   
  
JAM PONY   
  
THE NEXT MORNING  
  
8:35 AM  
  
"So how was everyone's weekend?" Normal's remark got him the 'say what?' eye from several of his employees who normally weren't used to him conversing with them, ever. "Good? Maybe a restful two days means you can ACTUALLY get some work done around here."  
  
"Speak for yourself Happy Man" Cindy informed, before turning back to the group that had gathered near her locker. "Feel it. Last night Original Cindy had herself a date with a lickety boo, tall blonde, and damn could she work a pool cue." she smiled at the memory, adjusting the strap on her black messenger bag. "We had a few jello shots, she showed off her skills-"  
  
"So what's the problem? " Alec analyzed, shutting the door to his locker. "I mean other then the fact that this super fine lady could've been at my apartment, it sounds like a down night to me."   
  
Cindy turned and glared at him, "Down night went down the tubes after sistah girl drops the news that she swings BOTH ways."  
  
"Ouch," Alec made a face, knowing now why Cindy was so upset. She didn't do the whole bisexual thing. "Would it be too pretentious of me to ask for her number?"   
  
"Boy-" Cindy pulled her arm back with a threat to slap him, but Alec backed away so she didn't get her chance.   
  
"I still don't see a problem." Sketchy informed from the bench he was sitting on in the middle of the lockers "I mean all women are basically slaves to bisexuality aren't they?"  
  
"Sketch, you messed up ya know that?" Cindy shot back "The whole playin' on both sides of the sand box dealio would've have been that bad if she didn't also drop the 411 that due to a whacked out shack up with anotha lickety chick, she's celibate."  
  
"What's the point of being bisexual if you're celibate?" Sketchy asked confused.  
  
"THANK you" Cindy agreed, "Knew we connected on some level bout the hot mommas. Speakin' of which-" Cindy broke off to look over her shoulder at Max, who had just walked inside dressed for the genetic's conference in a black pinstriped woman's suit with the top few buttons on the single breasted top unbuttoned just above her cleavage line, her feet clad in black leather boots. "Damn girl, look at you flossin'." she did a turn movement with her hands to see the other side.  
  
Max turned slowly to showcase her clothes. "Just thought I'd upgrade the threads. This genetics conference is all into high end fashion."  
  
"Suga you're DEFINITELY high end as they come." Cindy had pleasure in her voice at seeing her girl look so good.   
  
"I don't know why you bothering to attending this shindig," Alec stated "There's absolutely nothing wrong with your genes Maxie. Dressed in that you'll probably get offers from rich bureaucrats to form branch off groups."  
  
Max glared at him. "Ever had you ass handed to you?"  
  
"Depends on what day you're talkin' about Max" Alec went on.  
  
She shot him a look "You're an idiot."   
  
"Well well well," Normal's voice was impressed as he approached Max. "I see my influence is finally starting to rub off on you kids." He examined her for a few seconds "I must say Max I'm impressed at your desire to maintain the proper business mystique needed at Jam Pony."  
  
"Are you done?" Cindy cut in annoyed, "Max isn't stayin' at this run down excuse for a business today."  
  
Normal's appreciation for Max's excellent work ethic just went down a notch. "I retract everything I just said until I get a the pathetic palm off excuse as to why you're skipping work." He looked at his watch. "You have two seconds to make the attempt."  
  
"I have a doctors appointment." Max went for the excuse that was fool proof.  
  
"And your physician couldn't fit you in at any other time?" Normal asked. "Say when you're not wasting minutes on my time clock?.  
  
"Funny thing about doctors in this city Normal. They don't tend to pencil you in at your BOSS'S earliest convenience. Unless you want me to go public with how you denied a pregnant employee's right to her OB exams?"  
  
"Fine go, but bring me a note." Normal was scared shitless of any thing remotely hinting at legal action against him or Jam Pony. The business was barely legal on the Seattle Law books as it was, due to all the gang related paraphernalia they would shuttle back and forth. "And I'm docking every cent of your pay until 8:00 tomorrow morning. You want that kid to eat, don't miss anymore work." He looked around at people standing beside Max "The rest of you, time is money. Bip Bip Bip!"  
  
"Score you some towels," Max told Cindy after Normal left in a huff back to his desk.  
  
"Coo'." Cindy said with a smile.  
  
"And Max if you see any hot usherettes at this place-" Alec gave her a raised eyebrow look "Tell her I have some gene therapy of my own to show her."   
  
"Alec-" Max cut in.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
*****   
  
STEINLITZ HOTEL   
  
"This place is amazing," Kendra walked beside Max, adjusting her short red skirt with black flowers embroidered on the fabric in a sporadic pattern over her legs. "One of the only remaining hotels in Seattle that still has a round the clock health spa. Remind me to thank your rich husband for the pass."  
  
The two women walked along the ivory colored floor behind men in black business power suits and women in either dresses or power suits like the men. Ahead of them was an arch of white marble supported by two Roman era carved white marble columns standing on either side of it. A hanging crystal chandelier stopped a good thirty feet short of the floor. People were conversing below it on the plush blue green carpet that started a good five feet out the door of the conference room and continued on inside.   
  
"Ahh Mrs. Cale-" A man with a cooperate style hair cut and black business suit complete with a charcoal gray silk tie greeted Max warmly by the opened door to the conference room. Logan had called earlier to let the hotel know of Max's arrival, describing her features to the staff so she would be recognized. Already the prospect of the spouse of a wealthy benefactor had the entire hotel staff out in full force to kiss up to her. "So nice to have you at our convention.   
  
I trust that you will find it a most enjoyable experience." He turned to someone on his left, without allowing her to remark on the conversation. "May I present Dr. Tanaka, the head of this conference."  
  
Tanaka was a middle aged Japanese man with the same hair cut as the manager but unlike the other man he was wearing a charcoal gray single breasted suit. He said goodbye to the woman he was talking to before extending a hand out to Max. "How do you do."  
  
"Nice to meet you Dr. Tanaka." Max's greeting was polite, but with the sterility of a solider staking out a new situation, revealing nothing more than what was needed to be given out.   
  
"The Cales' are a great contributor to the advancement of scientific research Dr. Tanaka," the suit beside Tanaka continiued, hoping for a cash reward from Max in return from bragging about her efforts to better society. "Last year a substantial contribution from the Cale Industries went to further Parkinson's research."   
  
Tanaka smiled at Max. "It is a great privilege to meet such a beautiful supporter of this important research."  
  
Max smiled back. "I was curious. You know how when you try to resequence nucleotides you always end up with one stray intron? Have you ever considered using plasmids to transfect the new base-pair vectors directly into the codon sequence so that that won't happen? One stray intron can mess up your whole output sequence."  
  
Tanaka looked at her, startled and impressed at the same time "I never considered that."  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen-" and announcer's voice boomed on the mike from inside "The conference will begin in five minutes. Please begin finding your seats."  
  
"I must be going now Ma'am," Tanaka told Max, "I hope you find my work up to your obviously high standards."  
  
"I'm sure I will," Max said watching Tanaka leave.   
  
"Can I show you ladies to a seat?" The man at the door was the manager of the hotel, and was acting as a host and greeter for the conference.   
  
"I think we know where the seats are," Max shot back.   
  
He nodded politely "If there's anything you desire today Mrs. Cale please don't hesitate to ask, my staff will accommodate you in any way we can."  
  
Max gave him a forced smile. She had had all she could take of his sucking up.   
  
"I must say being wealthy has its perks," Kendra said once they cleared the conference room door and was out of earshot of the manager.   
  
"More like it's irks," Max corrected her. She walked down a nearly empty row of teal plush fold out chairs, before claiming one in the middle, sighing under her breath cause her feet were killing her.  
  
"I would love to be in your situation." Kendra leaned against the row of chairs in front of them. "I'd personally appreciate being pampered over. Though I know it's not your forte."  
  
"Kendra, nobody kissin' up to my face cause they think I'll drop large on their establishment is my forte."  
  
"At least you have money to give." Kendra went on. "And genetic research is an admirable cause." She checked her watch. "Tanaka wants me back stage in fifteen minutes to go over my notes."  
  
"You'll do fine," Max reassured her. "Don't be intimidated by all the terminology bout PCR results and base pairs. I'm sure half the audience here is just one point over the IQ of your average college undergrad who only took biology cause they thought they could score some honey's."  
  
"Okay you're intimidating the hell out of me Max," Kendra'a voice was nevous. "I've never even went to college so these kids are shoulders above my educational background."  
  
"You're not the one giving the presentation so chill," Max told her. "All you hafta do is just stay cool and hand off the bio medical research to Tanaka, and any woman who can wrap a sector cop around her finger has more brains then any kid mommy and daddy dished out green for to get into Harvard."  
  
"You really think I have that much of a shot?" Kendra didn't seem to have that much self-respect in herself with this project. It was just looked upon by her as a way to make extra money.  
  
"Not if you don't get up there before the conference starts."   
  
"Right" Kendra picked up her notes, tucking them close to her knitted red long sleeved top. "Wish me luck." she walked out of the row of chairs and started making her way to the front of the room where three carpeted steps lead up to a black stage with wooden floors.   
  
After a few minutes Dr. Tanaka walked out across the stage, stopping in the middle by a projector screen the hotel staff had lowered a few hours before the conference had started. A hotel employee dimmed the inset lighting set in the roof of the conference room, leaving just enough visibility for people to read by. A few feet away in the right corner of the stage sat a black Baldwin baby grand piano; the cover already removed from the black and white keys. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen." Tanaka's voice boomed out from a silver lapel microphone clipped to his black silk tie. "And welcome to what I hope you will all view as one of the modern genetic marvels of our time." He clicked a button on a hand held black remote in his hand and an image of a tiny premature infant with various wires attached to him came up on the projection screen.   
  
"This is Jude Thatcher at birth," Tanaka began. "He weighed just three and a half pounds. He needed oxygen because his lungs were underdeveloped. He had no swallowing reflex, so had to be fed intravenously. He was addicted to crack cocaine. His mother, incarcerated for drug abuse and prostitution could not afford the most basic health care. Jude was heading for an early and unlamented grave until our foundation stepped in and took over the health management of the child. We began an intensive course of surgical, pharmacological and genetic intervention. The results were encouraging." He clicked the remote again, revealing another slide, this time of the boy Jude at a later age walking with the aid of Tanaka. "This is Jude at two years, six months." Another click, and a new image of Jude, bright eyed, wearing thin wire framed glasses. "This is Jude at four years." Another click of the remote and the next image of Jude, a few years older then the first image, around six years of age. "And this is Jude today, living proof that there are no limits to what the human body can achieve with the right training and environment."   
  
At the same moment Tanaka showed the most recent image of Jude, the image's namesake walked out on the stage dressed in a pair of black pants and a dark navy blue V-neck sweater. "Konichi-wa, Domo Ich-ni-Suan." (Welcome honored guests.) He bowed politely in the traditional Japanese way. "Esto es un día más emocionante para la investigación genética." (Today is a very exciting day in the study of gentics.) "We hope you find the proceedings infomative and enlightening." Jude turned to Dr. Tanaka. "Hello Dr. Tanaka."  
  
"Konichi-wa Jude-san." Dr. Tanaka greeted the boy with a smile. "Why don't you play something for us?"  
  
Jude nodded at his cue and walked over to the baby grand, sitting down in the umber leather upolstered piano bench. His small hands found the right position on the keys and he began to play "Italian Concerto" by Johann Sebastian Bach.  
  
From her vantage point at her seat Max watched the faces of several audience members become impressed at this small child flawlessly playing one of Bach's famed musical compositions.   
  
"It's a good thing you're here dear," A sandy blonde haired woman in her late thirties in a gray Anne Klien skirt suit leaned over to whisper this to her from her. "Classical music has been proven to enhance the minds of babies even before their birth." She had obviously noticed Max was pregnant before the lights went dim. The woman smiled at the boy on the stage. "Such a child prodigy this boy. Dr. Tanaka has done an amazing job."  
  
MAX VOICE OVER: "At Manticore we learned that prodigies didn't exist because every individual had the same capacity to learn higher skills as everyone else. We were taught, "what the mind can conceive, the body can achieve."   
  
/FLASH: Lydecker walks down a row of X5's who are all sketching with charcoal pencils on sketch paper. Max is among them, her hands moving rapidly on the paper, shading in darker areas of the drawings. She had never drawn before, but now she was mastering skills that would rivel Michangello or Da Vinchi.  
  
Deck stopped in front of Max, pointing with one hand at the paper. "What is this soldier?"  
  
"Chaux Cathedral Sir," Max reported on the image of the Gothic church with its high towers and peaked roofs she had sketched on the paper. "The design was derived from a section of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Erected in Washington D.C. in May of 2004."  
  
"Chax Cathedral was destroyed by arson in 2008 soldier," Deck informed. "Martial Law requires the immediate eradication of all records of religious establishments after they are no longer of use." He looked Max right in the eye "So how is it that you know of and created a perfect replica of a cathedral that has no documented visual images or descriptions?"  
  
Max didn't have an answer to that question. She simply stared back at her superior.  
  
"Your minds are powerful weapon soldiers." Deck moved away from Max and continued walking down the line. "Within it lies all the knowledge of the entire world. All you need is the proper instruction to unlock it's potential. Putting one person above the rest for their intelligence is a mistake, because you then begin to see them with a genius that exceeds your own. These are nothing but cheap lies for you to become lazy and not reach your maximum status level."/  
  
Max kept her eyes focused on Jude, watching the boy playing on the piano, but seeing no real passion behind it. It was more of a mechanical motion. He played effortlessly; but it was like he had simply been turned onto perform, and could be turned off just as easily.  
  
MAX V.O. "Deck always preached to us that we could accomplish anything if we just tapped into the hidden blueprint containing all the answers. I wonder why we didn't turn on him then-"  
  
/FLASH: Deck watches as Eva is strapped down by doctors for a round of medical experiments to see how long it took the ulna bone in her arm to heal after being broken with a vice crusher.   
  
Eva looked up to him, emotionless expression on her face, but after the first sound of her bone cracking her eyes clouded over in pain./  
  
MAX: V.O "We knew we had the ability. But we were afraid and he knew it."  
  
"Is this seat taken?"  
  
Max immediately turned her head at the sound of the voice, staring into the face of Lydecker, dressed in a black shirt and gray suit jacked. He slid into the seat beside her.   
  
She watched him get situated in his chair, pulling the tail end up on his suit jacket so he wouldn't wind up sitting on it. She still hadn't said anything to him.   
  
"Fascinating that Dr. Tanaka is just now jumping on the RNA resequencing wagon." Deck didn't look at Max when he spoke, pulling out a pair of silver framed reading glasses from his coat pocket. "Any good geneticist would've appreciated the direct opportunities presented to them after the successful mapping of the human genome in 2003." He slid his glasses on his face, and started thumbing through his program packet. "Still Tanaka's research is ground breaking. That's the reason that I'm here."  
  
Max turned to face her old adversary then. "Why are you tellin' me all this? You thinkin' bout opening a branch off group to your little warped summer camp?" It didn't matter how many times Deck had offered his help to her in the past, it wasn't that easy to forget that he was the same man who had tortured her for nine straight years.   
  
"I have to keep my options open Max," Deck addressed her by name, then lowered his voice. "You think after twenty years in the U.S. Army and years as CO of Manticore I would just hang up my beret and retire to some cabin deep in the woods, never to be heard from again?"  
  
"You still didn't answer my question," she cut in with a low growl.  
  
"I thought I taught you kids to always take on every new opportunity thrown at you with a head on approach." Deck wrote something down he deemed noteworthy from Tanaka's presentation on a legal pad.  
  
"What opportunities are we talking about?" She shifted in her seat to look him full in the face "Cause unless I lost my memory Renfro terminated you from your position at Manticore a few months before it blew sky high."  
  
"You think I give a damn what's written about me on paper? *I* came up with the concept of the combination of DNA." He spoke with bitter malaise at his former boss "Anna Renfro was a figurehead recruited by those that knew about the project. She was only there to sign papers and shake down curious onlookers."  
  
"So what was your part in this? Were you the base player?"   
  
"Regardless of your reservations about my methods Max, you kids are some of the finest genetics ever created. Perfect soldiers to be marketed on the battlefield."  
  
"Funny, I don't picture public auctions being held at the recruiters office being deemed as standard military protocol." The look in her eyes could burn holes in head.  
  
"Believe me, you are a very expensive commodity. Any branch of the military would've spared no cost to obtain you once you they saw what you kids were capable off."  
  
"It may be the pregnancy hormones Deck, but I'm gonna start ballin' here." Max faked appreciation at his words. She stood up from her seat and walked out of the aisle heading down the thick teal hued carpet to the ladies room which was located down a maroon carpeted hallway.  
  
/Kid's sitting on my bladder constantly. At this rate it'll be reduced down to the size of a pancake before she's born./ She exited the stall and washed her hands in the basin with the gilt faucet.   
  
A brunette woman with long wavy curls looked over at her from the next sink on the long white marble counter top "Your first?" She looked to be a few years older then Max, maybe twenty-eight or twenty-nine, wearing a black boat neck shirt and a delicate white skirt with a scattering of tiny orange and black monarch butterflies on the hem.   
  
"My third" Max shut off the water stream from the faucet before reaching over to dry her hands on the cotton hand towel that hung from a gold colored towel ring attached to the wall. Apparently the wealthy didn't believe in brown paper towels.  
  
"Oh wow," the woman remarked with a smile. "You must love large families. I have a one year old at home and he's more then enough to handle. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"  
  
"I hafta be getting back now," Max mustered up a smile before exiting the bathroom. She didn't normally poor out personal information to strangers. She had had enough with Jesse and Lexi and now this baby of random people coming up to her wanting to touch her stomach, guess her due date, offer advice. It drove her insane.   
  
"Max," Kendra's black suede strapped closed toed high-healed shoes squished on the carpet as she spotted her. The conference had just taken a fifteen minute recess "So-how do you like the conference so far?"   
  
Max picked up on her hidden meaning. "You did aiight Kendra. Very believable with your handing off technique."  
  
"You really think so?" Kendra tilted her head slightly, like a curious kitten eyeing a ball of string. "It was a little sketchy there at the beginning when I almost spilled Sake over the RNA sequencing diagrams, but it must've been a blessing in disguise cause I glided after that."  
  
"Now what is the esteem Dr. Tanaka doing throwing back Sake before his big conference?"  
  
"He likes to have a small glass beforehand to calm his nerves." Kendra revealed "And as long as I get paid Max I don't care what his habits are."   
  
"Excuse me Mrs. Cale" an usher in a hideous maroon suit that matched the carpet approached her "The conference is about to start up again and the manger asked me to escort you back to your seat." He held out his arm, waiting.   
  
"Thanks but I can think I can find my way on my own." Max was three seconds away from killing the next person who had money related intentions behind their respectable attitude.   
  
"As you wish ma'am." The usher turned around and left back down the hall.   
  
"If I were you Mrs. Cale I would've taken up on the offer." Lydecker stood a few feet behind her, obviously hearing the conversation, although she didn't get the formality of him calling her by her married name. He walked around to her line of sight. "Kid was just probably looking for a tip that you can obviously provide."  
  
"I'm not in the habit of accepting chivalry that comes with a price tag." Max wasn't exactly comfortable that Deck considered her someone to socialize with at this conference.  
  
"Excuse me," Kendra stepped between them. "I get the feeling you two know each other-" she took one step closer to Lydecker and held out her hand. "Hi I'm Kendra Ashton. Dr. Tanaka's research assistant."   
  
"Colonel Donald Lydecker," Deck shook her hand, with a slight trace of a smile.  
  
"Oh wow so you're a Colonel?" Kendra sounded impressed.  
  
"Yes ma'am U.S. Army Special Ops." Deck informed, being polite to her. "And I must say you're doing a very sufficient job. The presentation so far has been flawless." He may have been a covert base military CO with a cruel streak ten miles long, but he could put on the most convincing facade of politeness.  
  
"Thank you." Kendra smiled at the compliment, slightly relieved that now two people found her a useful asset to the conference and not just someone picked off the street because she happen to speak Japanese, even though it was true. "So if you don't mind me asking how do you know my friend Max?"  
  
"Her mother did some work for me back in '09." Deck went for the half truth in answering Kendra's question.  
  
"Max you never told me your mom was in the military?" Kendra turned to her friend with this remark.  
  
"She was discharged after getting pregnant." Deck stated. "With the job description she had she couldn't perform her duties after gestation."  
  
Only Deck noticed the cold hard look Max was shooting him. "It's been a pleasure to meet you Ms. Ashton, but I should be getting back." He turned around and walked down the carpeted hallway to the conference room.  
  
"Now that's a great man." Kendra sighed after Lydecker had left. "Less testosterone and more charm, but sometimes less is more. I can't believe you didn't introduce me to him before," she complained to Max.   
  
"Kendra you have a man," Max reminded. "Remember Walter?"  
  
"Yes I remember Walter," she threw back "And I love my boo boo bear to death, but I could've gotten into Colonel Lydecker if I hadn't hooked up with him. He exudes this strong assertiveness that's actually very sexy." She stopped talking to check her gold banned wrist watch "Damn, that break went quicker then I thought. I should be getting back."she shoved some of her long blond hair behind her ears. "You're not going to bail are ya?"  
  
"Not a chance," Max reassured. "Sides I'm your ride home."  
  
"Right." Kendra felt a little embarrassed for having forgotten that part. "Then I'll see you afterwards." She turned and headed back to the conference room.   
  
Max walked through the few people that were left out in the hallway for the remaining five minutes of the break. Most of them began moving a few seconds later to reclaim their seats inside the conference room.  
  
She headed back inside and slid into her own chair soundlessly.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen," the manager spoke into a black hand held mic from the back of the room next to the exit doors. "The conference is about to start up again so I ask that you please make your way back to your seats. Thank you."  
  
"I would think with all your training Max you wouldn't be foolish enough to use you real name in a government regulated event." Deck turned to face her slowly, having gotten into his seat a few minutes before the intermission was over.  
  
"I doubt I run the risk of tactical exposure at an upper rent district hotel, unless the manager has been doin' things on the sly behind my back this whole time."  
  
"Big Brother is always on the alert for you soldier," Deck reminded. "And it's always when you least expect it."   
  
"Leave the 1984 ideology outta this Colonel." Max referenced Orwell's futuristic novel the way Deck had just done. "It's bad enough you seek me out tryin' to act like a friend on my top ten list, now I have to listen to your whole 'good soldier mantra' on top of the other crap."  
  
"That crap is some of the finest training in the world. And after a while the training is no longer a mantra, it becomes a reflex."  
  
"You act like I give a damn about your ideal GI Joe brainwashing bull." she turned to face him with one sharp movement of her head. "How bout you and I take a vow of silence for the rest of the conference?" she snapped her head back and said nothing more.   
  
"Is that what you teach those kids of yours?" Deck obviously didn't go for the idea of not speaking. "That they can just turn off something that preexists inside them and waste very valuable sequences of DNA coursing through their veins."  
  
Max turned back around then, even though she had just informed him that she wouldn't say another word to the man. "Let's get one thing straight. What I teach my children is none of your damn business and if you try and make it your business I'm gonna remind you that I'm not the scared kid you brainwashed eleven years ago by kicking your ass."   
  
"No one can deny that you've adapted well without the proper training over the years." Deck wrote something down on his legal pad again.  
  
The audience around Max and Lydecker broke out in applause at Jude who had just finished the "Air" movement from Bach's "Water Music" composition.   
  
"Thank you-" Tanaka bowed graciously at the applause "Thank you so much. Jude is an extraordinary boy." He turned to the child with a smile, and then turned back to the audience. "A singular creation whose very life is the culmination of decades of genetic research. Jude is also a messenger of hope, bringing good news to each and every one of us. How, you ask?" Tanaka searched over the crowd for someone to give his statement merit "You Ma'am," he pointed at Max. "Would you please stand?"  
  
Max set down her program packet and stood up from her chair in full view of the rest of the people, hearing the whispers already as to what Tanaka could say about her.   
  
"Thank you." Tanaka said before continuing "I see you are pregnant. Would you mind telling me how far along you are?"  
  
"Five and a half months," Max told him flatly.  
  
"Five and a half months." Tanak repeated the information. "Already your baby's genetic DNA sequence has been mapped out, predetermining if he will have blue eyes, or how tall he will be, or tragically whether or not he will have any genetic defects that may hinder his growth and future development. Have you ever heard of an amniocentesis?"   
  
"It's where you insert a long bore syringe through the amniotic sac surrounding the developing fetus and draw a small amount of fluid to use in chromosome mapping to determine if their are any abnormalities in the genetic material. It's mostly done on women over thirty-five who run a higher risk of birth defects such as Downs, Klienfelter, Fragile X."   
  
Tanaka was once again impressed by her knowledge. "Yes that's correct. Right now all we can do with the amniocentesis is simply predetermine the existence of any genetic defects. Sadly those that wish to keep the baby will spend a lifetime caring for a handicapped child. But what if I today found a defect in your baby and then told you that the code for a perfectly healthy child was already in his genes. And that by snipping here-" Tanaka used a laser pointer to show a computerized version of an RNA strand being cut. "-grafting here, and using some of the baby's own healthy RNA from another area to seal the graft, he would grow up never knowing he ever had a birth defect." The crowd seemed pleased by news of this future advancement.   
  
"Guess you'd be my hero then" Max stated.  
  
Tanaka gave her a smile. "Thank you ma'am, you may sit down now. This same technique also allows us to treat and cure other distressing conditions such as congenital blindness, deafness even severe neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's Parkinson's, epilepsy, even severe grand mal seizures." Tanaka rattled the on a list of diseases his RNA grafting could bring new hope and even a possible cure too. "All these can be remedied by manipulation of their genetic code-- a minor rewriting..."  
  
Max noticed movement in the seats behind her and honed in her vision to see a man in the audience pulling out a concealed weapon from his jacket.  
  
Before Tanaka could continue with his speech the back doors of the conference room suddenly burst open revealing at least three men dressed in black carrying black AK-47's and Tommy guns. One of the usherettes dropped her tray of water glasses, and pulled out a hand held machine gun from her behind her back.   
  
"Go, go! Everybody stay calm!" one of the men moved in front of the group waving his AK-47 around. "We are the May 22nd movement!" the other men began walking down the aisles of the conference room, their weapons pointed into the crowd of people.  
  
Several women in the audience began screaming at the sight of the weapons being pointed at them.   
  
"Oh God!"a random woman shouted and then screamed again.   
  
"I said everybody stay calm!" the same man who had spoken before addressed everyone again "We don't want any trouble!"  
  
"Please!" Tanaka held up his hands, an act of submission to show he wasn't going to try anything rash "What are you doing?!"  
  
"We are the May 22ND movement," the man walked up to the stage aiming his gun at Tanaka and Jude "We've come to liberate the boy" his laser sight was directly on Tanaka's chest. "Stay calm and out of our way and you will not be harmed!"   
  
"I want everyone on the floor NOW!" another one of the terrorists barked out this order to the crowed. "No one try to make a move for the exits or I will be forced to shoot!"  
  
The faded blue fold out chairs began to move around as people began to sit on the floor.  
  
"Here" Lydecker handed his black Sig Sauer that he had hidden inside his jacket to a dazed Kendra who had come up beside him "Take it, they won't search you."  
  
"What? No!" Kendra was shocked at him offering her a gun. He could get them killed if one of the terrorists found it on her.   
  
"Trust me," was all Deck said to her, holding out the gun farther from his body to coax her into grabbing it before they were found out.   
  
Kendra finally hastily grabbed the gun and shoved it inside her maroon feathered handbag.   
  
"You two! Enough of the talking!" a man came over to Lydecker and Kendra, and then aimed a gun at Max who took a little longer to get down on the floor "I thought I told you to get down!"  
  
Max glared up at him, intending on saying something but, decided against it, not knowing what would piss him off. She finally managed to lower all of her weight onto the ground and pleased the guy enough so that he left her alone.   
  
"No!" Tanaka's voice echoed off the walls surrounding the stage as he clutched Jude to him. "You're not going to hurt him!"  
  
A gun was aimed at his face "If you want to keep the boy safe Dr. Tanaka I suggest you let him go."  
  
"You stay away from him all of you!" Tanaka screamed.  
  
One of the men grabbed Jude by the arm, yanking him away from Tanaka's grip. Jude looked petrified, and began to scream.  
  
"No! Tanaka cried, trying to struggle out of the hold two of the terrorists had on him " Leave him alone!"  
  
"Come over here by me sweetie." Max held out her arm and gently ushered Jude to go over to where she was sitting "You'll be okay."  
  
The man pointing the gun at Tanaka whirled on her. "You keep your mouth shut!"  
  
"He's only a kid." Max informed in a fierce voice, "You're scaring him."  
  
"We're liberating him." the man corrected "Setting him free from this existence."  
  
"These are great liberation techniques." Lydecker threw out.  
  
The gun trained on him "You better watch it old man."  
  
Deck remained cool. "If your intentions are to not hurt any of the hostages then I suggest you point that gun somewhere else son."  
  
Jude had finally broken free of the man's grasp and walked slowly over to where Max had asked him to come.  
  
"It's aiight honey." Max grabbed at the boy's shoulders, and lowered him gently to a sitting position on the floor, talking in the same soothing voice she did when her own kids were scared of something.   
  
*****   
  
JAM PONY  
  
"Bip Bip Bip!" Normal tapped his pencil on his watch, shouting at employees that he deemed lazy. "Lunch was over twenty minutes ago."  
  
"Not by my watch." Sketchy informed from the table situated in the area above the lockers designated as the "employee break room". He took another bite of his sandwich.  
  
"Unless you want to eliminate the need for a work break completely by not having a JOB to take breaks at I suggest you get your lazy bum up and stop wasting company time!" Normal threw back.  
  
"Relax Normal." Alec popped the lid off of a Coke he had just gotten from the cooler beside the tables. "We're the only ones who are willing to work in this dump for the meager pinch pennies you throw our way. So you can't fire us unless you want your whole business to go belly up." He took a swig of his drink.  
  
Cindy had to hold her fist out for the way he laid it down. Alec banged his hand against hers. "Brotha speaks the truth Normal and you know it. So we'd appreciate not havin' our lunch hour docked cause that stick shifted more up your ass."  
  
"The only speaking I want from you missy is asking for signatures on runs. Which if you don't get started doing in five minutes you'll soon be speaking to people on the street to look for a new line of work." He pitched a manila envelope at her chest. "Thirteenth and Madison, bip bip bip!"  
  
Cindy rolled her eyes and shoved the package inside her messenger back sitting beside her on the chair. She looked over to Sketchy's sandwich "Dude what is that you're chompin' on?"  
  
"A watercress, endive and tomato sandwich." Sketchy spoke in a fake snooty rich voice around a bite of his sandwich.   
  
"Then how come I don't see no watercress or endive on that?" Cindy only spotted a big nearly rotted chunk of tomato on the four grain bread.   
  
"Now how the hell is he suppose to have any of those things with the Market lock down?" Alec reminded, drinking more of his soda and sliding into a vacant chair at the table. "It was only by my brilliant tactics that I was able to even score some risotto for my dinner last night."  
  
Cindy shot him a look "And by brilliant you mean you slim jimmied ya way inside?" it wasn't really a question because she already knew what the answer was.  
  
"Damn straight." Alec agreed. "It's not my fault the Italian Embassy has such low grade security."He crushed his now empty soda can and pitched it into the plastic wastebasket that sat in a corner next to the faded counter with the thirty year old microwave resting on it's surface.  
  
"Dude are you serious?" Sketchy looked up from his tomato sandwich. "You broke into the Italian Embassy for some rice?"  
  
"I'm pullin' one over on ya Sketch," Alec lied, shooting a look at Cindy. "There's this low key market hook up near my apartment. Girl who works there just happened to score big on her Italian Cuisine supplies last time."  
  
"Perchance was this a hot girl working behind the counter?" Sketchy perked up immediately at the mention of a female.  
  
"Boy I'm surprised Natalie still keeps your playin' ass." Cindy whacked Sketchy upside the head. "That whole dealio with Lydia shoulda taught you that a sistah only shares nail polish and clothes, NOT her man."  
  
The television that was just on am Extreme Dirt Bike Stunt show switched its picture to a well dressed blonde news anchor woman. "We interrupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news." The shot switched again to a swarm of sector cops and Seattle PD cruisers outside of a building with officers of both groups out setting sharp shooters on nearby buildings. "This is the scene at the Steinlitz Hotel where a heavily armed group identified as the outlawed May 22nd movement stormed a scientific conference being held there. Police arrived moments ago and are attempting to set up communication between themselves and the terrorists inside."  
  
Sketchy stopped eating his lunch and turned up the volume with the black remote.  
  
"Damn," Cindy cursed. "It's one thing for Sketch to play make believe gourmet cause he's broke, but a bitch like that throws you back to reality town fasta then a bisexual changes preferences."  
  
Alec was still watching the screen, and a look passed across his eyes "Steinlitz Hotel?" he turned back around to face the group "Isn't that where that genetics conference is?"  
  
Cindy's look of worry just shifted up another notch "Shit boy, you're right. What kind of whack set up is this? And Kendra's in there too."  
  
Alec just stood up from the chair he was sitting at.  
  
Cindy looked up at him "Where you goin'?"  
  
"Gotta go make a phone call." Alec leapt over the railing to the ground level, and pulled out his silver wireless phone.  
  
"Suit yourself," Cindy watched him leave. "I'm gonna get my ass over to that hotel and see if those punk cops know anythin' bout my girls." She grabbed her bag and ran down the stairs and out of the building.  
  
"Glad to see you finally showing appreciation for your job!" Normal called out to her, mistaking her speed to get to the hotel as her going on a run.   
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS   
  
The doorbell rang as Logan was in the middle of typing up a letter to his Aunt Margo. The light from the computer screen bounced off his glasses as he read over his the last part of his letter for errors.  
  
"...I appreciate your offer to hire a contractor to build on a gym on to mom and dad's cabin, but I really feel that it would take away the woodland hideaway aspect of the whole place. Thank you for the idea, though I will have to decline it. I look forward to seeing you at the yearly fiscal meetings."  
  
-Love Logan"   
  
/Looks fine to me./ He hit print and took a sip of his coffee before standing up to answer the door. Margo didn't believe in email because any "average person" could just type words on a keyboard and hit "send". She wanted to resurrect the old tradition of letter writing where the events of the day were described in great three page length details. He despised every minute of it though, having to pretend like coming up with pleasant things to say about his aunt wasn't as painful as having a root canal with no anesthetic.   
  
He did a quick check on the kids who were playing 'soldier' on the floor of the living room with the dog.  
  
"Lucia, hi." Logan opened the door to his mother-in-law standing there in her black overcoat.   
  
Lucia smiled at the younger man, "Hey Logan, is Max around?"  
  
"Sorry Max is attending a conference with one of her girlfriends."   
  
"Oh" Lucia stated, "I just wanted to give her something. I can come back-"  
  
He extended his arm to let her know she was still welcome. "Please. She should be back in a few hours. why don't you just leave it here?"  
  
"Thanks" she stepped inside the penthouse, her black high heeled zip up leather boots making soft clunking noises as she stepped over the hardwood floor at the entrance way.   
  
"Would you like some coffee?" Logan asked.  
  
"Yeah that would be great hon thanks." She slid off her coat to reveal a ribbed boat necked "coffee-with-cream" colored sweater and boot cut dark rinse jeans. She took a seat at one of the two black wrought iron stool sitting under the counter where it jutted out into the living room. "I went down to this little vintage shop on Thirty Second Street and look what I found-" she held up a little "Diesel" black zip up baby hoodie. "Isn't it cute? I found it after the baby shower and didn't have the chance to give it to her since work has been a major stress builder." This was the first grandchild Lucia would get to see be born, and she was excited at the prospects of it.   
  
"That is cute", Logan agreed, handing Lucia a blue mug with coffee in it.   
  
"It's a shame they don't market Diesel anymore," She took a sip of her coffee. The company had gone bankrupt in 2015 and all the remaining clothes in all the chain stores hand been snapped up by greedy customers in a sale. "Cause honey, there were some fly outfits in that place. I remember when Rick and I were dating I bough this low cut black dress with a lace up corset top from there during their closeout sale, dropped that man's eyes to the ground. Is it a wonder he proposed to me the next night?" She laughed at the memory, and then looked back to the small hoodie in her hands. "I want my granddaughter to be stylin' like her momma. Max would've knocked out everything on those racks."  
  
"Nana!" two sets of feet came running towards Lucia.  
  
She set down her coffee and caught the first grandchild that jumped on her, which happened to be Lexi. "Hey!" she settled her in her lap and kissed her face "You get prettier every time I see you baby" she turned to look at Jess who had climbed up into the stool adjacent to her. "And you my man? Where's my hug?" she leaned over and hugged the boy who complied eagerly. "Thanks kiddo. You guys are shooting up like rockets. I bet Jess is gonna be taller then his daddy soon enough."  
  
Lexi squirmed to look Lucia in the face "What am I gonna be Nana?"  
  
"You, my bonita nina (pretty girl), will be just as kickin' as your momma." She kissed her on the head again. "You two excited about having a new sister?"  
  
Lexi nodded excitedly, "Mommy told us her name is going to be Lucia, like you nana!"  
  
Lucia smiled at her enthusiasm. "That's cool huh? Wanna see what I got for the baby?"  
  
Lexi nodded again, looking in wonder at the article of baby clothing Lucia held in her hand "It's a little hoodie I found at store down town. She'll be stylin.'"  
  
"Like momma?" Lexi asked.  
  
Lucia shook her head "DEFINITELY like momma."  
  
"Am I stylin' too nana?" Jesse asked from his stool in his blue jeans and green high necked sweater.  
  
"You're stylin' too baby," Lucia reassured. "You're gonna drive the girls crazy one day."  
  
Jess made a face. "There's too many girls around me already." He was talking about his sister, his mother, Cindy, Kendra, plus his four aunts and Asha.   
  
"There are not!" Lexi retorted.  
  
"Are too smelly head!" Jess cried back.  
  
"Are not poopy ichin!"  
  
"Ichin?" Lucia looked at Logan for clarification.  
  
"She means "urchin" Logan corrected, giving a reprimanding look to his children. "And guys, nana didn't come over hear to listen to you two fight. Try and be nice to each other okay?"  
  
"She started it!" Jess pointed a finger at his sister.   
  
"Did not!" Lexi returned.  
  
"Okay you two that's enough" Logan ordered.   
  
"But daddy-" Lexi started in again, she was defiantly her mother's daughter when it came to her argumentative skills.   
  
"Alexis Marie Cale-" He warned her not to say anything more. He walked over to Lucia and picked up his daughter from her lap. "You know you're wearing such a pretty sweater. It'd be a shame to ruin it with that scowl on your face."   
  
"Aunt Kendra said I turn heads." Lexi reminded, looking down at her yellow sweater, feeling the knitted wool with her small hand.  
  
"Oh defiantly," Logan gave her a sloppy kiss on the forehead.  
  
Lexi wiped it off with her right hand "Daddy that's icky."  
  
"Sorry," he apologized. "Then I guess it'd be better down here," he lifted up her sweater and blew a raspberry on her stomach.  
  
"Daddy stop that tickles!" Lexi said around a fit of giggles. "Nana help!"  
  
"Oh I'll help sweetie," Lucia got up from the stool "Does this help enough?" she started to tickle the back of the little girl's neck with both hands. Lexi was squealing now.   
  
"Hello?" No one but Jesse had heard the phone ring, so he gone to answer answered it. "He's right here" Jess was getting very mature for four years old. On the phone he sounded just like his mother "Daddy it's Alec-"  
  
Logan turned to his son. "Did he say what he wants?"  
  
"To talk to you," Jess sounded like Logan should have known that. He was his mother's son in more ways then one.   
  
/This third character better take a little after me or I'm going to go insane with three miniature versions of Max running around./ Logan took the phone from his son. "Thanks kiddo."  
  
"Logan?"  
  
"Ye-ah" he drew out the word, annoyed that Alec had just stated the obvious.   
  
"Have you turned on the news lately?"   
  
"No why? And is this the only reason you called my house, to ask about the news?"  
  
"Okay I admit it; I called to drop the news that I'm the father of Max's baby."  
  
"Alec you have three seconds to give me a legitimate reason for calling before I come hunt you down-"  
  
"Logan I don't have time to divulge into your fantasy world right now. There's a situation at that hotel where Max is at, a hostage situation."  
  
Logan's heart about stopped when he heard that. He covered the receiver with is hand "Luc turn on the TV."  
  
His mother-in-law grabbed the silver RCA remote and switched on the screen. There was an image of the outside of the Steinlitz Hotel parking lot swarming with police officers and military vehicles. A female reporter was doing a voice over about the scene unfolding.   
  
"The May 22nd movement takes its name from the birthday of terrorist Theodore Kaczynski known as the Unabomber who, for three decades, in the late 20th Century was responsible for the murder of dozens of people through out the United States. Movement founder Jon Darius praised Kaczynski's methods as "a call to arms against modern technology." Darius' own list of gruesome accomplishments includes blowing up bio-testing laboratories to, in his words, "liberate the masses from a corrupt Martial Law government which encourages genetic engineering with lab rat experimentation on human subjects.'"  
  
Lucia walked closer to the TV, her eyes fixed on the screen. "What kind of shits are these people? They're protesting the wasting of a little boy's life to science, but they're willing to sacrifice all those other lives including MY daughter and unborn granddaughter to liberate this child?"   
  
"They don't care about the consequences," Logan said, not taking his eyes off the TV screen in case there was any more new information. "All they want is to get their point across and they'll do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal." He picked up the black cordless phone in his office from its base.  
  
"What are you going to do?" Lucia focused her eyes away from the screen for a moment.  
  
"The guy who heads the May 22nd-Darius," he began dialing a familiar number. "I interviewed him a few times before. Maybe I can help out." He broke off when his call connected "Put me through to Detective Matt Sung please."  
  
"Is mommy in there?" Jess had come inside the office and stared at the images of the sharp shooters on the screen.  
  
Lucia grabbed his waist and pulled him into her lap. "Yeah honey." She kissed him. "Mommy's in there. But don't worry, she can take care of herself." She hugged him to her body. "I'm sure she wouldn't want you to worry about her."  
  
"Yeah I understand, thanks." Logan hit the end button on his phone before turning his eyes up to Lucia. "No calls are being forwarded to him at the moment to keep the lines open for Darius and the other terrorists." He stood up and went to grab his coat. "I'm going down there, see if I can get a hold of Sung."  
  
"I'm coming with you." Lucia set her grandson back down on his feet.   
  
"I appreciate the offer Lucia, but I think it's best if I go alone." Logan told her straight out   
  
"I don't think the police will be happy as it is to have a journalist hounding them."  
  
"Max is my daughter," she reminded him. "I can't just sit here on my butt while she's in trouble. And I know how to deal with men like Darius Logan. I've been a hostage negotiator for hire for five years."  
  
Logan looked at her confused, and a little stunned at her proclamation. "I thought you sold insurance over the phone?"  
  
"City pays shit for hostage negotiations honey. I needed something to supplement my income. I don't know what kind of a live wire Darius is, but the cops in this city will be forced to hand this off to military control. And those soldiers only care about getting their man in the end. If a deal isn't reached they'll have no problem of busting in there, guns blazing and take the boy out, even at the cost of hostages' lives." Lucia walked over to where her coat was and slid it   
  
on. "Don't argue with me on this one Logan, you'll loose."  
  
Logan didn't say anything, but the look on his face said enough. This was one battle he couldn't win.   
  
"Daddy?" Lexi pulled on his pant leg with one hand "Is mommy gonna be okay?" her big blue eyes had tears in them.  
  
Logan reached down and picked her up with one arm. "You remember how strong mommy is?" he kissed her nose, watching her give him a nod "She won't let them hurt her."  
  
Lexi hugged him around the neck, resting her head on his shoulder, sharing a scared look with her older brother.  
  
*****  
  
STEINLITZ HOTEL  
  
Several of the women in the conference were now quietly whimpering to themselves, including Kendra who was biting on her lip to try and keep herself quiet.  
  
"Cooperate with us and no one gets hurt," Darius walked up and down the front row of chairs where all the hostages were now sitting on the floor "Our only incentive is to free the boy."  
  
"Free him from what?" Tanaka asked, starring Darius in the face.   
  
Darius stopped pacing and stood right in front of Tanaka, glaring down at him. "From you and your freak show. You've turned him into the poster child for your morally bankrupt techno-state."  
  
"And what do you plan to do with him?" Max growled at him.   
  
"Give him a normal life," Darius turned to face her "A home, a family where he can live like a normal human being."  
  
"And shout slogans and shoot people," Deck added, "I'm sure you have to compete with the Young Communists League." this time no one pointed a weapon in his face.  
  
"What you are doing is wrong!" Tanaka cried out "This boy IS my family!" he stole a glance at Jude who was still sitting beside Max.   
  
"He's your lab rat," Darius corrected.   
  
"You are wrong!" Tanaka returned.  
  
"You dare call yourself this boy's family?" Darius was getting more pissed off. "He's nothing but a prototype to you, a pawn to further your own genetic research, okay? You know NOTHING of family." Darius suddenly turned back in Max's direction and pointed at her. "Maybe she knows," he looked back towards Tanaka. "But you don't, you cold manipulative son-of-a-bitch."  
  
The ringing of a phone broke out over the air of the conference room.  
  
"The police," Lydecker spoke in a soft, but authoritative voice. "Calling to negotiate."  
  
Darius walked to the back of the room and picked up a red touch tone phone that was bolted in place to the wall. "This is John Darius. We're the May 22nd. We're armed and we're holding thirty-five hostages."   
  
"Detective Sung, Seattle PD." Matt Sung spoke into headset attached to his cell phone.  
  
"Well Detective-" Darius began, turning back to look at the group of people sitting terrorized on the floor, "If you try anything." He punctuated each word slowly. "If any of your men come near this building hostages will die."  
  
"I understand." Matt agreed.  
  
"No I don't think you do understand Mr. Sung." Daruis cut in. "There are THIRTY-FIVE lives in your hands. No wait, make that thirty-six if you count the one hostage who's pregnant, and their blood will all be on YOUR hands if my demands are met to the letter."  
  
"What is it you want?" Sung asked.  
  
"We want safe passage for ourselves and the child known as Jude." Darius began listing his demands. "If you don't comply with this request we will kill one hostage every hour."  
  
"What you're talking about is going to take more then an hour," Matt informed.  
  
"You're first hour's already up." Daruis slammed down the phone, turning back to a member of his outfit "Terrene." He nodded over to Tanaka "I have a job for you."  
  
'Terrace', a large burley man dressed in all black shoved Kendra to one side, "Move!"  
  
Kendra whimpered, and got up, moving over to sit by Max and Jude.  
  
Terrene stared Lydecker in the face, and for one brief moment it looked like he was going to grab him by the collar, but instead he yanked Tanaka up on his feet.  
  
Tanaka turned back to take one last look at Jude, who stared at him with eyes as big as saucers "Jude. Be brave."   
  
Terrene and another goon dragged Tanaka up the elevator to the roof of the hotel that was only three stories above them.   
  
Tanaka remained silent for most of elevator the ride, and then spoke up. "What are you going to do?"  
  
The elevator dinged and opened up to the tan colored concrete roof of the Steinlitz Hotel. Tanaka tried to make a run for it but Terrace and the other man grabbed him by the shoulders, and dragged him out.   
  
"What the hell are you doing?" Tanaka cried, then saw that he was being dragged towards the edge of the roof.   
  
"Just showing you the scenery Dr. Mengele." Terrene grabbed Tanaka's legs and hoisted him over the edge of the building.  
  
"No!" Tanaka cried out as he felt himself falling.  
  
*****   
  
Logan had just gotten out of his car when he heard screaming coming from beside the hotel. He and Lucia looked up in time to see someone falling off the roof of the hotel, his body picking up speed and finally hitting the pavement below with the sickening sound of bones cracking.  
  
/Holy shit./ Logan's stomach turned at the thought that this could very well happen to Max. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but all female X5's tended to slow down in agility when they were pregnant, just like any other woman would.   
  
"You have 59 minutes before we do that again," Darius spoke to Sung on the phone inside the conference room.   
  
"Logan!" Cindy waved at him from her standing position behind a police barricade. Lucia pulled Lexi out of her car seat. "Let's go guys-" she turned to her grandson, who was standing on her right. "Hold my hand baby and stay together" There had been no time for them to find a baby sitter so the two children had to come along. She and Logan made their way over to the barricade where the police were holding back the crowd that had gathered in front of the hotel.   
  
"Did you find out anything?" Cindy looked at the man with a shit scared expression on her face after having just witnessed a man being thrown off the roof. "None of the body armor cops will drop any 411 on my ears."  
  
Logan took his daughter from Lucia and handed her over the barricade to Cindy. "Take them." he released his grip on Lexi's body after she was safely in Cindy's arms. "I'll see what I can find out."  
  
"Hey c'mon on this side of the concrete my man." Sketchy coaxed Jesse over to him with a wave from a black bicker glove clad hand. "you'll probably get wiped out by all the Kevlar if you stand there."  
  
Jesse turned to his father. "Daddy-"  
  
"Go over with Aunt Cindy sweetheart." Logan ordered gently, watching as Jess finally complied and crawled under the barricade to stand between Sketchy and Cindy. "I want you and your sister to stay there okay?"  
  
"Are you gonna go get mommy?" Lexi asked from Cindy's arms.  
  
Cindy looked down at the girl. "You momma will be aiight suga. Ya dads knows what he's doin'" she kissed her on the head before looking up to Logan. "As soon as you get the hook up on any new info, drop it in my direction."  
  
"I will." Logan agreed, before turning around to look for Det. Sung.  
  
"I'm sorry Sir-" a man dressed in green fatigues held his gloved hand out to prevent Logan from going forward "This is a restricted area, I'm going to have to ask you to step back."  
  
"Matt!" Logan finally spotted Sung a few yards away in a gray trench coat taking with another officer.  
  
Sung turned at the sound of his name. "Let me know if another call comes in."   
  
"You got it." the other officer replied as Sung turned to walk over to Logan.   
  
"I need some answers about what's going on." Logan stated.  
  
"There's not much I can tell you right now Logan-"  
  
"Anything you have would be helpful Detective," Lucia put in beside Logan.  
  
Sung turned to the woman beside Logan. "And you are?"  
  
"Lucia Weston." Lucia introduced herself "Hostage negotiator."  
  
Sung turned to the Private who was standing by the barricade. "They're okay." The man stepped aside to allow Logan and Lucia to pass by the barricade.  
  
"Max was at this conference." Logan told Sung as the three of them walked past countless police cars and camo green military jeeps. "Along with a friend of hers, Kendra Ashton."  
  
"A few folks managed to get out when this shit started." Sung looked down at the clipboard he was holding in his hand, frowning a bit before looking back up to Logan "Still unaccounted for. I'm sorry."  
  
"Have their been any demands? Lucia asked Sung.  
  
"They want safe transport for them and the kid Tanaka was doing his research on." Sung responded "They threaten to kill on hostage every hour on the hour until these demands are met. We've already had to peel the late Dr. Tanaka off the pavement after being dropped from thirty stories."  
  
"Daruis is a very serious man," Logan informed his friend, "And a very dangerous one."   
  
"We gather that now Logan," Sung agreed. "But we're at a very delicate point right now. The military boys are about to take over this operation, and if we can't get Darius to agree to release the thrity-four live hostages he still has they'll have no problem treating these people like disposable commodity in order to get to him."  
  
"Has anyone had contact with him since Tanaka's death?" Lucia asked, sliding into her position as a negotiator. "Try and get him to let some of the hostages go?"  
  
"No one around he has even attempted it after Tanaka was flung off the roof." Sung said, his tone laced with a hint of anger, "I think the military's just looking for any excuse to charge in there. We're getting a baseline set up with the hotel phone system. Since you work in hostage negotiations Ms. Weston maybe you could give it a shot."  
  
"Let my son-in-law have a shot at it first." Lucia glanced at Logan out of the corner of his eye "He said he knows Darius."  
  
Sung shot Logan a look, he never knew that they were related, but he was more interested in how Logan knew John Darius. "How do you know this man?"  
  
"I interviewed him a few years back," Logan stated. "He wanted someone to get his message out for his hatred of political anarchy."  
  
"Let me get you set up in the surveillance van. Sergeant Waters-" he caught the attention of a soldier dressed in green fatigues and a maroon beret. The large burly man was standing outside an opened black van containing surveillance equipment with a black M-20 strapped diagonally to his mid section.  
  
Sung and the other two walked over to the van. "I got a man who knows Darius." Sung addressed the sergeant. Name's Logan Cale, he's willing to try and talk to him."  
  
Waters stared at Logan with as much respect as an ant would get from a kid with a magnifying glass. "Just how do you know this clown, Darius?"  
  
"I interviewed him a few years back for a story." Logan answered "And he's not a clown, he's highly intelligent, and obviously very dangerous."  
  
"If he was so dangerous why didn't you turn the bastard in when you got the chance and saved everyone the trouble?" Waters asked before speaking into his shoulder communication unit "What's the ETA on those sharp shooters?"  
  
"An hour away Sir," came a crackly voice on the other end.  
  
"Well I'm a journalist not a police officer." Logan reminded Waters.   
  
"And as a journalist Mr. Cale you have no involvement in this matter."  
  
"And you have no credibility to a man who's holding a group of innocent hostages." Logan spat back "As a solider you represent everything he despises."  
  
"And as a soldier I intend to do my job."  
  
"You deem creating a shooting gallery with thirty-four innocents to get to one man as part of your job Sergeant?" Lucia finally spoke up. She had no respect for the way the military had corrupted itself. "This man might be willing to listen to reason if you or any of your trigger happy unit would give the opportunity a shot."  
  
"You can't reason with terrorists ma'am," Waters growled at her.  
  
"Maybe I can convince him I can get his message across," Logan tried to talk to Waters again.  
  
"The man just killed someone and you want to give him a bigger audience?"  
  
"We should give it a shot Sgt." Sung broke in "We all want the same thing, to free those hostages. Ms. Weston here is a professional hostage negotiator. If Mr. Cale can't reason with Darius we can use her as back up." He didn't mention the fact that Logan was married to one of the hostages. Waters might see it as "personal involvement" and deny them access.  
  
"Fine," Waters retorted with a huge sigh. "But you better keep your people under control, Detective. I'm not letting any two bit civilian amateurs mess up my operation." He stepped inside the van's interior. "Get Darius on the phone"  
  
"Yes Sir" a private sitting at a switchboard responded, dialing the number inside the hotel.  
  
*****   
  
STEINLITZ HOTEL  
  
The young blonde usherette who had volunteered as a movement member just last week stood next to Darius in the back of the room. "How can we kill one person every hour?" she asked in a low voice "I never agreed to that, it's crazy. We were just suppose to free the boy."  
  
"Are you questioning me?" Darius snapped at her.  
  
"Yes" the woman retorted. Snd was about to say something else when the phone in the back rang again.  
  
Darius walked cooly over to it and picked it up. "You better be calling to tell me that our transport is ready."  
  
"Mr. Darius, this is Logan Cale." Logan's voice came over the phone.  
  
Darius adapted an almost whimsical look on his face. "Logan Cale-"  
  
From the front of the room Max could hear the entire conversation and her head turned at the mention of her husband's name. She had moved to sit in the front row of folding chairs because it had began to hurt her back sitting on the floor.  
  
"It's been a long time." Darius addressed Logan "How'd you get drafted for this assignment? You sleep with a publicist or something?"  
  
"That's not important. What's more important is the safety of all those hostages."  
  
"And you have thirty-three minutes Mr. Cale or there'll be one less one to worry about." Daruis barked into the phone.  
  
Kendra whimpered again after hearing Darius' remark. She turned towards Max, moisture behind her eyes. "He's just joking right? He's not really going to kill all of us?"  
  
Max didn't say anything. Kendra took her silence as an answer and rested her head on Max's shoulder "I'm sorry I dragged you here."  
  
"Not your fault girl." Max said in a low voice to her. Beside her Jude sat perfectly still, not even blinking, a emotionless expression on his face.  
  
"He's a brave little soldier." Lydecker analyzed, looking at the boy.   
  
"He's a scared kid," Max shot back.   
  
"Fear accomplishes nothing." Deck turned to face her. "I hope he learns that now if he hasn't already."  
  
"That's that same crap you tried to unload on us back there." Max growled "Just shake it off and move on."   
  
"That boy is a valuable asset," Deck reminded. "It would be a shame to see Tanaka's work go to waste after all his years of research." He turned back to Kendra. "Give me the gun."  
  
Kendra lifted her head off Max's shoulder and removed the top section of her skirt handing off the Sig to Max to hand to Deck.  
  
Max held the gun in her hand, uneasy at the proposition of giving it to him.  
  
/FLASH: They all stood in facing Lydecker, Eva in the lead. She raised the gun she was holding in the air but before she could squeeze off Lydecker took aim and shot her in the chest. Everyone flinched at the sound. Eva fell, the gun dropping from her hand, slidding across the linoleum floor, stopping by Max's feet./  
  
"You will exploit tactical advantage," Deck spoke to Max like they were back at Manticore. "Things will get worse before they get better, you know that. Now hand me the weapon."  
  
Max finally moved her hand and held out the Sig to Deck who took it and tucked it away inside his jacket.   
  
= = = =  
  
POLICE VAN  
  
"You should know Mr. Darius that this won't be a police affair for very much longer," Logan told the terrorist. "The military's involved." He ignored the warning looks Waters was shooting him about keep that part a secret. "And from what I see they're quite anxious to do their thing."  
  
"Doesn't surprise me," Darius began. "They've been hunting us down like animals for the last ten years."  
  
"Then you probably know they're looking for any excuse to come in there locked and loaded to take you out," Logan rationalized. Lucia signaled that she wanted to talk to the man.   
  
Logan handed her the phone without a word.  
  
"John Darius?"  
  
"Who the hell is this?" Darius growled.  
  
"This is Lucia Weston, I'm a hostage negotiator."  
  
"Well you're wasting your time lady because if our demands are not met on time there won't be anything to negotiate about."  
  
"Just calm down Sir," Lucia tried to get Darius down from his rise. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a young man enter the van. He wasn't a cop, and he wasn't a soldier. He looked to be about Max's age, dressed in a blue sweater and brown suede jacket. Waters was too involved with the phone conversation to notice the unauthorized access the man had just made.  
  
"No!" Darius spat back. "You tell those soldiers out there that if they try and come 'Hu-Ah'ing here they'll have a lot of dead hostages on their hands."  
  
"I don't think they care, so long as they have you." Lucia told him straight out. It was all true. The military couldn't care less about lives they deemed expendable for accomplishing their objective.   
  
"Nothing like a good massacre to stir up public opinion against these butchers. People need to know what they've done to this country... The human race... The entire planet."  
  
"What age are you living in Darius?" Lucia growled "No one's ever gonna find out about this. The authorities will turn your martyrdom into a nonevent; everyone will get paid off to forget it in a couple of months. The whole deal will be history that never happened. Is that what you want?" she paused. "Because it doesn't have to be that way. You can get your message out."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Mr. Cale here is willing to set up a broadcast. He has contacts that are willing to tell your story. You have my word on that. But first you need to release the hostages."  
  
"Not a chance in hell," Darius disagreed "They'll storm the building in a second and you know it."  
  
"Then why don't you show the world you really are more compassionate then your enemy?" she asked "Let the women and the boy go."  
  
"I'll think about it" the call disconnected.  
  
"You really think that's gonna work?" Alec's voice startled Waters.  
  
"Who the hell gave you permission to come in here kid?" he walked right up in Alec's face "You better get the hell outta here. Two unauthorized personal botching up this job is more then enough."   
  
"It stands a pretty good shot," Logan answered Alec's question, ignoring Waters. "How'd you hear about this?"  
  
"Uncle Sam blew the whistle after his Class-Nine armored jeeps were blocking the way back to my apartment." Alec informed. "Figured it wasn't time for the annual military parade. There's an usherette position by the door with an M-16 with almost a full magazine, cyanide piercing by the looks of them." he rattled off the information with percision that only came from years of a soldier's lifestlye. You make contact with Max?"  
  
"I figured it would exploit a weakness to admit that I knew one of the hostages personally," Logan reminded.   
  
"Hey!" Waters snapped them back to reality. "I'm the head of this operation. If you three don't start communicating with ME I'm gonna throw your asses out of this van."  
  
"Sharp shooters are in position Sir." a private's voice came over radio in Water's hands.  
  
"Have them set up." Water responded "And give the order to be on ready."  
  
Alec snatched the walkie-talkie from Waters'hand,"Private this is Staff Sergeant Peterson, what's the twenty on the shooters?"  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" Waters demanded.  
  
"We have two positioned on the roof of the hotel and two more along the outer wall Sir." one of the shooters responded to Alec via Water's radio.   
  
"Okay I want you to move the two men on the ground across to the fountain at the front of the hotel. If Darius' men were to eyeball the perimeter they could tip him off on the shooters from their current location." He was actually planing to clear a way to get inside the hotel without getting his ass blown up by armed snipers.  
  
"Copy that," came the staticy reply.  
  
Waters was now furious, his big eyes bulging at Alec like he was about to beat the living crap out of him with his bare hands. "You mind telling what you think you're doing? Who the hell are you anyway?"  
  
"I'm nobody" Alec threw back.  
  
"Damn right you're nobody," Waters agreed. "And you better get your nonexistent ass out of here before I throw you into a brigade under military arrest."  
  
"That'd be a little hard to do considering that all your soldiers are busy at the moment initiating perimeter security. And if this man Darius sees any movement by these guys to escort me out he's gonna go ballistic on your ass." Alec stared down Waters "And I think's that more blood loss then even you care to loose."  
  
"You have a big mouth son-" Waters growled stepping into Alec's face "Now I want your skinny civilian ass out of my van before I do more then just throw you in a brig."  
  
"Hey!" Lucia cut in to break the two men from the confrontation. "Can we get back to the task at hand?"  
  
"Lady," Waters backed down from Alec and turned to her. "There won't BE a task if anymore civilians trespass in this operation." He scratched his chin glistening slightly with sweat and tiny bits of black peach fuzz from the remnants of a shaved beard. "I don't even understand why we need a friggin' hostage negotiator anyway. We already tried reasoning with Darius, but he couldn't be bought. And I'm not going to let this son-of-a-bitch get away again just to save a handful of people."  
  
"My daughter is one of those handful of people Sgt. Waters." Lucia snarled, she couldn't believe the turn the military had taken. They were suppose to protect civilian life at all cost, not consider them disposable. "And she's pregnant. So if you plan to turn these people into sacrificial lambs to further your own malicious agenda I'm going to go public with how the United States Military ordered the deliberate murder of thirty-five hostages including an woman and her unborn child. It'll be an old fashioned 1960's protest rally all over the streets of D.C."  
  
"If your daughter were smarter she wouldn't be in this mess Ms. Weston." Waters returned after Lucia's tirade. "And all your ranting afterwards on the matter won't mean a thing. Nobody listens to protestors anymore."  
  
"Oh they'll listen to me" Lucia threatened.   
  
The phone rang again, and this time Lucia picked it up. "Yeah?"  
  
"Bring me Cale and I'll let the women go."  
  
"What about the boy?" Lucia asked.  
  
"I'm a compassionate man lady, not a stupid one. I want a guarantee that there will be a safe transport waiting for my organization and the boy. Do this and I'll live up to my end of the bargain. If Cale isn't inside in the next ten minutes the deal will terminate." the line went dead.  
  
"What'd he say?" Logan asked after the call disconnected.  
  
Lucia turned to him. "If you go in as a good faith gesture he'll let the women go. But he wants security. Safe passage for the others and Jude to a civilian air strip before he releases the other hostages."  
  
"Excuse me if that deal sounds tainted," Alec spoke up. "After they get him inside what's to stop them from fulfilling their terrorist job description?"  
  
"Right now it's the best chance we have for getting at least some of the hostages out Alec," Logan threw back.  
  
"He's not getting any escort out of here," Waters notified to the group "Not a chance in hell."  
  
"Just one step at a time then," Logan said. "Let me go in and talk to him. Face to face."  
  
"Let's be clear on two things:" Waters threw back. " I don't have to honor any deals you make and I can't guarantee the safety of an untrained civilian."   
  
"That's never stopped you before." Alec returned from his spot next to the van's equipment.  
  
"I just want to seize whatever chance we have to get some of the hostages out unharmed." Logan spoke out.  
  
"I can't offer you any protection in there." Waters notified.  
  
"I'm not asking you too" Logan shot back.   
  
= = =  
  
A few minutes later Logan was crossing the street heading to the Steinlitz Hotel entrance. A few of the armed terrorists came out of the building meeting Logan halfway "Mr. Cale, Darius is expecting you."  
  
"Great I get an entourage," Logan stared at the weapons in the men's hands. They were pointed down to the ground, but they still had their fingers poised on the trigger.  
  
"Move fast." One of the men raised his weapon at Logan's chest. "Any funny business and this deal will terminate right here." they walked behind Logan pushing him the rest of the way to the hotel.  
  
*****   
  
INSIDE THE HOTEL  
  
Darius walked slowly to the front of the conference room. "Since we are fighting for humanity, we're making a gesture of humanity. The women are free to go."  
  
Kendra's eyes closed in relief. She pulled herself up off the floor and offered a hand to Max.  
  
"You'll be escorted to the lobby," Darius went on. "Any games and you will be shot."  
  
"Come on honey." Max put her arm around Jude and began walking out with the other women.  
  
Darius stopped her. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"  
  
"We're taking him with us." Max looked at him coldly.  
  
"No you're not," Darius growled. "The last time I checked this kid was not a woman, and I just said that only the women are free to go."  
  
"Then I'm staying here. With him." Max tightened her arm around the boy's shoulders.  
  
"Max no!" Kendra hissed, trying to run forward but one of the May 22nd members aimed his gun on her, halting her movement.  
  
"I wouldn't advise that." He pushed Kendra back with the side of the weapon.  
  
  
  
Darius smiled sardonically at Max. "That's very noble lady. But also very stupid." He yanked the boy away from her. "Come on Jude."  
  
Jude looked to Max with big eyes. He had just met her, but already he was starting to bond with the woman. She was the closet thing to a mother he had ever known.   
  
"Move!" another terrorist pointed his AK-47 at Max's back "And this time no more of your crap." He pushed Max forward with the butt of his gun. The other women were already scrambling out of the conference room and down the long maroon carpeted hallway.  
  
Max felt someone looking at her and turned her head around to see Logan walking down the hall about thirty feet away from her being escorted by two terrorists dressed in black suits.  
  
Logan locked eyes with Max and shook his head, mouthing the words "Go". He saw something in her eyes that told him she was about to do something dangerous./Don't do anything rash baby, you're pregnant, you can't move as fast./  
  
Max kept her eyes on him for a few more seconds before turning her head back around.  
  
"Isn't that-"Kendra turned her head real quick to sneak a peek at Logan.  
  
"Yeah," Max agreed. "I'm gonna go say 'hi'. Don't tell." She slowed down her pace.  
  
"Keep moving!" one of the armed men ordered, cocking his rifle. He had seen Max starting to slow down.  
  
The women were led over to a carpeted stairway. Max staggered behind them, walking slowly down the steps. She slipped her foot out, pretending to have tripped. "Ow! My ankle!" she fell back against the wall, landing in a sitting position beside the stairs.  
  
One of the men escorting the women out turned to the other "Stay with them. I'll take care of this."  
  
Kendra turned around in time to see Max on the floor. Her eyes went wide "Max-"  
  
"Move!" The other terrorist shoved her forward with his gun, pushing her into some of the other women.  
  
"Get up," the man staring down Max ordered her.  
  
Max grabbed her foot with both hands and looked up to him with what she hoped he considered "doeful eyes" "I think I twisted it."   
  
In an act of sudden compassion the man held out his hand to her "Here."  
  
She reached up and took his hand. "You're such a gentlemen." She faked a gracious voice, but instead of getting up she grabbed his arm hard and slammed him against the wall. He hit it hard, smacking his head on the white concrete wall before rolling down the stairs, unconscious. "To bad I'm not a lady."   
  
A hand covered itself over her mouth. She struggled to yank herself free and attack whoever it was.  
  
"Max relax it's me."  
  
Max pulled the hand off her mouth. "Alec what the hell are you doing?" she stared the other X5 in the face. Her confusion was evident on her face, along with livid anger for having him treat her like a female victim in a campy 1950's kidnapping movie.  
  
"I didn't know if you still had any trigger happy company." Alec looked down at the unconsciousness man. "Though I can see you have it covered. But that whole "help me Mr. Big Strong man, I seem to have twisted my ankle'" crap almost made me toss my cookies."  
  
Max ignored his remark. "Where are they taking Logan?"  
  
"How the hell should I know?" Alec informed, "He went and offered himself as a substitute kill in place of the women. You really need to let your lover boy know that chivalry died over four hundred years ago."  
  
"Did you see which direction they went in?"  
  
"They went back to the conference room.From what I see Darius is none too happy at seeing Logan. He must have met him before."  
  
"Alec shut up and-" his hand covered her mouth again. This time he put a finger to his lips to get her to keep quiet, hearing footsteps coming towards them in the hallway.   
  
Max heard the same sound after a few moments, turning her head towards the source of the noise.  
  
Alec slowly lowered his had from her mouth, signaling with his hand for her to double back down the same hallway she had just left. He immediately took the lead, stepping in front of Max and checking in both directions for any movement. They had both had the same level of training at Manticore, but Alec knew that Max being pregnant made her vulnerable and if she went first it would be a grave tactical error.  
  
Max knew this too, which is why she didn't care that Alec was now keeping close tabs on blocking her as they went down the long carpeted hallway she had just been shoved down. They were both trying to protect their weakest link, her baby.   
  
/Hate to think this, but Alec might make a good dad one day, or a body guard for Gary Coleman./  
  
They were halfway down the hallway when one of the terrorists spotted them, and took aim with his gun.  
  
Alec turned his head quickly to see that another one was positioned at the other end, mimicking his partner's position. "Don't move you two, put your hands where I can see them!"  
  
Alec turned to face one of the men. "I'm sorry I thought this was the way to the bathroom." Alec began walking to the man "My wife seems to have no sense of direction anymore. You know how women can be while they're like this." He kicked him in the chest, knocking him down to the ground, snatching his weapon. "On second thought you look like a bachelor to me." He knocked him out with the butt of his gun.  
  
"Hands in the air ma'am!" the other terrorist aimed his gun on Max. "I don't want to shoot someone in your condition but I will if you don't cooperate."  
  
"Are you hittin' on a pregnant woman?" Max stepped right up in the guys face.   
  
True to his words he didn't make a move. "I said stay right there!" He was not much older then her. Brainwashed by the 22nd Movement the same way Hitler brainwashed hundreds of scared kids into joining the Third Reich.   
  
"Ya know that's not how you rack up points with the honeys." Besides if ya really wanna hit on someone-" she took aim with her fist, dealing him a fierce blow right across his face. "That's the only way to do it" he fell to the ground at her feet "But thanks for the offer." She picked up his gun and unloaded the magazine, stuffing the clip into one of the pockets in her jacket.   
  
She walked over to Alec who was checking the rounds on the gun he had lifted off the other guy.  
  
"Remind me to kick your ass for that remark after we get outta here."   
  
"Remind me to care," Alec cocked the gun he was carrying and continued walking down the hallway, stepping over the body of the man he had taken down.  
  
*****   
  
"I'm sick of hearing all this chivalrous bull," Darius circled Logan who stood in front of the room a few feet away from the first row of chairs. "Offering yourself in the place of the ladies. What I don't understand is why you left your noble white steed at home."  
  
"I'm an old fashioned guy," Logan threw back. It was then that he noticed Lydecker sitting in the seat directly in front of him. Deck didn't say a word, didn't even give the slightest hint that he knew the other man.  
  
"And also very crazy for getting mixed up in this" Darius stopped circling and stood right in front of Logan. "You do this kind of thing all the time? Putting your ass on the line for a bunch of people you don't even know?"  
  
"It's called having a conscience," Logan interjected, "You should try using yours sometimes."  
  
"Why do you think I'm here?" Darius was getting mad at this discussion. "Think I'm just going to sit around and watch Tanaka continue to perform inhumane experiments on a seven year old boy all for the sake of some research that will just get disprove in two or three years?"  
  
"You want to talk about inhumane Darius, how about throwing a man off the roof of a thirty-four story hotel?"  
  
"Tanaka deserved what he got," Darius growled. "The man is a scientist, not a parent. His only intentions for that boy were to advance his own selfish agenda. I didn't do anything that he didn't already have coming to him."   
  
= = =   
  
SCENE OUTSIDE OF THE HOTEL  
  
All of the women began scrambling out of the hotel, Kendra lagging somewhere in the middle of them. Her eyes were still dazed, as she looked frantically into the night for something.  
  
"Kendra!" Cindy called out to her friend from the barricade, holding onto Alexis.  
  
Kendra started to run forward, but one of the sector cops held her back.   
  
"It looks like she's okay," Sketchy analyzed to Cindy.   
  
"Max is still inside!" Kendra shouted to her friends when she couldn't get to them.  
  
"Ma'am this is still a dangerous area" the sector cop began herding Kendra and the other hostages back of a military convoy truck. "We need to evacuate you to a safe location immediately."  
  
"You gotta be kidding," Sketchy looked dazed at Kendra's remark "Damn sons of bitches. They released all of the other women-"  
  
"Where's mommy?" Jesse looked up to Cindy with large eyes "Why isn't she here yet?"  
  
Cindy touched his head "She just got delayed." She ruffed up his hair, trying to sound nonchalant about it.  
  
Jess could see right through Cindy's voice, there was something about it that he didn't like.   
  
"You're lying!" He ducked underneath the barricade and ran off amidst the police officers.   
  
"Jesse!" Cindy tried to follow him, but a sector cop held her back. "This is a restricted area ma'am I'm going to have to ask you to stay back."  
  
"Jess, come back here!" Cindy kept calling after the boy.   
  
Waters poked his head out of the surveillance van and spotted Jess running around by the feet of his soldiers. "What the hell? Get that kid out of here!"  
  
"You need to go back behind the barricade-" one of the soldiers grabbed Jesse's hand.  
  
Jess whirled on him and grabbed his arm in both hands, shoving the soldier down hard enough that the 5'9 man fell to the ground.  
  
The other soldiers around him didn't know how to react to a four year old in their area, and three of them aimed their automatic rifles on him.  
  
"No!" Lucia spotted them and jumped out of the van, pushing into the group of soldiers and shielded her grandson from their aim with her body. "What the hell are you doing?" she looked down to Jess. "You okay sweetie?"  
  
"He tried to grab me nana" Jess spoke out, pointing at the man on the dirt.  
  
Lucia looked at the man struggling to get to his feet with all of his gear on before turning back to Jesse with a surprised look on her face.  
  
"This is a restricted area ma'am." the soldier growled, "Any non personnel needs to be behind the barricades."  
  
"He's just a little boy!" she spat back to the "What the hell are you doing taking aim with assault rifles on him?"  
  
"Kid shouldn't be here in the first place." The solider had finally gotten up on his feet, and there was mud stuck to his fatigue flack jacket.  
  
"You were planning to shoot at a four year old boy for walking in front of you? Or are you just forgetting all the news crews here who are salivating over any chance at turning you into the new spokesman for Post-Pulse Military Brutality?" The military had become a lot of awful things since the Pulse, but stupid wasn't one of them. She knew that so long as the media frenzy continued they wouldn't risk the exposure by committing one of their acts of planned cruelty.   
  
"Just keep him away from this area," the man growled, turning around in a huff, not wanting to face the fact that a four year old had just hauled him one.   
  
"Jess honey, your daddy and I told you to wait behind the barricades with the others. You could've been hurt very badly." Lucia didn't say anything to the fact that he had just thrown a full grown man at least three times over his body weight to the ground in a single move.  
  
"Mommy's not okay is she?" Jesse's words were completely deadpan, no anger, no sadness, nothing.  
  
"She's fine Jess" Lucia reassured.  
  
"No she's not! Why does everyone lie to me nana?" Jess's angry reply was so grown up that for one instant Lucia thought she was talking to Max instead of him.  
  
"Baby she's FINE," Lucia's tired to calm him down, moving to rough up his hair but he jerked away.  
  
"Please tell me for real nana," Jess was pleading with her now.   
  
Lucia sighed. He was a smart boy, and even though he was only four, she felt he deserved to know the truth. And BECAUSE he was so smart she figured he would figure it out on his own eventually.   
  
"I don't know if she's okay sweetie, but if she was in any danger I would know, believe me. She's your mommy, but I'm HER mommy. And mommy's know these things about their kids."  
  
Jess didn't say anything for a long moment, absorbing all this information into his brain. Then he looked up to Lucia with a completely serious look on his face. "Don't tell Lexi kay? She's too little, she'll only get scared."  
  
"I won't baby I promise." She bent down and picked the boy up, kissing his forehead.  
  
"Ms Weston if you're running this hostage negociation shit I suggest you get your ass back in here ASAP!" Waters barked at her from his seat inside the surveillance van.  
  
Lucia sighed again before looking down at Jesse in her arms. "I gotta get back to work honey, but first I'm going to deliver you back to where it's safe."  
  
"That man has a filthy mouth nana," Jess announced when they reached the police barricade.  
  
"Tell me about it." Lucia passed his form over the barricade into Cindy's arm. "He's worried about Max." She told her, responding to the look Cindy had shot her after taking Jess from her.  
  
"We're all worried about her suga," Cindy agreed. "There's some bad shit goin' on up in there."  
  
"No arguments here," Lucia returned. There was a few seconds of silence, then she spoke, "I gotta get back to work. Military's libel to do something idiotic without me as watchdog." She turned around and started heading back towards the police vans.  
  
"Let us know if anything goes down," Cindy called out to the retreating figure.  
  
"I will" Lucia threw out over her shoulder without turning back around. She entered the van, taking a seat next to the Private who was barking out Water's orders to his unit. "Anybody gets a shot. Take it. Aerial units move to jump off position. Await Co-Army command."   
  
"Copy that," a reply came through the radio before the sounds of four rounds from AK-47's filled the air. Two of the terrorists guarding the outside of the hotel, including the blonde usherette, fell to the ground, their weapons falling around them. Spectators began to scream.  
  
Waters reached down and snatched the headset off the Private's ears, "Confiscate the weapons and expand the perimeter thirty yards. I want sharp shooters poised at every exit. Tell them to await my command to enter."  
  
"What are you doing?" Lucia snapped, "You can't send sharp shooters in there now. The situation is still critical."   
  
"That chicken shit's time is up lady," Waters hissed. "I'm through playing his games. This "situation" is now going to be handled my way." He lowered the mic piece of the headset in front of his mouth again. "All unit commanders entrance time is clocked in ten minutes."  
  
"Roger that, moving into position now."  
  
= = =   
  
ROOFTOP  
  
Two sharpshooters lowered themselves from the harness attached to helicopter. After they were cleared the black military helicopter pulled away from the roof.  
  
The soldiers dropped their gear packs and started to attach their cables to hooks on the roof of the building that lifted a door to an escape hatch. But, before the man could attach his metal connecting hook a terrorist shot out from behind the brick structured area surrounding the doorway to the roof. He aimed his weapon on the soldier, firing twice, the soldier fell.  
  
The sharpshooter's partner reached for his gun, but another terrorist took aim and shot him once in the head and twice in the chest.  
  
= = =   
  
"What about the hostages?" Lucia demanded an answer from Waters.  
  
The army sergeant shot her the coldest look she had ever seen. "They're expendable." He ignored her shocked expression. "Our objective is worth more then the cost of a handful of lives ma'am. It's standard protocol."  
  
Lucia couldn't believe what she was hearing. If there weren't soldiers with loaded assault rifles all around her she would've killed the man. She got right up in Water's face, so close she could smell the stale coffee on his breath from his breakfast hours ago. "And you're a standard prick Sgt. Waters-" her eyes shot steel daggers into his. "If my daughter dies in there today because of your warped sense of protocol I will personally beat your ass to the ground."   
  
She stepped back from Waters and turned her fury to the Private. "Get Darius back on the phone."  
  
"Ma'am I'm not under obligation to take orders from you-"  
  
"DO IT!" Lucia bent low, invading his space.  
  
The Private stared at her only briefly before dialing the number, handing her the phone.  
  
After several rings it connected.  
  
"What is it?" Darius snapped over the reciever.  
  
"You're falling like flies Darius. I suggest you drop the mind games and release the other hostages before this turns into a shooting gallery."   
  
"I'll drop the games when I get everything that I want," Darius hissed. "So far your armored pals have only delivered a blockade around our escape route, something that wasn't part of the deal."  
  
"A man with your understanding of today's military should know that they don't always follow through with their deals."  
  
"Well you tell them they better satisfy their end of the bargain or else these remaining hostages will give them the shooting gallery they wanted."  
  
"They don't seem care about that anymore, " Lucia snapped. "You both have more in common then you imagine."  
  
"I tried to tell you all for years that these soldiers were nothing but a bunch of sadists who got paid off to form a gun club for terrorizing the country."  
  
"Yea well that gun club's about to come in their full force and take you down. Some of your members have already been used for target practice."  
  
*****   
  
Darius hung up the phone, cutting Lucia off in mid sentence.   
  
"Max can take care of herself" Deck finally spoke to Logan.  
  
"Forgive me if I worry about the safety of my pregnant wife in a hostage situation." Logan snapped back in a low voice.  
  
"Your pregnant wife is a soldier son," Deck reminded. "Her current medical status is hardly hindering to her capabilities. She was born for situations like this."   
  
"What the hell's going on?" Darius circled Logan until he was staring down directly on him "They've killed some of my people. And their trying to land soldiers on the roof. So much for deals." His anger was over the boiling point. "Their word means nothing." He stared down Logan for the longest moment. "And neither does your life." He turned to Terrance and another unnamed man. "Take him away."  
  
Terrance forcefully grabbed Logan's shirt and yanked him to his feet, aiming his gun at his back. "Let's go."  
  
= = = =   
  
Max and Alec crept inside the black control room. One of the terrorists was seated at the control panel, starring out of the two-way mirror that looked inside the conference room.   
  
Alec tapped the guy on the shoulder "Sorry this conference is over." He slammed the butt of the rifle in his hands in the man's rib cage.  
  
The terrorist gasped, all the air going out of him and blacked out a second later when Alec punched him in the face, knocking him out.  
  
Max leaned close to the two-way, and caught site of Terrance and the other man dragging Logan out of the room at gunpoint./Shit, why does he have to be so damn gallant?/  
  
Alec was also watching the scene as well. "Doesn't Logan ever get enough of that chivalrous get-himself-killed crap?"  
  
Max didn't answer and ran out of the room, down the hallway just in time to see Terrance pushing Logan down the carpeted hallway with a loaded automatic rifle.   
  
She skulked after them silently, always lagging a good three or four feet behind to keep herself from being noticed.  
  
Terrance and his companion were completely engrossed in their task of completing Darius' dirty work. So one of them looked back around once to spot Max as she follwoed them up to the roof of the building.   
  
Terrance pushed Logan over to the edge of the roof. "This hotel has a great view of the city."  
  
The sounds of the cops and people below reached Logan's ears, and he also came to the sickening realization that from this angle he would hit the triple plated armored roof of a military Humvee that was parked below."I don't think the view's that good." He was trying to stall and also trying to keep himself from loosing it being up so high. Acrophobia wasn't a fear of heights for nothing.  
  
Max silently ran over to the edge and picked up one of the dead sharp shooter's harnesses. She strapped it around her non existent waistline and latching the other end to the metal emergency exit handle that jutted out from the roof. She knew that the force exerted on the harness from the snap back of the rope was dangerous for her to take on directly on her stomach, but she had no choice. If the harness were placed any lower there wouldn't be enough stability to hold her weight.  
  
"Why don't you see for yourself?" Terrance grabbed at Logan's legs before he could make a move and heaved him over the side of the hotel.  
  
Max immediately dove over the edge after him, hearing the screams of the people below watching.   
  
The rope made an airy "swishing" noise as it unraveled after her. She kept her feet down straight to pull her body down faster and reached out her hand to Logan.  
  
He managed to close the gap between them and grab at her hand, his body sliding behind hers right as the rope reached it's limit snapping to a harsh stop like a bungee jumping cord.   
  
Max sucked in her breath when the rope dug into her body, feeling like someone had punched her in the abdomen. Looking above her she spotted Terrance undoing the harness chain from the roof.  
  
She turned her head back and spotted a window at the same level they were suspended from. She seesawed her body causing them to swing towards it. She held out her foot and kicked in the window pane before they broke through so they wouldn't be cut to pieces on shattered glass.  
  
The impact of crashing through flung them both through the window and landed them hard on the double bed inside the hotel room.   
  
"You all right?" Logan got out, staring up at her sprawled out on top of his body.  
  
"You okay?" Max's word's tripped over her husband's. "What the hell do you think you're doin' sacrificing yourself for us?" her tone shifted from concerned to pissed off. "Are you completely stupid or do you just have a death wish?"  
  
"You might try thanking me," Logan got out, looking up into her eyes, not voicing the fact that he was extremely relieved that she was okay. She wouldn't want to hear anything like that now, she was too mad.  
  
She glowered at him "Me thank YOU? Are you completely whacked our something,-" she broke off with a hiss when a spasm hit her abdomen. She grabbed at her stomach, pulling herself off of his body, sliding in the empty spot beside the bed.   
  
"Are you okay?" he leaned closer to see what was the matter.  
  
"Just a little bruised," she hissed taking off the harness from around her body.  
  
Logan lifted up the hem of hem of her button up top and revealed a thin rope length bruise already spreading across the stretched skin of her belly. "You put this thing around you're waist?" His voice was shocked. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is for the baby?"  
  
"Yes I'm aware of how dangerous that is, but it's not like I had a choice." she hissed again when he probed the discoloration with his fingers. " I wasn't just gonna sit idly by while my husband took a header off of a thirty-four story building."  
  
"To which I am eternally grateful, but it was an incredibly risky procedure." the look in his eyes had changed. He was reprimanding her for endangering herself and their baby to save him, but he had just risked his neck for her.   
  
She gave a slight shrug. "No pain no gain." Her breath sucked in again because she was now really starting to feel the entire length of the bruise.   
  
"I'm going to get you out of here." He stood up from the bed and pulled her up on her feet beside him.  
  
"I'm fine." Max informed, "Jude is still out there."  
  
"No. You're five months pregnant and your hurting from a from the impact of a harness after diving off of a high rise, you're NOT fine."  
  
"Those goons out there only want Jude as new blood for their Wacko-Vigil-Anti Terrorist Organization. He'll be just another kid totin' around Seattle with a loaded M-16 for The Cause unless we get to him in time."  
  
"Baby-"  
  
"Don't baby me unless you plan to help me Logan," Max snapped back, glaring at him. "I'm not leaving that kid out there pegged as fresh meat. Is that somethin' so hard to wrap your head around?"  
  
He sighed inwardly knowing that this was a battle he could never win. Max would stand her ground to the death over a cause she believed in. "Just go save the bo- "  
  
Before he could get all the words out Max grabbed his face, pulling him down to her for a long hot kiss. She pulled back after about ten seconds, breathless.  
  
"Be careful," he touched her face briefly.  
  
She brushed her lips against his briefly, before backing away to head out the door. She paused briefly at a gold plated full-length mirror to brush the dirt off her sleeves and straighten out her jacket.  
  
Logan couldn't help the smile that came to his face at the procedure. They were in a dire hostage situation but she still found the time to check herself out.  
  
Max opened the door slowly, peeking out to see if the hallways were clear. "Girl's gotta look good." She threw back as she turned around to face him, and then quietly slid out the door and down the hallway. She moved soundlessly down the plush carpet stopping at every hallway cross section to check if she had any visitors. She soon stepped silently into the fire escape stairs and made it up two flights of stairs before spotting an armed man standing at the landing on the floor where the conference room was contained.   
  
"Hey!" The man spotted her and squeezed off several rounds from his gun.  
  
Max dodged the bullets expertly. She ducked one just in time for it to zing into the metal handrail of the stairs inches from her forehead; the bullet smoking from the point of impact. She was on the man before he had the chance to blink.   
  
"Sorry pal, this is a non-smoking facility." She nailed him in between the eyes with a hard punch, knocking him out with a second blow to the side of his head. She unloaded his weapon and stashed it behind a loose faded tile from the drop ceiling. She checked the noise level above her, hearing nothing out of the ordinary. No one had heard her maneuvers. She checked in all directions anyway, just in case, before stepping over the man's body and continuing up the stairs.  
  
*****   
  
"Full Breach Full Breach! Squads are in position!" Waters spoke into his radio "Wait for my signal!"  
  
"You're really into total anarchy aren't you?" Lucia snarled beside him.  
  
Waters released the call back switch on his radio, twisting around to face her. "Ms. Weston I'm going to have to ask you to leave. This matter is no longer under civilian jurisdiction."  
  
"And when the hell was it EVER under civilian jurisdiction Sgt. Waters?" If the old cliche of "looks can kill" were true Waters would have been lying in a puddle of blood at her feet by now.  
  
"Just back the hell off and let us do our job ma'am." Waters looked to the Private. "Ramons, escort Ms. Weston out of here."  
  
"Sorry ma'am you need to leave," Ramons stood up and grabbed her arm, but she jerked him away.  
  
"If you don't want to be the first soldier who ever lost an appendage in a non combat situation Private Ramons I suggest you back off."   
  
The young private released his grip and turned back to Waters. "Sir she doesn't want to leave." He didn't want to admit that Lucia's assertive tone scared the crap out of him. He was a green Private, fresh out of boot camp and Lucia sounded too much like a drill sergeant he had back at Ft. Drum.   
  
Waters gave her a long look before heaving a huge angered sigh "Fine." He pointed at her with a finger with filth under the nail. "But stay the hell out of our way."  
  
*****   
  
"What do you mean he got out?" Darius growled into a cell phone. "He was thrown of a building for cripes sake! Have someone check it out. The goddamn military's already making their move." He hung up the phone and turned back to Terrance.  
  
"Let's get out of here. Grab a hostage."  
  
Terrance cocked his weapon and walked right over into the face of Lydecker. "Time to move old man."   
  
Deck pulled out his weapon, but before he could fire it, Terrance knocked him to the ground with his rifle.  
  
"Come with me Jude." Darius snatched up the scared kid's hand. Jude's eyes became huge as he stared at the gun in Darius's left hand.  
  
The back door to the conference room suddenly burst open causing three men to aim their weapons at it.  
  
Alec strolled in as casually as if he were walking into his own apartment. "Now now boys you know better then to start a party without me." He ducked as they fired rounds at his head, shooting off the rifle he had lifted off another man. Two of the men dropped to the ground the third rushed took aim at him from behind.  
  
"Drop it you little prick!"  
  
"Now why do you have to disrespect me like that?" Alec turned and slammed the muzzle of the rifle into his gut. "All this unnecessary mouthing off is just gonna further piss me off" he picked up the weapon where the man dropped it. "And I don't think you want that." He fired two rounds and the man fell hard onto the carpet.   
  
Darius had enough of the scene. "Come on!" He yanked Jude into the sound booth and closed the door.   
  
The remaining hostages seized this opportunity to flee the area, running out the back door, trampling over the bodies of the two men Alec had shot.  
  
"You always show boat to exploit your enemies weak points soldier?" Deck had regained his composure and stood up from the floor, staring down Alec.  
  
Alec turned confused to the older man "Come again?" he was part of the newer group of X5's that were kept in isolation away from Lydecker per Renfro's orders. He had only heard the name Donald Lydecker in reference to the traitor he was to Manticore.   
  
"I hate to think that after my forced resignation Anna Renfro let Manticore become sloppy in their tactics training." He was now looking directly at Alec, observing his reaction at this remark. "You're the genetic duplicate we made off of X5-494 aren't you?"  
  
"The name's Alec bitch." Alec hissed at Deck. "And don't even catalog my name next to that messed up science experiment freak show I was cloned from. Your propagandist BS doesn't work on me."  
  
"It's because of this propagandist BS that you were able to take down two heavily armed men without breaking a sweat. Without it you'd be the one with boot marks all over his ass."  
  
****   
  
Keep quiet kid," Darius grabbed Jude's mouth, shoving him under a black table behind him. He spotted Max's shadow being cast on the screen by the slide projector that was still turned on.   
  
He opened the sound booth window and shout out sevreal rounds, satisfied when her shadow dropped out of sight.  
  
Convinced that he had either killed or wounded her severely, Darius leaned over the window to spot her fallen form.  
  
A hand tapping his shoulder made him turn around.  
  
"Looking for me?" Max asked elbowing him in the face, then the stomach, watching him double over before corkscrewing her body in the air and kicking him in the chest.   
  
She turned around and spotted Jude cowering underneath the black table, hugging his knees to his body.   
  
"It's okay." She grabbed his arms gently and pulled him out to stand in front of her.  
  
Jude stared out the open glass window, his eyes gazing at the running projector images of Dr. Tanaka teaching him how to walk at three years old.  
  
Max turned back and saw the images on the screen, then looked back to Jude.   
  
"What's going to happen to me now? Where will I go?" Jude's words were sad. He had gone from the amazing seven year old to the scared kid that was hidden underneath all the intelligence.  
  
"It's okay." She knelt down to his level. "You don't have to be brave anymore."   
  
Jude threw his arms around her then, holding onto her like he would never let go.  
  
Max hugged him back just as hard "Let it out." She rubbed his back. "It's all right."   
  
Jude squeezed her impossibly tighter. "Can you be my mom?"  
  
His words were so heart breaking that Max had to take a moment before shaking her head sadly. "I'm sorry baby, but I can help you find a better girl for the job okay?" She ruffled his hair and picked him up, carrying him in her arms out the black emergency exit door that lead outside.   
  
*****   
  
The soldiers cautiously stepped inside just as Darius was dragging himself out of the sound booth.   
  
"On the ground now horse shit!" A soldier took aim at Darius, running over and kicking him in the chest when he didn't move as fast as the solider wanted.   
  
"Base this is Unit Four. Subject is down." He kicked Darius in the stomach, pleased at the grunt he omitted.   
  
The remaining four soldiers in the group joined in with their unit member, kicking the downed man with their steel toed boots.  
  
"Hey!" Deck approached the group of soldiers, pulling out his military ID "Hey! What are you men doing?"  
  
"We're interrogating the prisoner." a tall soldier dealt Darius another blow with his boot.  
  
"Under the laws of this country this individual is entitled to due process." The soldiers immediately came to attention after seeing Deck's ID. He was now diretly in front of the men. "You want him showing up for an arraignment like this?"  
  
"No Sir" the same solider responded.  
  
"You want the judgment of your Co-Army Commander, the credibility of your military undermined by your reckless behavior?" Deck got right up in the soldier's face, unfastening the front holster in his flack jacket and removing his issued revolver, cocking it. He glanced down seeing Darius writhing on the ground.   
  
"No Sir."  
  
"Neither do I." Deck fired the gun directly into Darius' chest. "Problem solved." He handed the black weapon back to the soldier. "What happened here today solider?"   
  
"The suspect opened fire and we had to return it, he was killed in the crossfire." the Private caught Deck's hidden meaning to cover up Daruis's execution.   
  
Lydecker turned his attention to Alec who hadn't even flinched when Darius was killed. He had witnessed these things too many times. "You can collaborate on this story son?"  
  
Alec stared down at the body oozing blood from a single gunshot wound to the chest. "I didn't see a thing." He wasn't lying either. Right before Darius was shot Alec had averted his eyes so he wouldn't witness the event. As soldiers they were taught never to lie under direct interrogation unless ordered too. But they could use whatever means necessary to keep any truths that could be used against them away from their direct knowledge. Alec wasn't one a good little Manticore solider anymore, he jus didn't want to face the military interrogating to get him to lie about his eye witness account.  
  
"You perform your tasks very efficiently soldier."   
  
"Thank you Sir." the Private immediately thought Lydecker was talking about him; missing completely the glance over the Colonel was giving Alec.  
  
Alec stared at Deck hard for a brief moment before simply walking out the back door that had been flung open by the sharp shooters.  
  
Deck pulled out his silver wireless phone, hitting a speed dial number. "This is Lydecker, I need a level three security sweep. Be at the Steinlitz Hotel in fifteen minutes." He hung up, turning back to the young Private "Prepare the body for transport."  
  
"Yes Sir."  
  
*****   
  
"Where are we going?" Jude looked up to Max who was still holding him in her arms. His eyes were questioning, weary, afraid.  
  
Max glance down to the small boy. "Somewhere safe." She stepped back down onto the street, shielding Jude's face from view of the police and the military. If either of them saw him out with her he would be taken away to god knows where, maybe even experimented on.  
  
"Max!"   
  
She turned and saw Cindy behind the barricade, relief evident in her face that her friend was okay.   
  
"Mommy mommy!" Lexi squirmed in Cindy's arms as she struggled to get down. Cindy lowered her to the ground and both her and Jesse ran over the concrete in a beeline for Max.  
  
Max set Jude back down gently on his feet and moved to embrace her children when they jumped her. She kissed them both on top of their head, picking up Lexi and holding Jess to her with one hand who squeezed her leg in a death grip. Jude looked on this scene the whole time, a silent envy in his eyes, but muted by more powerful emotions of longing.  
  
Cindy stepped over to Max. "You okay Suga?" Her eyes gave away her concern.  
  
Max nodded, falling into the hug her friend gave her. She pulled back after a moment "How's Kendra?"  
  
"She's aiight. Girl was trippin' with worry over you." There was a pause. "She wasn't the only one." Cindy fell silent as Lucia approached them, walking directly over to Max.   
  
"So I take it the conference wasn't that big of a hit?" Lucia was just like Max in admitting worry. She was so relieved that she was alive, but right now she just engaged in casual conversation because she didn't have any other way to deal with all the swirling emotions in her. She wasn't a throw her arms around someone and weep kinda lady.  
  
"Not what I expected." Max pulled Lexi up higher on her body when she started to slide. "But nothing in my life is."  
  
Lucia had to smile at that. "Honey I could've told you that a long time ago." she leaned forward and hugged her this time, because she was her mother and mother's worry.  
  
*****   
  
"What do you mean they transported the body?" Waters stared down the young Private. The police had already started clear out and move the media crews back.  
  
"The orders were to-"  
  
"What orders" Waters cut him off. "Who gave the goddamn fucking orders to remove a suspect without my go ahead?"  
  
"A Colonel Lydecker Sir." the Private responded. "He-" a pause "helped ascertain the prisoner and ordered the transport."  
  
"Where the hell too?" Waters growled.   
  
"The Colonel wouldn't disclose that information Sir."   
  
"I want you to track down this Colonel Private." Waters pointed a finger at his chest.   
  
= = =   
  
Lydecker sat a dozen yards away in his tan Lexi's LSI, listening to the conversation over the tiny bug he planted on the handle of the Private's Sig Sauer.   
  
"I want to ask him about his god damn orders." Water's voice broke over the audio feed on Deck's open laptop computer.  
  
"Yes Sir."   
  
A tapping at his window made him roll it down to a Staff Sergeant in green fatigues "Daruis body had been cleared for transport back to base."   
  
"Alert them of our arrival. I want him in a containment facility ASAP."  
  
"Right away Sir." the sergeant backed away from the car and pulled out his radio "Central command, relaying message.."  
  
*****  
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
Max knelt down next to Jude, who was staring at the front door of their apartment. He had stayed with them overnight.  
  
"When is he coming?"  
  
"Soon honey." Max ruffed up his hair "You'll like him I promise" she kissed the side of his head.  
  
He turned to her "How long do I have to stay there?"  
  
"Until you can find a permanent home." Logan had already been looking for foster parents for Jude, but it was a slow process. She had no problem with him staying with her and Logan except she was afraid that someone would recognize her from the conference and track Jude down for some kind of revenge or moneymaking scheme.   
  
A knock on the door made her stand up, slowly pulling herself up on her feet. She had been checked out by Janston in an emergency visit last night. Besides lingering soreness and a massive bruise around her abdomen, she and the baby were fine.  
  
"I didn't know you knew how to knock like a normal human being."  
  
Alec, who was standing outside simply shot her a look. He walked a few feet inside the penthouse before turning back around to face her. "The thing I don't get is, if I saved you're your ass how come I'm doin' you the favor?"  
  
"You still owe me large for that remark you dropped about my "family way'," Max reminded. "And it's not a very sufficient way to get in good with a kid when you talk about him like he's not in the room."  
  
Alec glanced over at Jude who he didn't know was there. The boy stared back at him, curious. "You couldn't leave him with one of your sisters? Or Zack?"  
  
"Can you picture him taking in a kid?"  
  
"I'm not exactly Ward Cleaver either Maxie. And the only reason Zackie boy isn't up for the job is cause he too busy bangin' the hot blonde from the S1W."   
  
Max ignored him and knelt down next to Jude, putting an arm on his shoulder. "This is Alec, Jude. He's gonna be watchin' out for ya for a little bit. Make sure he stays out of trouble."  
  
Jude finally broke into a smile. His gaze softened on Alec, like a little boy who had just found a friend. "Do you have a piano?"   
  
Alec tried to hide the cringe at that remark. It brought up too many memories of Rachel Berrisford and his mission to kill her father. "All I have is a TV and a Hi Fi kid."  
  
Jude looked at him quizzically. "What's that?"  
  
"Damn you have been sheltered." He stepped closer to Jude. "Trust me Jude, you'll like it. And if you really want to hear classical music so badly there's PBS special tonight with Yo Yo Ma." He paused for a moment to check his watch. "I hate to break up the whole bonding session but I have to go, and if you plan to come along kid you gotta get movin'."  
  
Max handed Jude a small soft back book with an red-orange cover and the words: "Tread Not Gently" printed in black calligraphy across the front. "It's a collection of Dylan Thomas poems from Logan's library. In case PBS gets a little boring."  
  
Jude took it from her, staring at its shiny cover. "Thank you ma'am."  
  
Max gently maneuvered the book in his hand so he was holding it to his chest."My name's Max okay?" She hugged him again "Remember that." She slipped something else into his hand, a small 4 x 7 photo of Dr. Tanaka taken in his laboratory a few weeks earlier. Lucia had managed to confiscate it off of one of the MP's who had rampaged the small room at the hotel where Tanaka had housed Jude before the conference.  
  
Jude looked long and hard at the photo in his hand. "Max-" he took her up on her offer to call her by her first name "Did Dr. Tanaka really love me?"  
  
Max didn't respond, she didn't know what to say. A small part of her wanted to tell Jude that Tanaka loved him dearly, that he was like a son to him, but the analytical soldier side of her knew better. Tanaka cared for Jude on some level, but it was tainted with his hope for research, for the future study of genetics. Jude was sadly a major part of that research. But she couldn't tell him that. He had to have something good to hold onto, he'd been through so much already. "You better get goin." She couldn't tell him, so she didn't say anything.  
  
Jude leaned over and kissed her once on the cheek. "Bye." He walked over to Alec.  
  
"You owe me for this major," Alec pointed out. "There aren't enough paid hours in the day for me to be a free lance baby sitter."  
  
"Consider it an advancement in the future." Max got back up on her feet.   
  
Alec rolled his eyes. "Yeah right." He turned to Jude "Let's go kid."   
  
"Take care of my boy." Max threw out.  
  
Jude gave one last glance at Max, smiling at that remark before they were out the door.  
  
Logan's footsteps echoed on the floor as he approached her from behind, lying a hand on her shoulder "You okay?"  
  
Her answer was to turn around to face him, and do a quick subject change. "Thanks for bailing the gals outta there. Myself included. All though the next time you attempt something so stupid and risky I'm gonna hafta lay your ass out."  
  
He put his hand on her stomach. "Right back at you." The baby moved underneath his hand.  
  
"Least now she has good braggin' rights about goin' sky diving before any of her future classmates."  
  
Logan managed a smile on that one, then his tone turned serious. "Did you find the information you needed to know?"   
  
Her original plan for attending the conference, besides baling out a friend was to try and find a solution for her seizures. "Tanaka's "six feet under." kinda threw a monkey wrench in the plan."  
  
"Not to mention a hostage situation," he added. She didn't voice it, but he knew how badly she wanted to stop her seizures and the fear they always brought on with her pregnancies, "You'll get the information next time."  
  
"Yeah next time." Her hand moving to cover his where it rested on her blue sweater. "Too bad I don't have a lot of time left to change fate before nine months is up." She looked down as she felt him lean over and kiss her, which brought her head back up.  
  
She fell into the kiss, wrapping her arms around the back of his head, and after ten seconds of heated passion she pulled away. "Ya wanna know what really bums my ass out? I had the chance to swipe some prime percale cotton towels for Original Cindy and I totally spaced it."  
  
"I think she'll understand considering the extenuating circumstances with Jude."  
  
Max shot him a look at the mention of the boy's name who had just walked out of their apartment.  
  
MAX V.O. "Deck taught us that were no such things as prodigies, that they were convenient lies people told to excuse the reason why they weren't as strong as they could be."   
  
(PAN OUT OF THE SHOT WITH MAX AND LOGAN HOLDING EACH OTHER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIVING ROOM. CUT TO: SCENE OF ALEC WALKING DOWN THE SIDEWALK TO HIS APARTMENT WITH JUDE IN TOW)  
  
MAX: V.O "We had it beat into our heads that flawless skills existed inside everyone, not to just an elite few. A single indivisual could never be labeled as smarter then any others in one particular area. "  
  
A man passed Jude on the sidewalk, wearing a black trench coat. He lifted his eyes to stare at the boy, keeping them on him as he passed.  
  
Jude stared back at the face of one of the terrorists from the May 22ND, recognizing fully who it was after he had vanished from his line of sight.  
  
MAX: V.O "Because life is never an exact science."  
  
(FADE TO BLACK)  
  
*****  
  
End   
  
SORRY! I know I was SOOOO bad at keeping up..but glad to say my "personal problems" are settled so I'm back on a writing track. I have several ideas for the next chapters so don't worry, there's no end in sight for this.  
  
D*mn, this one was looong. Think it's the longest one yet. But I didn't want to gip on the story just to keep it short. Lucia's "real job" was something I thought up cause I didn't just want the woman to sell insurance, I wanted her to be involved with Max's situation in this chapter as something more then just a worried mom. Did you catch the character change I gave Rachel Glasser? Max could've had an alais, but the reason she needed it in the episode was for credentials and I removed that obstacle by having her be recognized as an "important person" by the hotel staff.  
  
I'll get the next chapter up faster, promise. I already have the idea. Which I will leave you a peek into before I go: ready? Max is with Lucia (someplace which I don't know where yet) during a storm and she goes into labor. There'll be more to it, but I'll iron out the details later.  
  
R/R please  
  
Peace, mystic 


	21. Forces of Nature

Choices 22-"Forces of Nature"  
  
Author: Mystic25  
  
Email: littlegirlisland34hotmail.com   
  
SUMMARY: A storm blankets Seattle, stranding Max in labor at her mother's house with Zack who has major hostilites with Lucia being Max's 'mom'.  
  
DISCLAIMER: X5's are yours Cameron. Logan is yours. Cindy is yours. Normal is yours...you see where I'm going with this? I have three or four characters to my name, no cash, no source of getting cash. You'd be better off stealing money from your staff then trying to squeeze it out of me. But if you give me Zack I'll see if I can work out some sort of deal.  
  
A/N: This is for Sammie, who takes the painstaking time to beta these long chapters. Thank's girl, I appreciate it, major props for you.  
  
SEATTLE  
  
9:20 AM  
  
"Baby where are you going?" Rick watched his wife rolling a tube of coral-colored lipstick onto her full bottom lip.  
  
"I'm paying Max a visit," Lucia said. She re-capped the tube of make-up, examining her appearance in the oval, ivory-colored mirror that hung on the wall of the hallway beside the stairs.  
  
"I don't think she'd care if you got all dolled up," Rick responded, turning down the volume on the Lakers game he was watching. "Don't you think you're spending too much time over there? She might not appreciate the intrusion."  
  
Lucia shot him a low glare. "You calling my visits an intrusion Rick?"  
  
"No I'm not Luc," he defended, indicating himself by holding the remote to his chest for a moment. "But the woman's nine months pregnant, and she's got her hands full with two kids and a job. I just thought she might like some down time."  
  
"Trust me babe, she doesn't mind." Lucia replaced the compact in her black leather handbag. "Es me hija. Conozco estas cosas." (She's my daughter. I know these things.)  
  
"You do know I can't understand a word you say when you speak Spanish."  
  
She grinned, "That's the beauty of it."  
  
He threw a maroon couch cushion at her.  
  
Lucia ducked before the pillow hit her. She had been on the basketball team in high school and could dodge any incoming object like it was her professional career. "I thought you found my espanol sexually alluring."  
  
"Honey I'll say anything at night to get you to-"  
  
"Watch it," Lucia warned holding up her hand. "You don't want to start spouting off the fact you enjoy my Spanish for your own waton desires."  
  
"Then what's the fun in you speaking Spanish at all?" Rick shot back. This time he had to duck when she pitched her waterproof mascara at his head.  
  
"I'll play around later Rick." Lucia said as she approached her husband, kissing the top of his sandy brown hair.  
  
"Play around now." He pulled her down on the couch beside him and started sucking on her neck with kisses.  
  
"Baby stop, you're going to smudge up my make-up."  
  
"And you know you know love every minute of it." He returned his lips to her neck, working his way up to just below the flesh of her chin. "You are way too fine to be a grandmother."  
  
"I'm already a grandmother Rick." Lucia reminded. "Which, I might remind you, makes you a grandpa."  
  
"Hey Max is your daughter not mine remember?" He meant it as a joke but felt her tense up after he said it. He pulled back to see her trying to hide her anger, and doing a really bad job of it. "Hun, you know I didn't mean it like that." He rubbed her shoulder. "Max is great. Getting to know her for the past year has been a fantastic. I'm just still trying to adjust to how you gave birth to her at some military base; also how she's some tinkered up secret experiment."  
  
"It's been over a year since I tracked her down and you still aren't 'adjusted?'" Lucia's words were very defensive. "I know from personal experience that getting out of Manticore is no cakewalk and neither was living there. You have no idea what kind of things went on behind those doors."  
  
/FLASH: Lucia tried to break out of the grip the MP's had on her arm, but they were too strong for her. Her nine-month pregnant belly was coated in sweat underneath her long sleeved shirt.  
  
They dragged her into an examination room and strapped her down.  
  
"Don't take my baby you fuckin' bastards!" a man in white scrubs strapped her arm down in restraints while another injected a powerful sedative in the veins of her wrist. She stopped struggling soon after that./  
  
"All I'm saying is-"  
  
"No I heard what you said Rick," Lucia cut him off. "And in the future I'd appreciate it if you don't put down MY daughter who's about to deliver MY grandchild in a few days." Her emotions were so high that she was panting from the force of them.  
  
Rick watched his wife's chest move in and out for a moment. "I'm sorry sweetie." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.  
  
The rage in her eyes went down a level. "That won't cut it all the time." She didn't move for several seconds, just staring at him. "Time for this lady to get out of here." She stood up on her brown lace up Sketchers. "How about arroz con el pollo tonight?" This was to let him know that she was forgiving his remark.  
  
"Sounds great," he agreed.  
  
She smiled, all last evidence of her anger fading. She couldn't stay mad at him for long. Not unless the situation really warranted it. "What time will you be home?"  
  
"Around seven." Rick took a moment to stretch his arms over his head. "Jerry wants that new shipment of mahogany for the flooring of the hotel delivered today. It's a big haul." After he answered her, he looked up into the chocolate brown eyes that he loved so much. "You working the second job today?"  
  
She shook her head. "Crime in this city has taken a break, so I don't have to fake a sick day for Mark."  
  
He stood up to face her, wanting to look her directly in the eye for his next remark. "I don't like the way that guy eyes you." 'Eyeing' was an understatement for the way the man would run his gaze all over her body, like he had lost something on her skin and was trying to find it. "Nobody appreciates getting a cup of coffee that much."  
  
"Mark is harmless." Lucia reassured, "He's a chauvinist and obnoxious as hell, but he's a pussy cat when it comes to anything that would land him with a police record."  
  
"All I know is if that bastard tries that 'you have a drop of coffee on your blouse let me get that for you,' act again I'M going to be the one that lands the police record."  
  
Lucia was a fiercely independent woman who resented any man treating her like she should either be put on display or in front of a stove; but she still felt a rush of satisfaction at Rick defending her honor. "I'm not a cop baby, but if you lay off Mark I'll find a pair of handcuffs and lock you up tonight."  
  
He raised his eyebrows at her, crossing his arms over his sage green v-neck sweater. "Lucia Weston, I never pictured you for a kinky lady."  
  
"Kinky ladies are nothing but nasty hoes Rick." She stepped over to him and threw her arms around his neck "But me, I make it look good." She kissed him full force, hot and wet.  
  
He fell into the kiss, pulling her closer with his hand on the back of her neck. "I thought you were supposed to be leaving to see Max?"  
  
She broke apart from the kiss for a moment, contemplating his remark, and the way the ribbed green sweater hugged his body. "On second thought Max is a big girl, she doesn't need her momma hanging around her twenty-four seven. Besides, she might be doing something with Logan that's as sinful as this."  
  
"Yeah and we're Catholic." Rick smiled seductively "Father Destry will forgive us of our lustful transgressions."  
  
"I've got confession in tomorrow, so we'll be cleansed of anything we might do tonight." Lucia shot back, her smile getting as lust filled as his.  
  
Rick grinned like an idiot, but a very turned on idiot. "Damn I love sinning."  
  
Lucia gave a quick laugh. "Yeah me too." She initiated another kiss, pulling back after another ice age came and went. "I really need to go now, I told her I'd go see the nursery. Plus I have to comfort my almost five-year-old grandson on having to share a room with his sister."  
  
"Poor guy, I know how that goes, it's like your independence is lost," Rick said, laughing at that, lost in remembering a childhood memory of having to share his room with two of his four brothers after more room was needed for his sister's nursery. His parents being hard core Cathlolic, birth control wasn't allowed, so he had a rather large family, as did his wife.  
  
"It'll be a great experience for him." Lucia explained. "Kids just seem to grow up better when they have someone to play shadow puppets and tell secrets to at night after bedtime."  
  
"How come we never play shadow puppets at night?" Rick asked, seeming very offended that he hadn't been given that opportunity at bedtime.  
  
"Cause we're usually too busy with other things baby." Lucia reminded with a wag of her eyebrows.  
  
Rick smiled at that. "Oh yeah." The timbre in his voice took on a note of pleasure as he remembered the 'other things'. He offered one last quick kiss on her lips. "Tell Max I said 'hi.'"  
  
"I will," Lucia agreed, pulling back from him and heading to the white front door with the stained glass recessed in its center. She opened it halfway, but then turned back once to face him. "Don't miss me too much."  
  
"Too late." Rick returned, watching her smile before she went out.  
  
FOGLE TOWERS   
  
"Right-" Max began, waiting for a moment until she felt the sensation lightly ripple across her stretched abdomen. "There." Her hands were behind her back, resting on the dip created by the ribcage's connection to the hipbone. She was dressed in a nectarine-colored long sleeved button up top and blue maternity jeans.  
  
Logan was kneeling in front of her with one ear pressed against her enlarged stomach, feeling the movement of the baby underneath her flesh. "Are you sure she's kick boxing?"  
  
"She's been beatin' on my stomach enough in the last few months for me to know when she's workin' out." Max informed him with a hint of a smile on her face. "Think she's about ready to break out of the joint."  
  
"It's really not a bad place to be honey." Logan spoke to his unborn child in his wife's womb. "Free room service, free accommodation. Once you get out in the real world it's all down hill from there."  
  
"Great upbeat pep talk dad." Max said above him. "Why don't you give her a silver piece for a birthday present so she can start defending herself early?"  
  
"Right now she's the only one in this city besides you who isn't packing." Logan stood up and looked Max in the eyes. "But it's not like that leaves you totally defenseless. Some people already have looks that could kill." He shot her a look that let her know he was checking her out.  
  
Max managed a smile. "Only the helpless romantic Logan Cale would hit on a girl nine months pregnant."  
  
"I just call it like it see it sweetheart." Logan rationalized. "And I wouldn't be the first one to appreciate the beauty of a woman's body when she's pregnant."  
  
"Is there some secret pre partum father's course that men take where they learn all about the sex appeal of a women who would otherwise just consider herself a well dressed beached whale?"  
  
"It's what we studied in health class when all the girls were learning how to macramé." Logan deadpanned. Max may have been uncomfortable in her body at the moment, but he found her very beautiful and extremely sexy. She was normally all that to him, but now, she had something of an 'earth mother' quality. "Pregnant women have far more sex appeal then any of those well bred razor-thin supermodels flouncing down the runways."  
  
"I never got that." Max returned. "Here I am, overweight with swollen ankles, and you look at me like you want to jump my bones. But stick any full figured chick out there, and she's invisible to those hungry for feastin' their eyes on flesh."  
  
"It's the fact that you're carrying our child that makes it sexy baby." Logan informed. "At least up until the point where you're lying sweat soaked in a bed and screaming for an Uzi to end the life of the one who wronged you."  
  
"I don't do guns." Max reminded. "I'd just smack you around a little."  
  
"I feel so much better now." Logan returned. "But I think that feeling's about to go away after we have to drag Jessie kicking and screaming out of his old room and into Lexi's."  
  
"It won't be as bad as all that." Max told him. "I shared a room with half a dozen kids and I didn't turn out warped or nothin'."  
  
"Try telling an independent four-year-old that." Logan came back. "And I don't think a military barracks count as a room."  
  
"All I know is I always looked forward to nights when Ben would make shadow puppets on the wall after lights out. We'd all sit around him like it was just some summer camp and we had snuck out of our cabin to go make mischief." Max's lips formed into a small smile, remembering sitting beside Jondy who would make cracks about how Zack resembled the rat Ben was making a shadow of. "It was a way of kinda taking the edge off of the things we did during the day."  
  
Logan watched her eyes change when she mentioned her deceased brother. She wasn't extremely emotional about it, but she wasn't an emotional woman. The simple cloud that cast itself over her eyes was a sadder expression than if she had started sobbing right there in front of him. "You okay?" he asked, even though he knew the answer. That was just the way they did things.  
  
"I'm tryin' to remember all those jokes that me and Jondy made about Zack over the shadows," she paused for a moment. "But mostly I'm just missin' Ben."  
  
Logan put his finger under her chin and raised it up so that she was looking at him at eye level. Without a word he brushed his lips against her forehead, not in sexual hinting or play, but for the pure raw comfort he felt he had to give her at that instant.  
  
"C'mon," Max started to change the subject. The issue of Ben was always raw for her, and would always be there to discuss, just not now. "If your subject is stronger than you it's best to launch a full direct assault as soon as possible."  
  
Logan nodded at her slightly, "You get the tasers I get the handcuffs?"  
  
She laughed quietly. "Soon as you can find those things let me know, I'll be out here in reality town with our children." She turned her head to call for her son. "Jessie-" her voice was one that only a parent possessed, the sonar like quality of someone who could find her child from three miles away. "Jess, come out here."  
  
"No!" Jess's voice echoed from the hallway where he had sealed himself in the nursery that had been fully decorated just that morning. "You want to give my room away!" He peeked out at his parents from the smallest crack behind the mahogany door of his old room.  
  
"I just want to talk to you for a second babe. Please?" Max shifted her voice to a slightly pleading tone so that he might cave in.  
  
Her tone worked. Jessie peeked his head out at her. "You won't try to make me move in with Lexi?" he was now standing in the hallway, staring at Max with one eye peaking out from behind the wall.   
  
Max shook her head in a negative gesture. "I just want to have some words with my boy."  
  
Jessie finally emerged completely into the living room, and slowly stepped over to them. His dark jeans scuffed against his bare feet and his hands were deep inside the pockets of his favorite red zip up hoody.  
  
"Me and daddy were just talkin' about how it's such a shame that your new baby sister has nowhere to sleep when she gets here." As soon as Jessie had come over to her Max started in on him. She knew that ordering him to abandon his room to become the baby's new nursery would never work. This was her son after all, and that kind of talk would certainly have never worked on her. "I mean you can bunk with Lexi, but the baby's too small to sleep with you guys."  
  
Jess looked up at his mother. "Why can't she have Lexi's room?" He looked at her questioningly, and with traces of defiance.  
  
"Because you're the oldest Jess," Logan answered his son's question. "And sometimes the oldest sibling has to give up something for the younger ones."  
  
Max glared at him for a moment at his remark. Logan saw it as innocent, but she was not in favor of someone putting that much of a burden on the oldest child in sacrificing himself for the benefit of the younger brothers and sisters. She had already witnessed its tragic effects with Zack. "Daddy means that it wouldn't be fair to either of you to have a newborn in your room. They cry all the time they don't sleep very well." She knelt down to his level, slowly; since she weighed significantly more then she had in the past. "Plus you don't want your ol' momma coming into your room at all hours of the night to feed her."  
  
"But Lexi's a girl," Jessie complained loudly, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
"So's mommy," Logan cut in. "And I sleep in the same room as her. It's one of the best arrangements I've ever made."  
  
Max smiled up at him, letting his earlier remark slide, at least until the opportunity came where she could explain a few things to him without their son present. "Think of it as a slumber party every night." Max took Jess's hands and rocked his body back and forth playfully. "No adults allowed, all secret and forted up."  
  
"Like soldiers?" Jessie asked. He was finally getting excited at the prospects of sharing a room with his sister.  
  
"Yeah," Max agreed with a smile, leaning over to give him a kiss on the mouth.  
  
"Mommy-" Jess gave her the best glare he could. He was growing up now, and was reaching that phase where a girl kissing him was icky. Even a kiss from his own mother sent his 'Ick Radar' buzzing.  
  
Max picked up on his underlying meaning. "Sorry, I forgot I got a little man now." She leaned over and kissed him again, on the forehead.  
  
"You're still doing it mommy," Jess complained, trying to pull back.  
  
"Hey I kiss men." Max informed, shooting a glance at Logan. "Ask daddy."  
  
The doorbell outside the apartment rang, resonating through the penthouse.  
  
"That's nana!" Jessie shouted with enthusiasm. "Don't let her in yet, I gotta get my new sword to show her!" He was now into collecting plastic swords that were modeled after real ancient weapons. Zane had started him off it with a replica of an 18th century broadsword for his last birthday. He took off for his new room to get the toy to show his grandmother.  
  
"Some boys collect model cars, my son has a thing for weaponry." Logan shook his head in mock disappointment. He started to go to the door when he noticed Max having a hard time getting back up on her feet.  
  
He fought hard to repress a laugh at her struggling, and offered her a hand to pull her up. "Need some help?" The question was rhetorical since he was already pulling her to her feet.  
  
"Just remember you did this to me so if I were you I'd wipe that smile off my face." Max jerked her hand out of Logan's grip as soon as she was on her feet, and headed towards the front door. She turned the gold knob and opened the front door.   
  
Lucia smiled at her from the hallway. "Hey you." She said, stepping into the foyer of the penthouse. She enveloped Max in a hug. She pulled back after a moment to stare at her daughter's swollen belly. She said: "Look at how big you're getting." Coming from any other person that would have been highly insulting, but coming from Lucia it was a great compliment. She knelt down next to Max's stomach. "Ella es mi nina linda". (There is my beautiful girl.) Ella es muy muy muy linda," (She is very very very beautiful) Lucia punctuated each 'very' with a kiss on Max's stomach. "Ella es tan linda como su mama." (She is as beautiful as her mom).  
  
Normally Max had a problem with people wanting to kiss her stomach. She didn't like the feeling that she wasn't even there while everyone was cooing over the baby growing in HER belly, touching her like she was simply some display case. But with Lucia she let it go. She was just excited at seeing her grandchild en-utero. Men didn't own the category of feeling a lot of emotions at seeing a pregnant woman.  
  
"There's my stud of a son-in-law," Lucia said, grinning as she pulled herself back on her feet and moved to give Logan a hug. She pulled back and saw something in his features that made her grin like she had just been told a really juicy secret. "Such pleasure on your face. You two been trying to help my grandchild come along eh?"  
  
"No more than usual," Logan responded and then kissed her quietly on the cheek.  
  
Lucia's grinned broadened to the level of splitting her face in half. "Max takes after me in that department." She leaned closer to Logan's face and lowered her voice to slightly above a whisper. "We both have the agility of cats in the dark."  
  
"You do know I can hear ya right mom?" Max reminded, crossing her arms just below her recently enlarged cleavage. "Kind of an annoyin' little plus at being revved up."  
  
Lucia turned to her. "I still didn't hear you deny it Max," she informed. She had to stop grinning for a moment because it was hurting her jaw. "So don't try to stick it to me Ms. Thing, cause I'm your momma. And when I say you're having sex you better damn well not disagree with me."  
  
Max laughed quietly to herself. "Should've known better then to put down a master of the sensual arts."  
  
"Got that right honey," Lucia agreed. "I invented Ms. Thang."  
  
"Oh I'm sure of it." Max came back.  
  
"NANA!" Jessie had a voice that carried when he was excited to see his grandmother. His call reached her a good ten seconds before he actually leapt at Lucia.  
  
"Hey baby-ohh-" Lucia groaned just slightly at the boy's weight landing in her arms. She steadied her feet and moved his body further up on hers so she wouldn't drop him. "Whatcha up to?"  
  
"See my sword nana?" Jess asked. He waved the plastic play weapon around like an ancient warrior fighting off a gargoyle.  
  
"It's awesome." Lucia complimented, kissing him on the forehead.  
  
"Isn't it neat?" Jessie now pointed the blade closer to her face, inches away from the bridge of her nose. "Look at the flat side of the blade, people use to chop each other's heads off with it-"  
  
"Wow," Lucia said, trying to hide her disgust at this new information. "Who taught you all this great knowledge?" She shot a 'mother's warning look' at Max.  
  
"Hey don't look at me," Max defended. "I don't do weapons. You'll have to give the evil eye to Zane, mom."  
  
"Zane?" Lucia tested out the name she hadn't heard of yet.  
  
"Yeah," Jessie agreed. His head bobbed up and down excitedly. "Uncle Zane has REAL ones in his car. It's called a Hummer, and he has big guns and bows and arrows!"  
  
Lucia still looked at Max this time for an entirely different reason. "I'm guessing that Zane isn't Logan's brother."  
  
Logan shook his head in agreement and then said: "Every family has its eccentrics. The ones in Max's just happen to fall into that category packing an armory."  
  
"Hey don't rag on her about that Logan," Lucia warned in a pretend mad voice. "'Cause she isn't isolated on that island of relatives with a lust for guns. My uncle George," she spoke the name in the Spanish pronunciation: 'hore-hay'. "He use to sit in the roof on his house with a loaded .22 caliber rifle shooting at cars if they came too close to his chicken farm. Scared my momma to DEATH every time we went to visit him in the summer. She'd scream at him for having a gun around children. And not just a few well placed curse words either, she would curse his brothers, his parents his grandparents, his great grandparents, Columbus for bringing his ancestors to this country." She paused for a moment to rearrange her thoughts and change the subject. "But its really too long of a yarn to unravel right now. So-" she clapped her hands together. "Lets see this fabulous nursery."  
  
"It's my room Nana." Jess tugged at Lucia's shirt. His eyes went huge at they stared up at her.  
  
Lucia tilted her head down to his level and said: "I thought you were moving in with your sister hun." She shot a quick glance up at Max and Logan before continuing: "Grown ups never tell kids this, but sharing a room is awesome. When my brother José and I use to share our room when I was a little girl we would stay up all night telling gross out stories and having jumping contests on the bed."  
  
"But that was a long time ago Nana," Jessie complained loudly.  
  
Lucia coughed in her hand. "Then you should take advice from an ancient supplier of wisdom who could knock out any twenty-three year old in looks." She turned her attention back to Max. "No offense baby." She then went on speaking to Jessie: "Ya know Lexi won't bite you. And you can still have your own space on your half."  
  
"But mommy painted my walls purple!" Jessie whined. "It's so icky. The baby won't like it."  
  
"Really?" Max questioned to her son. "I seem to recall a time when a certain son of mine loved having his walls purple when he was a baby. I think it was even his first word."  
  
"But I was just a little kid then mommy," Jess rationalized. "I'm four now."  
  
Max could see the upset look in his eyes. She said: "This color thing is really botherin' ya huh?"  
  
Jess nodded 'yes'.  
  
"How about we reach an agreement then." Max said, stepping over to her son looking down into his eyes. "You let your soon-to-be-born baby sister have your old room and you get to paint the walls on your half of your new room any color you want."  
  
This intrigued Jessie, and he cocked his head slightly, contemplating it. "Can it be black?"  
  
Max made a face at the idea of going gothic on one wall. "How about dark blue with stars?"  
  
"How many stars?" Jess asked. He was now getting excited.  
  
"How many do you want baby?" Max returned.  
  
"A jillion." Jessie responded.  
  
"I want stars too!" Lexi came out of the hallway clutching at her toy rabbit 'Mr. Whiskers.' She was wearing a burnt orange long sleeved t-shirt and light blue flare jeans. Her feet were clad in black Sketcher lace ups that squeaked ever so slightly on the hardwood floor as she walked over to them.  
  
"No you don't!" Jess informed Lexi, wriggling down from Lucia's arms. He pointed a finger at his sister. "You're not copying me."  
  
"I'm not copying!" Lexi shot back, walking over to Jessie so fast her brown ponytail bobbed up and down like a spring. "I like stars too!"  
  
"You never liked stars!" Jessie shot back.  
  
"Did so!" Lexi snapped. "Mr. Whiskers and I love stars!"  
  
"Mr. Whiskers is a dumb toy!"  
  
"He is not!" Lexi cried.  
  
"Is too!" Jessie returned, snatching the toy from her arms and running around the room.  
  
"Give him back you dink head!" Lexi ordered, chasing him.  
  
"Remind me why I was happy you got me pregnant again?" Max stated to Logan while watching their children go at it over a toy bunny.  
  
"I actually enjoyed the heated passionate moment more than the resulting consequences sweetheart." Logan came back.  
  
"Logan Cale, " Max said in her authoritative soldier voice. "Don't make me kick your ass."  
  
"Oww!" Lexi cried out. She had tripped over a lumpy wrinkle in the Oriental rug on the floor and had fallen face down on the hardwood floor.  
  
"Baby are you okay?" Max reached her daughter as quickly as she could in her condition, trying to see if she was bleeding anywhere.  
  
Jessie had stopped running with the rabbit and stood in front of Lexi. He looked down at her and asked: "Are you okay?"  
  
"No I'm not!" Lexi turned a tear-streaked face at him. "You took my bunny and I banged my knees! I hate you Jessie!" She sobbed again.  
  
"Here." He held out the rabbit for her to take. "Mr. Whiskers likes you more."  
  
Lexi clutched at the toy. She got into a sitting position and hugged the bunny to her body hard. She was still crying, and made no move to get up off the floor.  
  
Jessie knelt down next to her and pulled her to her feet. "Do you still hate me?" His brown eyes looked at her blue ones.  
  
"Yes!" Lexi informed, clutching her bunny to her as tight as she could without the stitches popping out. "Mr. Whiskers hates you too!" She was too upset to realize the impact of her words.  
  
"Tell Mr. Whiskers I'm sorry I made you fall." Jessie said. He was only four years old, but this conversation made him sound so much older. "And you can have a few stars over your bed."  
  
Lexi went silent for a few seconds, turning her head down to the toy rabbit, listening to a response that only she could hear. "He says if you give me a Charlie Brown Band-Aid for my cut-ed elbow we won't hate you anymore."  
  
"Okay," Jessie agreed, turning to his mother. "Can I mommy?"  
  
"I don't see a prob with that baby," Max informed, not being able to hide the smile on her face. "The box is in your drawer." The penthouse's two bathrooms both had the standard child safety locks on the cabinets where they kept medicine and cleaning supplies. But Max had devoted a drawer in the second bathroom for things her two children could use on their own. It housed items like non-toxic no tears-bubble bath, animal shaped body scrub gloves, bath toys, and several boxes of cartoon character bandages for minor cuts that they could take care of themselves.  
  
"Come on," Jessie took Lexi's hand. "We can play Doctor. Mr. Whiskers can be the assistant."  
  
"Okay!" Lexi agreed. She had silently forgiven him for taking away her rabbit and making her fall. She kissed her brother on the nose.  
  
"Eww!" Jessie wiped it off on the arm of his hoodie. "Alexis don't kiss me! That's gross." He only called her 'Alexis' when he was upset with her.  
  
"C'mon!" Lexi grabbed his arm, urging him to the bathroom. "I want the one with Charlie Brown and Snoopy!"  
  
Lucia smiled at her grand children. "Those two are something else." She turned to see Max resting both of her arms on the couch, a pained look on her face. "Honey, are you okay?"  
  
Max nodded, but kept her head, down. "You know that feeling you get when your ankles are about to explode?"  
  
"You should sit down for a few minutes baby." Logan informed. "You may just be saved from self detonation."  
  
"Mom wants to see the nursery, and I'm kinda the tour guide." Max reminded him.  
  
"She can see it after you take a break Max." Logan informed. "You really need to spend less time on your feet."  
  
"I'll spend less time on my feet in the nursery with your mom's rocker. I'll take my load off there."  
  
Logan sighed, realizing he wasn't going to win this argument. "At least let me help you."  
  
"You get the next time Logan." Lucia said stepping over to Max and taking her hand. "Momma's got this one covered." She didn't offer any other support to Max other then a simple handhold because she knew Max could handle walking the thirty feet to the nursery room door. She twisted the gold knob to the room that had once been Jessie's. The door creaked open slowly to reveal deep royal purple walls done in an old world plaster technique. An old wooden crib stood in the middle of the room, changed from the chrome color it had been when Lexi was a baby, a deep cherry staining the original pinewood. Max had bought new white crib linens since the first set had gotten its fair share of use. A mobile of brightly colored butterfly's hung suspended above the crib and underneath it lay all the stuffed animals people had given to her at her shower. The stuffed green army soldier decked out in full battle gear resting at the head of the crib was a present from Zane.  
  
Next to the window sat a white washed changing station and a real cherry wood rocking chair with a cushion resting on its seat.  
  
"Okay babe," Lucia said leading Max over to the rocker "You sit down here while I scope the place out." She pushed her down gently into the seat. After she made sure that Max was comfortable Lucia started to examine the new nursery. "This is really beautiful. I love the color of the walls."  
  
"We had it the same way when Jessie was born. My girl Kendra wanted to do it again." Max returned, rocking back and forth slowly in the rocker. "Figured I owe her one since I gypped her on naming this baby."  
  
Lucia began to examine the top and bottom edges of the walls. "Not a clown border in sight." She proudly stated. "Thank god. Personally I think clowns are freaky and I don't feel the need to subject an innocent baby to them every night." She stepped over the tan and brown braided rug - Kendra and Walter's baby shower present - and stopped in front of a dresser painted just one shade lighter than the walls. Pictures were on display in various in simple black frames on the dresser's top. There was one of Max and Logan taken at their wedding reception, two professionally done black and white photos of Jessie and Lexi taken by Bling. And it the very right corner stood an older photograph outside a two story white Tudor house. A man dressed in a blue sweater and black khakis with piercing blue eyes had his arm around the shoulder of an auburn haired woman. They both looked to be in their middle to late thirties. In front of them were two children; a young girl of fifteen, silky auburn-brown hair that stopped just short of her collarbone. She had both arms wrapped tightly around the second child, a boy of eleven with very familiar blue eyes and light brown hair that was spiked even in those days. The girl's actions looked like she was about to choke her brother, but the grins on their faces suggested otherwise. They all looked so happy in front of their home, a moment captured in time before the Pulse had ever happened.  
  
"Logan's family," Max informed from her seat in the rocker. "That picture was taken before they left for the airport that day." Max didn't go on, because she had already told Lucia of their tragic death when their plane went down.  
  
Lucia didn't take her eyes off the photograph for a moment, staring at the dark haired girl who was pretending to strangle her brother. She said: "His sister was beautiful." She turned around to face Max, a slightly curious but sad look on her face. "What was her name?"  
  
"Marie." Max answered her solemnly. "Marie Alyse. She was fifteen when they took that."  
  
"It's beautiful," Lucia stated of Marie's name. She picked up the photo, examining it for a moment before setting it back down. She turned back around to face Max who had stopped rocking and now sat with both hands resting on her swollen stomach. "I would've loved to meet her." She said and walked back over to where Max was at and knelt down next to her. "But I'll settle on having met you." She leaned over and kissed Max's forehead. "I love the nursery hun. She's gonna be spoiled from the start."  
  
"Mommy, mommy!" Lexi's voice echoed in the hallway, but she didn't come inside the nursery.   
  
"So much for the 'mother-daughter bonding' I was going for." Lucia said in fake disappointment.  
  
Max gave her a small smile before answering her daughter: "What is it baby?"  
  
"Case is here mommy!" Lexi called back.  
  
"Alone?" Max called back, not actually considering that her six-year-old nephew came over to their house by himself.  
  
Her question was answered when Tinga stepped inside the nursery. "I heard that." Tinga shook her head in mock reprimadation. She was wearing a red boat neck sweater; dark blue rinse boot cut jeans and black high-healed boots. "What kind of mom would I be if I let my baby wander here alone?" Tinga asked.  
  
"You don't want me to answer that." Max returned.  
  
"Just wait until you have that baby Maxie," Tinga warned. "The shield will be down." She laughed a little at her remark and stepped over to Max, kissing her on top of her head. "How ya doin' baby sister?"  
  
"Ready to get this show on the road." Max returned.  
  
Tinga smiled and laid her hand on her sister's stomach. "Oh wow." She exclaimed when she felt the movement. "She's definitely ready too." She bent low to Max's belly "Sweetheart, can you say 'full breach'?"  
  
"Can you say 'bite me'?" Max asked of Tinga in a joking voice.  
  
"No, but I can say 'kiss my ass'." Tinga removed her hand from Max's body. Her attention immediately turned towards Lucia, finally noticing the other woman in the room. "Who are you?" Tinga's voice was hostile, protective of her little sister.  
  
"Lucia Weston." Lucia returned. "Max's mom." None of Max's siblings had met the woman. Max had spoken of her existence but Lucia had never actually met any of them.  
  
"Tinga." Tinga replied. It was all the introduction she was willing to give.  
  
"Mom, look what Jessie has!" Case's voice beat his body into the nursery. He was now proudly holding Jess's toy sword. He wielded it in the air like an ancient warrior and then lunged it into the front of his cobalt blue long sleeved T-shirt, gasping at the fake injury the blade created. "Uggh!" Case made the sounds of a dying man, staggering around the nursery about to do a dramatically acted death scene.  
  
/FLASH: "Aghhh!" Tinga dropped down to the mat when the blade of a bayonet sliced through her gray sweatshirt. She grabbed at the wound that now oozed blood; looking up to Max who was holding the rifle the blade was attached too.  
  
Max's body - that had just been in a position of attack - recoiled at seeing the crimson stain flow from Tinga's shoulder. The bayonet lowered from its stance.  
  
"I did not tell you to lower your weapon!" A young drill sergeant dressed in green fatigues screamed at Max. His army issued boots clunked over to where the two X5's were situated. All soldiers were normally told that the reason they practiced on dummies was because the government considered them too valuable to risk injury on them in training maneuvers. Manticore considered this a load of bull. Real life targets would give their soldiers the actual feel of an enemy in combat, so the all X-series practiced on each other.  
  
The drill sergeant got right down in front of Max's face. "You have a downed man at your feet soldier! Now complete the maneuver!"  
  
Max locked her eyes on Tinga, trying to apologize to her without a word before plunging the blade down to her again./  
  
"I'm hit." Case slid onto his knees, pretending to be gasping for breath.  
  
"Baby that's enough!" Tinga ordered, walking over to him and kneeling beside him. She took the sword from his hands, examining how closely it mirrored the image of the real thing. "Where'd you get this?"  
  
"Jessie said Uncle Zane gave it too him as a present." Case replied, looking up to his mom.  
  
Tinga didn't speak for a moment, testing the weight of the blade in her hand. She addressed her son a moment later: "I want to talk to Aunt Max alone for a bit Case okay? Why don't you and Jessie go get yourself a snack from the kitchen?"  
  
"Can I have a cookie?" Case asked, he was almost seven-years-old and was sounding more like his mother everyday.  
  
"Okay," Tinga agreed. "But just one."  
  
"Two," Case said.  
  
"One." Tinga corrected. "No negotiations."  
  
"You're mean mommy." Case told her.  
  
"You're mean too baby," Tinga said in a joking tone, leaning over to kiss Case on the nose. "Move it kiddo." She stood back up on her feet, watching her son and nephew leave the nursery.  
  
Tinga's then sifted back around to face Max once she was sure the children were out of earshot. "Zane's a dead man. Where the hell does he get off handing out personal armories to our babies?" Tinga's voice was enraged at her brother. She didn't harbor a hatred for guns the way Max did, but that didn't mean she was about to let her son or nephew play with weapons, even plastic ones. She had seen too may times what the real thing could do.  
  
"Girl relax," Max tried to calm her sister down. "He probably couldn't find a Speak-N-Spell."  
  
"That's a load of crap Maxie and you know it." Tinga growled back, still highly upset that Zane had given her nephew that kind of toy for a present. "No, that boy's ass is mine."  
  
"Maybe I should just go." Lucia said pointing towards the door. She felt very out of place at the moment.  
  
"You're fine." Tinga reassured the other woman, sitting down on top of the dark cherry wood hope chest that Logan's Aunt Jillian had sent over for a baby shower present. "I just get a little pissed off sometimes." She flipper her braids over her shoulder that had flown to the front during her move to sit down.  
  
"Honey I have brothers myself so I feel you." Lucia reassured her, hoping Max's sister didn't find it offensive that she called her 'honey'. She was the kind of woman who called everyone 'honey'. "The one that's in the Marines made off with my gold hoops for a nose ring before he left for Basic, and he gave them back to me on his leave without even cleaning them off."  
  
Tinga smiled slightly at Lucia's story. Her guard that had been up on full alert upon seeing the woman had gone down some. She didn't trust her completely yet - because after all, she was a paranoid X5 - but she did start to see why Max trusted her. She took a deep breath in before speaking again: "I just can't believe he'd do that after all we've been through."  
  
"Not like he didn't go through it too." Max reminded, pulling herself out of the rocking chair, with some help from Lucia. She walked the few feet over to where Tinga was sitting.  
  
"It was different with us Maxie." Tinga looked up to her. "Zane would have pissed his pants if he had to be female in that place, being forced to interbreed with their brothers." She locked her eyes on Max's stomach when she said this, speaking of the XX5 baby that Max had been inseminated with - that had survived and tried to kill her and Zack. "Sometimes it sucks being a girl."  
  
"Not all the time." Max stated, making a show of placing one hand on her stomach. "It does have a few pluses."  
  
Tinga managed a smile: "Still wanna play Whack-A-Mole on Zane's nuts."  
  
"You're in luck then 'cause I have a mallet you can use." Max returned.  
  
Tinga laughed this time and stood up. She said: "Better go see what kind of mess our boys got into."  
  
"Do we really want to?" Max asked  
  
"It's not a matter of 'want' baby sister." Tinga reminded. "Now get your ass out there."  
  
Max just shook her head at Tinga's drill sergeant remark, stepping out of the nursery and out into the hallway. She could hear the sounds of Jessie and Case before she even reached the kitchen.  
  
"Hey guys," Max said once she spotted them on the kitchen floor with Lexi, an open box of Oreos in between the three of them. "Save some for other Third World Countries."  
  
Jessie looked up to his mother, Oreo crumbs stuck around his lips and some on his jeans. "Want one mommy?"  
  
Max shook her head and said: "No thanks hun, think I've had my cookie quota for the day."  
  
"Definitely," Tinga agreed, putting a hand to Max's stomach. "I mean look at the size of this thing."  
  
Max shoved Tinga into the kitchen with one hand, watching her sister laugh and kneel next to her son. "I thought I told you one Case."  
  
"I did have one mom," Case corrected. "Jessie and Lexi had FIVE each." He dusted the crumbs off his lap and onto the floor.  
  
Lexi stared down at the cookie poised at her mouth. "Mommy?" her voice was somewhat muffled by the cookie bits she already had in her mouth. "Is your tummy really from eating a lot of cookies?"  
  
Before Max had the chance to answer that very unique question the phone in Logan's office rang.  
  
"I got it." Tinga said, claiming the call so Max wouldn't have to walk all that way to answer it. She only had a few more days left of pampering her baby sister and she was going all out. Tinga made it to Logan's computer desk, and grabbed the silver wireless with one hand. "All of our normal operators are busy at the moment, so how may I direct your call?"  
  
"I'm looking for Max," came the reply from the other end, the voice of a woman.  
  
"Max is preoccupied right now, can I take a message?"  
  
"Who is this?"  
  
"I'm her sister who is this?" Tinga responded in a hostile no-nonsense tone.  
  
There was a beat of silence, then someone spoke again: "Tinga?"  
  
"I know who I am okay?" Tinga snapped back.  
  
"Relax its Asha." The woman finally identified herself. "Asha Copeland, I'm dating your brother Zack. You may refer to him as the pain in the ass."  
  
"That pass code is acceptable." Tinga responded, a smile now creeping into her voice.  
  
"Good, cause Zack swiped my lock picking tools. Guess I can tell this to you then, since you're one of Zack's sister's too."  
  
"Girl just spill it," Tinga replied, getting a little annoyed about the way Asha dragged things out.  
  
"Zack's on his way over to Max's."  
  
"Big freakin' deal." Tinga returned. "Was that all?"  
  
"He hacked into some DMV records and got the tag for a Lucia Weston's Ford Escalade and he tracked it heading to Foggle Towers."  
  
"For what purpose?"  
  
"Hell if I know, I just date him not read his mind. My guess is that he wants to have a few choice words with the woman. If this was just a social call he would've gone to Max's and asked her where Lucia lived."  
  
"So this is a warning of some kind?"  
  
"Damn straight." Asha agreed. There was a beat of silence then she continued. "Look, I don't know what the situation was like with your-" she paused, hesitating for a second on the next word. "'Mothers' at Manticore, but Zack seems to express no love lost for these women and you know how obnoxiously hot-headed he can be when he's sitting on something that'll make him go off like a carbon bomb."  
  
"Right." Tinga finally agreed. "Thanks for the heads up." She hung up the phone before Asha could say anything else. She turned to face Max who was looking at her questioningly. "Zack's coming over here, he saw Lucia's car drive up."  
  
Max sat on this for a moment before responding. "Define 'saw'."  
  
"He set up on her car." Tinga answered.  
  
"Excuse me, he what?" Lucia cut in, taking one step closer to Tinga. "You mean to tell me that boy put a tail on my vehicle?" She didn't wait for a response before continuing. "Did he at least go for something high tech like an infrared sensor that can detect the heat of the engine so he can follow me via a base unit in his car? Or was it something more mundane like just hacking into the DMV records and tracing my license number so he could find me on any traffic hover drone?"  
  
Tinga's eyes gave away how impressed she was that Lucia knew all this information about tailing someone.  
  
Lucia saw the look, and offered a response: "You don't barely escape from a covert military base with your life without learning a few tricks along the way." She took a moment and looked at Max. "But I guess if the man went through all that crap to track me down I should at least indulge him."  
  
"Trust me that's not a good idea." Max explained. "Zack's not someone you want to deal with in confrontation."  
  
"Honey I gave birth to you in a forced procedure sedated out of my mind and then spent the next five months of my life in a mental institution for a paranoia disorder. I think I can handle being yelled at by guy who has a rightfully placed chip on his shoulder." Lucia let her know.  
  
"Zack thinks all the chips on his shoulders are rightfully placed." Tinga cut in. "If you give him something to be pissy about he'll take it and run all over it." She kept her eyes on Lucia. "I don't know you at all and I think you shouldn't put yourself in this matter."  
  
"I'm already in this matter Tinga," Lucia said, addressing the woman by her name for the first time since she had arrived. "Max is my daughter. And this Zack can run over this thing forwards, backwards and blindfolded if he wants too, but I'm not gonna be intimidated by him."  
  
Tinga turned to Max, "You sure she didn't raise you?"  
  
Max smiled at that. "What about you?"  
  
Before Tinga could answer, Case was pulling on her jeans. "Mom, I have to use the bathroom."  
  
"Okay baby," Tinga looked down on her son, and took his hand. He was almost seven, but he still wanted someone to stand outside the bathroom while he went. After being forcefully taken away from Tinga when she gave herself up to Manticore, Case had been traumatized and didn't want her to go very far. She looked over to Max. "We'll be right back." She led her son away down the long hall to where the bathroom was located.  
  
"She's great, your sister." Lucia informed after Tinga had left with Case. "How old is her son?"  
  
"He's six." Max informed.  
  
"She married?" Lucia asked. She didn't mean it as a snub; she really wanted to know. Plenty of women had kids without permanent partners.  
  
Max nodded. "His name's Charlie, they've been together for seven years now."  
  
"Well she's fantastic." Lucia stated again, with a smile at Max. "I'd love to meet her husband." She paused before asking the next question, hoping it didn't sound too nosey. "Any of your other siblings permanently hooked up?"  
  
"Tinga and I are the only ones that are married." Max informed her mom. "Krit, Zane and Jondy are all single. Syl has a boyfriend named Craig, and Zack," Max watched Lucia's expression change ever so slightly at the mention of the man's name. "He's dating this girl named Asha, one of Logan's old leg workers."  
  
"Old leg worker huh?" Lucia turned to Logan. "I don't think I have inform you that Max better be the only woman who's doing your leg work now."  
  
"Oh believe me Luc she is," Logan agreed, stepping over to Max and draping a hand across her shoulders. "There's no way to escape the trap once you've been ensnared."  
  
Max elbowed him in the ribs for that remark. "You wanna run that past the momma of your children again?" Her eyes locked on him, challenging him.  
  
"No particularly baby no." Logan responded, trying to hide the smile that was forming over his face. "I'm going to plead the fifth here."  
  
Her eyes adapted a 'say what?' look. "Remind me why I married you?"  
  
Logan answered her question by leaning over to kiss her fully on the mouth.  
  
Max pulled back after a minute. "Oh yeah. I knew there was some sort of reason."  
  
Lucia couldn't help laughing at this. "You two are a trip. Makes me wonder why I didn't marry young."  
  
"You mean younger than nineteen? Max asked.  
  
Lucia turned to her with a smile on her face. "Bless you baby." She had been thirty-five when she married Rick after having dated him for a year and a half. She kissed Max on the forehead.  
  
Lucia's actions were cut short when she heard the sound of the front door being opened. She turned around to see a tall blonde man enter the penthouse without so much as a knock.  
  
"Is this a private party or can anyone crash?" Zack closed the door to the penthouse, keeping a trained eye on Lucia's form beside his sister.  
  
Lucia was not intimidated by the man and turned to face him completely. He was in his middle twenties like Max was well built, and very handsome. His square jaw was currently clenched as he observed the older woman like an enemy in his territory. "I take it you're either a very stupid burglar who uses front doors or Max's brother Zack."  
  
Zack stared Lucia down at that remark, circling her until he stood between her and Max. "And who the hell are you?" The hostile tone in his voice would've landed him a job as any Mafia ring's hired goon.  
  
"I'm Lucia," Lucia introduced herself, although not politely. She could tell that this was a man who didn't care about the politeness of someone he already didn't like. "I'm Max's mom."  
  
At the word 'mom' Zack adapted a look that would have also been produced if someone had told him his dick were made of stick candy. "You gotta be shittin' me lady." Zack growled again. His jaw seemed to remain clenched even when he spoke. "You expect me to believe that surrogating a baby you knew nothing about and selling her off to genetic dismemberment for cash money qualifies you as her mom?" He had locked his hand around her neck and applied deadly pressure.  
  
"That's enough!" Max grabbed Zack's arm and yanked him off of Lucia. She turned to Zack, eyes on fire. "What the hell are you doin'?" She was more then pissed off now. "You wanna take out aggression you get a piniata, but you don't touch her again or I'm gonna re-arrange your junk into a Christmas bow understand?"  
  
Lucia coughed and was about to do something pissy to Zack, like bitch slap him, but Lexi had chosen that moment to come out of the bathroom - a new Charlie Brown and Snoopy bandage on her arm - carrying a piece of white construction paper.  
  
"Uncle Zack Uncle Zack!" Lexi's voice reached Zack's ears from where she stood beside him yanking on his jeans. "Look at the picture I made for the baby!" She exclaimed this, and held out a crayoned picture of a pink smiling stick figure baby sleeping in a crib.  
  
Zack looked down at Lexi, actually interested in the picture she had drawn.  
  
Once Lexi saw that her statement intrigued Zack she went on: "I'm going to hang it in the nursery, Zack knelt down to Lexi's level while she was still talking. "Right above the crib so she can look at it."  
  
Zack inspected the drawing like it was a battle plan. "It's first rate work," he finally concluded, handing it back to her.  
  
Lexi stared down at her drawing in confusion, then looked back to Zack. "What's 'first rate' mean Uncle Zack?"  
  
"Means it's good," Zack clarified to the girl.  
  
Lexi plastered a huge smile on her small face. "Really?"  
  
"Defiantly." Zack agreed.  
  
Lexi stepped over to him and put her hands on either side of his face and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Uncle Zack."  
  
"C'mon kid," Zack reached over and scooped up his niece, standing with her in his arms a second later. "Show me where it's gonna go." He bypassed Lucia and carried Lexi off back down the hallway to the nursery.  
  
Lucia was stunned at the attitude change that had just come over Zack. It wasn't a complete transformation. But the man who had just tried to crush her windpipe did not seem to be the same person as the man she just saw carrying her granddaughter to see the display area of her crayoned masterpiece.  
  
"I'm sorry," Max finally said something.  
  
Lucia didn't say anything for a moment, feeling the slight raw spot that had formed under her neck from Zack. "Does he have any kids?"  
  
Max shook her head 'no' and replied: "Zack's never been a family oriented guy. He sees it as a point of weakness so that kinda offsets any procreation plans."  
  
"Too bad," Lucia went on. "He seems great with them."  
  
"You seem to be changing gears quite easily about a man who just tried to cut off your air circulation." Tinga stated.  
  
"Kids are very perceptive Tinga," Lucia said to her son-in-law. "They don't pretend to like someone if it isn't true. That means there's something in Zack to like."  
  
"Too bad he hides it under that ass he wears for a face." Tinga added her two cents.  
  
"Think I'll go wipe it off." Max informed. She turned and headed down the hallway stopping at the nursery door that was standing ajar. She could hear her daughter's voice inside talking to Zack.  
  
"Do you think the new baby will like me?" Lexi turned her head when she heard Max open the door. She exclaimed: "Mommy, Uncle Zack helped me hang my drawing!" She pointed at the head of the crib where her picture was securely held to the wall by scotch tape. Zack turned to face Max as well, with an unreadable expression on his face.  
  
"It's awesome," Max agreed with a smile. "Sweetie, can you go play with your brother and cousin? I'd like to have some words with Uncle Zack."  
  
Lexi nodded, "Those boys better not be having fun without me." She walked out of the room and Max kissed the top of her head on the way out, shutting the door behind her daughter. She turned back around a second later to face Zack who stood next to the changing table.  
  
"She's just like her mom." Zack got out, leaning against the mahogany piece of baby furniture. "Everything about her is screaming all about you."  
  
"Yeah well her features aren't gonna be screaming as nearly as much as me." Max hissed in return.  
  
"If this is about Lucia-"  
  
"You know damn well it's about Lucia Zack!" Max spat. "I don't know what your deal is with her, but I suggest you drop it because she's my mom-"  
  
"C'mon Maxie, you don't honestly believe this woman has a single fiber of maternal instinct in her!" Zack growled. "She was just a tool Manticore paid off to drop out uber soldiers. How the hell can you just let that slide and starting call her 'momma?'"  
  
"Not everything that comes out of Manticore is the devil incarnate. " Max spat back, using the exact same words Logan had used on her about Dr. Vertes all those years ago. "She tried to escape but the guards tied her down and induced labor so she had no choice in the matter of where I would be born."  
  
"Poor baby, she had to just give birth in a room where the rest of us had our fucking arms and legs broken every two months!" Zack pitched a glass figurine of a shepherdess - a present from Logan's cousin-in-law Marianne - at the opposite wall causing it to shatter into a hundred tiny shards on the floor.  
  
"If you want to play the blame game Zack you should fault the Manticore employees who sawed at our bones, made us attack each other in armed Battle Royal combat and forced us to watch our sister burn down to ashes as part of reprobation punishment. But you sure as hell don't pin the blame on a woman nine months pregnant who tried her damnest to escape out of a top security base in the dead of night!"  
  
Zack raked hand through his ear length blonde hair in agitation, then looked back to Max, taking in her swollen stomach. "I warned you about getting involved in phony sentiment Max."  
  
"Yeah well I decided to take my chances anyway." Max returned venomously. "I may be the one married and having a third kid, but I seem to recall that my anti-sentimental brother found himself an exclusive girlfriend a while back. " Max waited for Zack to say something, anything, but he just stared her down.  
  
Finally after a long moment, he spoke again: "You better hope you know what you're getting yourself into Maxie. Because you're an exposed vulnerability until that kid is born."  
  
"What's the change?" Max retorted angrily "I thought you always considered me an exposed vulnerability."  
  
Zack shoved past her to the door, not making any contact with her body this time. "Good luck with the labor." He went out the door and slammed it shut.  
  
Max still stood in the middle of the room after he left, glancing for a moment at the shattered pieces of the shepherdess figurine before turning her attention back to the door Zack had just slammed.  
  
CRASH  
  
7:45 PM  
  
From her stool, Asha observed Zack circling the rim of his shot glass with his index finger for the fifth time. "If I'd a known you were just going to play with it I wouldn't have offered to pick up the tab." Her arms rested inches from his body, supporting her shoulders and torso.  
  
Zack shot her a warning look and down the entire shot of Bourbon in one movement, slamming the shot glass back down on the bar top.  
  
Asha looked back down at the rum and coke she had been nursing for the past half hour. Most of the ice had already melted down into the dark soda, sufficiently watering down the drink. Her hand - attached to a bare arm revealed by a pink tank top - lowered onto Zack's arm hidden under his leather jacket. "I guess now would be a good a time as any to tell you that I'm pregnant with Krit's baby."  
  
Zack yanked himself out of her grip and hissed: "I'm not in the mood for your pathetic B.Sin' for jokes." He took half a swig from the drink the bartender had just laid in front of him.  
  
"Cut the crap Zack," Asha threw back in return. "I'm just tired of spending the whole goddamn night talking to myself." She stood up,reached into the back pocket of her low rider jeans for her wallet, and pulled out enough to cover the drinks. "I'm gonna go shoot some pool." She smacked the money down on the counter and turned her attention up to the bartender with beach blonde hair, clad in a green Hawaiian shirt. "Just make sure he's still breathing when I get back," she ordered to the man before stepping down of the risen bar. She headed down towards the wooden pool table that sat in a corner of Crash.  
  
Alec - beer in hand - observed Asha leaving the bar, not hiding his roaming look over the way her ass fit into her jeans. He stopped looking at her after a minute and set his beer mug next to Zack. "Trouble with your woman?"  
  
Zack didn't even acknowledge Alec's presence, once again playing with the rim of his shot glass.  
  
Alec observed his actions. He said: "You know if you do that long enough you can play a tune." Alec downed a healthy amount of his beer and licked the foam off his top lip. "So how's little sister Maxie doin'? Hear she's about to drop that kid any day now. What's this, number eighteen?" He paused briefly to smirk at his own joke. "Can't she and Logan keep their hands off each other for five seconds?"  
  
Zack finally threw back his second drink in a kind of silent response to Alec's implication about the way his sister and her husband rivaled rabbits in offspring number. He then turned to Alec with a domineering expression, which was not the least bit affected by the straight Bourbon rounds he had just slammed back. He said: "I'm not your confidant Alec." Zack stared down the other X5 with a look that dubbed him as the inferior party. "That's the kind of thing that goes on between women who can't keep their damn mouths shut."  
  
"Did you just call me a chick Zackie Boy?" Alec snapped back, the hostility starting to pour out of him. He was not Zack's buddy and had no problems broadcasting that fact.  
  
"Put on a dress and then you tell me," Zack shot back. His eyes narrowed on Alec's face like he wanted to rip his jugular from his neck.  
  
"Dig one of yours out of the closet and you got a deal," Alec replied.  
  
"Okay girls," Lucia's voice suddenly emerged from behind Zack. Her figure - decked out in her black pinstriped business work suit - stepped in between the two men who were three seconds away from gouging each other's hearts out. Lucia looked to Alec first and then Zack. "I don't think you should share fashion tips anymore, cause believe me a dress would do nothing for either of you." She glanced once again at each of the two men when both of them made no kind of reply to her slam, and she also felt their eyes on her like she had just crossed into enemy territory. "Mamacita just got off an eight hour shift boys and she needs a break." Lucia said, referring to herself in the third person. "So I suggest you do one of two things: Either kiss and make up like proper young ladies, or back off and give me my space so I can get myself a drink." She didn't wait for a response from the younger men and shoved past them to stand at the edge of the bar. "Tequila with lime straight up." She made her alcohol request to the bartender. "But no umbrellas, it's too late at night to try to go Club Med in Seattle."  
  
Alec was impressed at Lucia's straightforward attitude and also by the way she filled out in her suit. He had only seen her one other time before, but he found her incredibly alluring, although her age was a mystery to him. She had a figure that rivaled-twenty something voluptuous beauties everywhere but she still wasn't a young fresh-faced kid  
  
Lucia caught sight of the way Alec was eying her and she turned her chocolate brown eyes to him. "You shouldn't cock a gun prematurely solider boy," Lucia stated matter-of-factly about the banana in Alec's pants. She definitely remembered the young man from the police surveillance van, an X5, judging by his age, and the fact that Max had told her who he was. She picked up the drink that the bartender had just set in front of her and took a slow sip, forgoing the tiny straw sitting in the drink. She relished the taste of lime and tequila on her tongue before taking a longer, less savoring hit from the glass. "I'm already packing," Lucia held up her hand to Alec to let him see the gold wedding band clasped around her ring finger.  
  
Alec shrugged after seeing the ring. "Can't blame a guy for tryin'" He offered Lucia a quick seductive smile and went in search of another conquest, and soon his eyes settled squarely on Asha, who was leaning over the pool table about to take her shot. "Excuse me," Alec got up, never taking his eyes off of Asha's cleavage.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Zack whirled on Lucia as soon as had Alec left.  
  
"The last time I checked this was a public bar honey," Lucia's hiss was evident in her eyes as well as her voice. She took another hit from her Tequila to cool down her rage before she wound up launching a verbal assault that would even make this hard ass X5 super warrior blush. She swallowed deliberately slow and then said: "I don't care what genes you got spliced with or how much ass you can kick, because you can have a problem with my status as 'momma' all you want too, but I'm a grown woman Zack. I'm allowed to go anywhere I damn well please." She chugged down the remainder of her drink like she was a sorority sister at an all night Kegger Party. She didn't care if the X5 man wanted to disembowel her right where she was standing, she wasn't about to take his crap.  
  
"Tell me something I don't know," Zack retorted. He crossed his arms over his chest in an attempt to assert a kind of dominance over Lucia by revealing his broad toned muscles.  
  
"Are all X5 males this arrogant, or is it just you?" snapped Lucia, practically spitting in his face.  
  
"Arrogance is an acquired response; bitchiness is inherited at birth." Zack returned in the constantly fluctuating voice he always used when he was pissed off.  
  
"So is being a prick." Lucia was in this game to win.  
  
"What do you want me to say?" Zack asked, not actually seeking Lucia's advice, but rather saying out of disbelief that the woman didn't get it. "I'm suppose to be happy that the woman who sold off Maxie to the Mengele Lab is trying to rectify things twenty-two fuckin' years after it would do any good?"  
  
"Am I interrupting something?" Asha's soft, medium pitched voice cut through the thick blood lust tension. Playing pool for her had been unsuccessful, mainly because Alec kept trying to pick her up at every turn. So she had come to make sure Zack wasn't plastered all over the floor in an alcoholic stupor. Lucia's presence sent her red flags blazing at first, because no woman was thinking she could get Zack on the side for a little free action while she was still breathing. But when she walked across the floor to the bar she could see Zack and the mystery woman engaged in a spit fire argument and her plans for bitch slaps and ass kicking were thrown out the window. "I could come back later if you two want to be alone."  
  
Zack shot Asha a look that could only be described as one that stated: 'back off woman.' He was a good three inches taller then her and this height advantage gave him a source of dominance over a situation he wanted to keep in control.  
  
Asha however didn't take to the chauvinistic caveman bull that Zack felt he had to throw around in order to prove his balls weren't meant to play tennis with. Zack didn't appear to be drunk; he was still lucid, and still completely vertical. But then again he was Manticore and he could be one shot away from total brain cell death from alcohol poisoning and be able to withstand it up until the last second where he couldn't remember how to breathe. "If you're wasted, you ride with me."  
  
"I don't think I asked you about what I need Asha," Zack growled, focusing his attention on her and away from Lucia for the time being. The 'time being' meaning him wanting to have a few words with is girlfriend for being a smart ass.  
  
"I don't think I give a damn," Asha snapped back. "The last thing I need is to have to peel you off the sidewalk for trying to pull a straight line stunt while you're drunk off your ass."  
  
"Are you finished?" Zack snapped.  
  
Asha glowered at him. She hissed: "You just better be damn lucky the sex keeps me satisfied, otherwise you'd be in a world of shit Zack." She was looking at him in a warning that if he kept up his crap she would make sex as available to him as ice in the Sahara Desert.  
  
Zack didn't say anything for a long moment. He wasn't a man to give in, even to his girlfriend, with fake apologies or even sincere ones just to smooth out the tension between them. "The pussy never wanders far from its owner." He brushed past her without so much as a glance, heading towards the crumbling stairs that lead to the exit of Crash.  
  
Lucia watched Zack's retreating figure with the attention of a sculptor examining the contours and dimensions of her nude model. She turned to the younger blonde woman standing beside her, someone she had never met, but now shared a common bond with. "Girlfriend?"  
  
Asha turned her head to face Lucia, taking in the Hispanic woman's slim figure and soulful dark brown eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm that." A long, almost painful pause. "Zack's not roses and hand holds."  
  
"I gathered that from the whole shouting and cussing deal." Lucia returned. She waited a moment before she spoke again, choosing her words carefully,"He doesn't seem like the kind of man with a love connection. He seems more like the brooding loner type to me."  
  
"You got brooding right," Asha agreed, not even caring anymore that she was sharing her thoughts with a stranger who she had just been about to lay out because she had originally thought she was trying to feel up her boyfriend. "It's kind of a two faced deal, but his moodiness is one of the things that attracts me to him. Believe me, he's not the kind of man you want going all sappy sentimental." She turned to Lucia then, dropping the convention of being polite to strangers for a moment. "Who are you?"  
  
Lucia took a second to shake off the sting of Asha verbally smacking her in the face then replied: "I'm Max's mother." A pause. "So how long have you two been together?" She effectively changed the subject.  
  
Lucia's first statement raised both of Asha's eyebrows way above their natural position, but she didn't comment on it and instead answered her second question: "Almost three years now. I didn't expect to shack up with him, I actually came by to see Logan."  
  
It was Lucia's turn to raise her eyebrows, wondering why this woman would want to visit her son-in-law, because of that whole deal about hitting on married men.  
  
Asha could see the question that Lucia was either too polite or too enraged to ask looming behind her dark brown eyes. "Logan and I dated for about six months before he met Max, but we mutually dumped one other after it never went anywhere." She could see that this bit of information had cleared the air with her former lover's mother-in-law. "I met Zack at the hospital when Max's son had that accident."  
  
"I'm sure it was romantic," Lucia returned.  
  
Asha smiled her first smile for the evening, not knowing what else to say to the woman, not knowing what else would be appropriate. She couldn't very well start off her next sentence with. 'So selling your baby to Manticore, how was that like?'  
  
Lucia could sense the awkwardness that hung in the air, and didn't want to make Zack's girlfriend any more uncomfortable than she already was. "Damn, it must be getting late." She checked her silver link Geneva watch. "I promised my husband I'd be home early to cook arroz con el pollo. He says he can't live without it, wonder why doesn't he just divorce me and marry a chicken?" She offered a smile at Asha. "I'd say it was lovely to meet you, but we're not two old ladies having tea, so I'll just say thanks for the company, and see ya around." She paid for her drink and left the bar to head out the front door to go home leaving Asha standing there to contemplate things.  
  
FOGLE TOWERS  
  
10: 35 PM   
  
Logan carried a wooden tray - containing two baby blue ceramic mugs, one filled with coffee and the other with steeped Chamomile Tea - over to the mahogany carved square coffee table, setting the entire tray on the surface as gently as if it were his own baby. He picked up the mug containing the tea and handed it to Max who was leaning back into the leather cushions in his worn gray Kyoto Lakers T-Shirt and black pajama bottoms, bare feet pulled up beside her on the couch.  
  
"Backache any better?" he asked, passing her the steaming mug, making sure she had a firm grasp on it before taking his hand away.  
  
"If by better you mean I get an one hour break from it before it starts up again then yeah it's better." Max inhaled the steam from her mug, her face taking on a look of disgust when she recognised the smell. "Ugh. Don't tell me you opened up the homeopathic remedies book again?" She had never been a fan of herbal tea.  
  
"It's Chamomile Max, it's a herb known throughout the world to help ease tense muscles and relax you."  
  
"I know what it is Logan, but the history lesson doesn't make it taste any better." She took a small microscopic sip from the mug and made the same repulsed face as she had before. "I know you're tryin' to help me out baby, but it's just too damn sweet." She leaned over and set her mug back down on the tray that was sitting on the coffee table, then looked back up to him. "How bout you just play magic fingers down my back to get rid of the kinks? It's much more potent than Chamomile." She was now shooting him a look that was either begging or seductive depending on the way he wanted to perceive it.  
  
"I think that can be arranged." Logan pushed the tray to one side of the coffee table and shifted a stack of magazines to the same corner the tray went. "C'mere." He took her right hand and pulled her to her feet.  
  
Max sat on the edge of the coffee table while Logan stood behind her. "You sure this isn't gonna bust the table?" She threw over her shoulder.  
  
"I'll buy a new one, " Logan informed, as he placed his hands on his wife's lower back and began to work the muscles there like he was kneading dough.  
  
Max dipped her head, and a low cat like purr emitted from her mouth. "You know you're really good at this. Ever think about opening up your own parlor?"  
  
"Never really gave it much thought," Logan answered, working the ache out of the tendons in the small of her back. "Besides if I did that I wouldn't have any time for the private circuit." He flinched when he heard her yelp. "Did I hurt you?"  
  
"You just unearthed a gold mine right there," Max got out in-between the pain and what her husband was doing to relieve it. She arched her back for a moment, but then relaxed again after the ache had dulled under Logan's hands. "You think I was wrong for accepting Lucia so quickly?"  
  
Her change of subject was sudden, but Logan had been anticipating this all day so he wasn't without a response. "She's a good woman. You only accepted what was already there."  
  
"Yeah but maybe Zack's right. She never even tried to find me until ten years later."  
  
"She was put in a mental institution right after they delivered you! When would she have had time to check back at the Manticore Nursery to check the status of her infant daughter?"  
  
Max wanted to argue with him, but she couldn't think of anything that would make a good point. "Sometimes it's just hard to believe that a woman who had originally carried me for the dollar decided to become a heroic Manticore escapee."  
  
"I could say the same thing about you." Logan reminded, moving his hands higher on her back, working the muscles in between her shoulder blades. "But that would hold as much credibility as Zack's views on your mom." A pause. "I know he's your brother, but that doesn't give him the right to decide your life for you."  
  
"If he'd a done that we wouldn't be having this kid right now."  
  
"Yes we would Max. Except Zack would be drugged with Rhino tranquilizers and stuffed into the hatch of my Aztec during the entire birthing process."  
  
Max sucked in her breath again, this time not for a tense spot Logan found on her back, but rather for a pang that ripped across her abdomen. "Damn," she rubbed one hand over the bulging expanse of her pregnant stomach.  
  
"Max-" Logan stopped massaging and stepped around to the front of the coffee table to look her in the eye. He saw her rubbing her belly. "That was a contraction wasn't it?"  
  
"No." Max returned. "Just a small bit of pain." She stopped massaging her stomach and laid her hand at its side. "It's Braxton-Hicks, I'm not due for twelve days."  
  
"I don't think the baby cares if she follows your timetable sweetheart." Logan notified.  
  
"Baby, I've had two other kids before this one remember? I think I'd know if I'm going into labor." When she was pregnant with Lexi she had gone to Seattle Mercy three days early because of Braxton-Hicks and Dr. Janston sent them home, and also reminded Logan that the ambulance bay was for ambulances only.  
  
"I think we should call Dr. Janston just in case."  
  
"For what Logan, to alert her that I'm having a baby? She already knows that. And even if these are actual labor contractions, which they're not, I've only had one and that doesn't warrant I start pushing this kid out."  
  
"I'm calling her anyway." Logan informed. "This is our third child Max, by the time you realize you're in active labor you'll wind up giving birth in the kitchen and I just waxed the floors." He kidded her to lighten the mood. He walked over to the pine table behind the couch and picked up the black cordless phone from its charger and dialed Dr. Janston's office.  
  
"Mommy?" Jessie came into the living room in his forest camo pajamas bleary eyed, and half asleep. He stopped right in front of Max.  
  
"Sorry Jess," Max apologized. "Did we wake you up?"  
  
"I was in the bathroom." Jess returned matter-of-factly. He looked down to his mother's stomach. "Is it time for you to have the baby now?"  
  
Max shook her head. "Not yet kiddo." She grabbed him and pulled him into what was left of her lap, kissing him on the head.  
  
Jessie didn't believe her, looking over at Logan. "Then who's daddy calling?"  
  
"His stock broker." Max answered back, watching Logan shoot her a look and then hang up the phone.  
  
"She said if you start having contractions ten minutes apart you should come in." Logan stated the information Dr. Janston - who he had just caught leaving her office to head home - had given him over the phone.  
  
Max reached down and covered Jessie's ears with both her hands. "No shit Sherlock, I could've told you that right to your face instead of over the phone." She removed her hands from her son's ears. She knew it wasn't any better that he hadn't heard her curse, because she had still cussed in front of him, but it was better then telling him to leave so she could reprimand Logan.  
  
"Are we playing a game mommy?" Jessie looked at her inquisitively, not understanding why she had covered his ears.  
  
"Yeah baby," Max moved her head around to the side of his face and kissed his nose. "It's called kiss momma and daddy and go back to bed."  
  
"Is that a real game mommy?" asked Jessie.  
  
"I'll tell you all about in the morning hun, but right now you need to get some more sleep okay?" She set his feet on the floor. "Go kiss daddy and say goodnight."  
  
Jess walked over to Logan and looked sky high into his blue eyes. "Goodnight daddy,"  
  
Logan bent down to the boy's level and kissed him soundly on the forehead. "Goodnight Jess, sleep well."  
  
"Wake me up if the baby wants to be born tonight okay daddy?" Jess asked in instance to Logan.  
  
"I will sweetheart," Logan answered with a smile at his son's insistence.  
  
Jessie was satisfied with his father's remark and headed back into the room he now shared with Lexi. A small, yellow, moon-shaped night-light was plugged into the outlet by a pinewood dresser illuminating the darkened corners of the room where any monsters might be hiding.  
  
Jessie crawled back beneath a comforter and sheets that matched his pajamas. He had just gotten in a comfortable position with one arm tucked underneath his pillow when Lexi popped her head up from the opposite bed.  
  
Her dark red comforter - complete with Japanese charactered proverbs, a present from Kendra - was bunched up around her body like an old woman's saggy skin. "Is mommy gonna have Lucy?"  
  
Jessie sat up in his bed and looked over at his sister in the half-light. "No. Daddy's was calling his stock broker."  
  
"What's that?" Lexi asked.  
  
"A man who helps daddy pick out stocks he think would be a good investment for his money. He buy's them for daddy and then tells him when they've increased in value." Jessie's answer was so precise that any adult would be impressed at the four-year-old's grasp on economics, but Lexi was the only one there, and she was just impressed by his use of big words. "But daddy's wasn't really calling his broker."  
  
"He wasn't?"  
  
Jessie shook his head 'no' in the same fashion his mother had done to him in the living room. "Mommy's gonna have Lucy soon and daddy's just worried."  
  
"Does having a baby hurt?" Lexi asked, now holding on tightly to Mr. Whiskers who she had set in her lap.  
  
"How should I know?" Jess returned. "I'm not having Lucy." He was getting as cynical as his mother. He laid back down, not indulging his sister in answering anymore of her curious questions.  
  
Lexi 'hmphed' under her breath and laid back down on her right side, tucking Mr. Whiskers under one arm and closed her eyes.  
  
FENTAL AVE  
  
Asha's eyes opened in the dark, wondering for a moment what had woken her up from her 'dead-to-the-world' slumber. She decided to sit up, the gray spaghetti strap from her tank top falling off from its position on her shoulder as she did so. Eleven o' clock was early for her to be in bed but she had been up until five am the previous night working on a bust with the S1W and spent the better part of the night busting half of the members out of jail for trying to take back the 'illegal food supply' the Sector Cops confiscated from the slum dwellers.  
  
She stared out into the dark from her bed and finally smelt, rather then heard Zack in her bedroom. She reached over to switch on her brass bedside lamp but a hand stopped her.  
  
"Zack." Asha took back her arm. "Are you drunk?" She could still smell the booze on his breath from Crash and wondered how many more he had added to the mixture. "Cause if you are there's no way in hell you're getting in my bed."  
  
Zack didn't say anything, and in the dark she felt him sliding the other strap off her shoulder, leaving his warm hand on the dip her shoulder made where it connected with her collarbone. "You know things will go smoother if you shut up." He placed his other hand on her opposite shoulder and pulled the tank top completely off of her.  
  
Asha didn't object to his actions, just sat there watching him like a teenager on her first time. Being her pajama top he had just slid off she wore no bra underneath. She felt the slight chill from the night air on her exposed breasts, but she made no move to cover them.  
  
Zack sat on the edge of her bed for a long time, observing the way her breasts moved every time she breathed. He cupped one breast in his hand and watched her suck in her breath and pull her head back at the feeling his hand on her body produced.  
  
"I don't want to be the only nudist here Zack," Asha tilted her head back up to face him. She fumbled in the dark for a moment to lift his sweater over his head but he soon became impatient with her slowness and did it himself, throwing the blue sweater on the floor.  
  
Asha admired the lean and broad muscle of his chest, letting one hand wander along his rock-hard pecks. "No foreplay tonight soldier. Just get on with the Full Breach."  
  
Zack didn't want to admit out loud how much her statement had just turned him on. So he showed her, launching at her with a hard kiss, pinning her down to her top mattress with his weight.  
  
Asha pulled back from the steamy kiss, gasping for air. Zack may have been able to hold his breath for extended periods of time but she needed to breathe. She looked up at him in the darkness, not seeing his face but knowing that he was doing the same. "If this is a plastered screw I'm gonna kick your ass in the morning."  
  
Her remark didn't faze Zack, who began playing the inner thigh of her right leg like a violin. "Not like I'll be here anyway."  
  
Asha closed her eyes at that statement. Zack would never hang around after they had sex. She never woke up wrapped around his body, warm and naked. He would be gone when she opened her eyes, the spot he had collapsed on after 'straining himself' would have no trace of body heat. The only thing she would sometimes find to even signify that a man had indeed spent the night in her bed was a trace of semen that had spilled out onto the sheets. Asha often wondered what it would have been like if she was with the kind of man who made a big fuss over things and referred to sex as 'lovemaking'. But then again, she was dating an X5 soldier, not a lover in a soap opera. "Shut up and let's go." Asha ordered watching him in the dark. Zack didn't do love making, he did sex, hard-core sex, and she didn't have any objections when he did.  
  
She felt him spread her legs apart with his hands and waited for the inevitable earth shattering sensations to ripple through her body when he entered her. She was not disappointed and slammed her eyes shut and gripped her mattress so tightly that she was sure she would tear holes in it.  
  
She didn't say his name; just kept her head tilted back riding out her long climax. X5 were created with amazing inhuman stamina, and it didn't only just apply to the battlefield. Finally, when her muscles could no longer spasm at the sensation he pulled out of her and landed, not on top of her, but beside her on the bed, panting in the dark at his exertion.  
  
Asha took a long moment to catch her breath, feeling like she had just won a marathon, but with much greater rewards. She lay there too exhausted to do anything but roll over on her side and stretch one hand lazily across his collarbone, caressing the hard bone underneath the sheath of peach colored flesh. Zack made no move to cuddle her to him in return, just turned his head to her and took in her naked, sweat-soaked body beside his, watching as she started to fall asleep under his gaze.  
  
Only after her eyes had closed did he venture a lone hand out to remove a chunk of hair that had been plastered to her face.  
  
WESTON RESIDENCE  
  
10: 35 AM   
  
Lucia stood by the bay window that had been recessed right above the kitchen sink where she was currently scrapping the frying pan clean she had just finished cooking eggs benedict on. Today was her day off and Rick didn't have to be into the construction site until one, so she wanted to make him a nicer breakfast than the rushed coffee, toast and cereal he usually had. The Proctor Silex coffee pot sputtered on beside her brewing two cups of Midnight Espresso her brother had sent her from his Tour of Duty in Italy.  
  
"Hey hun," Rick's voice tickled her ear when he came up right behind her to kiss her low on the nape of her neck. "What's all this? You hire a maid?"  
  
Lucia slapped him in the ass with the rubber spatula for his remark. "You better sit down and eat my eggs before I get you hot in the pants in a more painful food wearing way."  
  
"Ouch." Rick cringed at the thought of his breakfast winding up in his lap. "I'm really not that hungry-" He saw the death look in her eyes that said 'i've just spent all my time in the kitchen cooking for you and you sure as hell better start appreciating it'. "But since you went through all this trouble I could be cajoled into a egg culinary creation."  
  
"Right answer," Lucia returned, setting the now clean pan in the wooden drain board beside the sink. The chenille curtains that hung above the bay window blew violently against Lucia's face and she had to pull them away and shut the window that had been partially open.  
  
Rick leaned over and observed the dark clouds that were hanging- like a pile of dirty cotton balls - in vast amounts in the sky. The wind that had blown inside was much warmer than it had been the previous day, signaling a violent shift in the weather.  
  
"Baby I don't like the looks of those clouds." Rick said, turning to his wife. "Looks like a hell of a storm's coming in off the water, we better bring the dogs inside."  
  
"I'll get them." Lucia said, "But you have to promise to sit here and enjoy every bit of those eggs I cooked, 'cause if you don't I'm bringing the girls in and throwing you out  
  
"Yes Ma'am," Rick saluted her, stealing a kiss before she got angry. "I want coffee first though, you want some?"  
  
"Pour me a cup, black, two sugars." Lucia answered before heading out of the kitchen. She walked down the Wainscoting paneled hallway beside the stairs that led to the second story of the house. The hallway itself was lined with photos of Rick's family, their wedding, her brother's Marine headshot and a gold-framed photo of their dogs, with the words 'Mommy and Daddy's Scoundrels' engraved across the bottom.  
  
She pushed open the back door that had nine small glass windows set into it and looked out into their small chain link fenced in eight square foot yard. The two huskies had been sleeping on top of each other next to their yellow and white thatched roof doghouse, but their ears pricked up at the sound of the door opening.  
  
They leapt up and bounded their way over to Lucia, Kira knocking over her sister to get there first.  
  
"That's my good babies," Lucia pet them when the jumped on her and slobbered all over her face. "We need to go inside it's gonna get nasty out here." She held the door open for both dogs to enter. "C'mon girls." The dogs bounded ahead of her and nearly collided into the white Maytag washing machine that sat ten feet away from the door. "You two want food?" They jumped on her excitedly at hearing the word 'food'. Lucia took their silver doggie dishes from off the top of the refrigerator and poured equal amounts of dry Kibbles-N-Bits into each bowl.  
  
Kira and Abby sat patiently wagging their tails watching each morsel of food go into their bowls, and as soon as Lucia set the bowls on the floor they attacked it, spilling kibble everywhere in their haste.  
  
"Slow down speed racers," Lucia ran her hands through their silky coats, smiling at their eagerness.  
  
"You look so cute when you play with the kids," Rick now stood in the door-less entryway, watching his wife's interaction with their dogs. She would've made a great mother, but she already was a mother. It was just hard for Rick to take in that she had a daughter she had never even seen grow up. "Coffee's done," he handed her a steaming mug, not saying anything about his thoughts out loud.  
  
"Thanks," Lucia took it from him and took a slow sip of the robust liquid. "You have a few more hours until you have to clock in, why don't you help me put away the girls' toys? They're liable to become projectiles in the storm."  
  
"Okay," Rick agreed. Something else was hanging on his tongue, and he debated on whether or not he should actually say it. Finally he decided: "Too bad we can't say it was a flying toy that did that to you." He took two steps closer so that he was standing directly in front of her. His fingers brushed against the bruising on her neck that Zack's hands had raised the day before. "Who does that bastard think he is anyway?" Rick's voice was extremely protective and pissed off.  
  
"He's Max's brother Rick," Lucia reminded, taking his hands off of her bruising because it was starting to hurt. "You can't expect him to welcome with open arms the woman who basically gave his sister away over to a group of mad scientists."  
  
"She wouldn't even be his sister if it wasn't for you!" Rick informed hatefully, not at her, but at Zack.  
  
"Yes she would baby. All of the babies were spliced in a lab from the stored ova of donor women and they were enhanced with the same basic batch of base pair DNA. If I hadn't been chosen for the program they would've just gotten some other surrogate to carry Max to term but she would still be related to Zack."  
  
"That still doesn't excuse this Zack going caveman on your neck Luc!"  
  
"You don't know what it was like Rick."  
  
"Oh, so are you saying that justifies it?"  
  
"Not a chance. But me and all the other surrogate mothers had to spend weeks being invasively prodded and drugged for the babies we carried so I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone to actually be born and raised there."  
  
"Yes, born and raised to be genetically enhanced killers ready for the military auction block!"  
  
"They're still human beings Rick! They were children at Manticore. Do you know what I saw the base doctors doing to the X4 series born before Max's group? They strapped them down to a table and BROKE their arms and legs to encode a faster healing rate for fractured bones! They tortured them day in and day out, all the while brainwashing them with military propaganda, and yet you still say that doesn't allow them some anger towards the women who put them there?"  
  
"He could've killed you Luc! He has the capability and ten times the strength needed to break you like a twig and so does Max for that matter. I'm sure her being pregnant doesn't make her any less skillful."  
  
"What are you saying? That my daughter's gonna go X5 assassin on me and snap my neck while I sleep one night?" Her eyes were now two cold chunks of ice staring into his. "If that were even remotely true then why hasn't she turned on Logan, or her kids, or hell even people on the street? She's certainly capable of it you say. But I'm sure you already know the answer to that Rick, being the fuckin' Manticore protocol expert that you are!" She didn't care that he was her husband, or how many times she told him about their experiences at Manticore, he would never truly understand what it was like, especially if he still thought the way he did.  
  
"Luc-" Rick tried to find some way to calm her down, but she cut him off.  
  
"Forget it Rick." Lucia said, angrily held up her hand. "Just get the damn dog toys inside before it starts to rain." She shoved past him; slamming her coffee cup on the washing machine so hard it reverberated throughout the metal making Kira and Abby cock their head to the side at the sudden loud banging noise.  
  
Rick watched a pea sized chip of ceramic fall from the mug, emitting a tiny 'tink' sound when it hit the door on top of the washer, but gazing more intently at his wife slamming the sliding door to their kitchen and locking it behind her.  
  
JAM PONY  
  
"Move it people!" Normal tapped on his black watch with a manila number two pencil "Bip bip bip! There's nothing in your contract that says you can slow down just because it's a little stormy outside."  
  
A bolt of lightning cracked through the sky at that moment and snapped off the electricity inside the delivery service. Several Jam Pony employees jumped at the noise it created - a pipe bomb detonating sound.  
  
"You were saying?" Original Cindy's voice echoed this question in the dark, and Normal couldn't see it, but she was crossing her arms waiting for his retraction to it being just a 'little stormy outside'. The lights flickered to life above her head a second later as if to mock her. "The commode in this dump overflows enough to fill a swimmin' pool but the juice comes back on after a storm like it was wired to a Clapper." Cindy commented in disbelief.  
  
"That's right," Normal stated, pulling out a paper from the pile of signature sheets stacked Leaning Tower of Pisa fashion on his rusty counter/desk. Miraculously the stack was able to maintain its position without causing an avalanche of papers to land on his head. "This entire place use to be a bomb shelter during the Militia Air Raids of 2010. There are enough back up generators built into the electrical system to light the entire city of New York."  
  
"How fortunate for you." Cindy said, though she didn't mean it in a positive way.  
  
"Even through fear, famine and freak forces of nature Jam Pony's doors will always remain open for business." Normal said in answer to Cindy's snub.  
  
"We don't even have a door here Normal," Cindy pointed out.  
  
"It's called a metaphor, a figure of speech of one thing spoken as if it were another." He recited the definition of the word exactly as it appeared in the Oxford Dictionary. "But if you are unable to understand that here's something for your simple-minded brain to grasp: If you aren't out there delivering packages in the next twenty minutes you will have plenty of time to brush up on your dictionary skills while you're hunting for a new job." He shoved a long manila Care Mail envelope across the counter to her and waved her away. "Bip. Bip. Bip!'  
  
Cindy rolled her eyes and stuffed the envelope inside the front pocket of her gray messenger bag. She walked over to collect her bike from where it was leaned up against the red row of lockers. She was about to pick up her wheels from its resting place when her eyes spotted Max coming down the entranceway bike ramp pushing a navy blue hood off her head.  
  
She was shaking a few small raindrops that had collected like a fine dust in her hair when Cindy approached her. "Can't believe you wadded all the way through that shit outside just to come to this hovel boo. If I hadn't a seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it."  
  
"I never let a little water stop me from coming by to see my girl." Max notified wiping the water off her hand and unzipping the wet cotton of her jacket so she could breathe better. "Plus I just needed to get out ya know? I got a little stir crazy just sittin' around waiting for this kid to come out."  
  
"Sorry I can't help you there suga," Cindy apologized, though it wasn't even really her fault. "You could try a few home remedies with Logan, might speed things along." She broke out into a sly grin at what she meant by 'home remedies'.  
  
"Please I'm too exhausted and dragged out to even consider the advantages of medicinal sex." Max complained.  
  
"Did I hear someone mention that sex was medicinal?" Sketchy rolled over on his bike. He had radar built in his head to hone in on words like: 'sex', 'women' and 'threesome'. "All though it is a fact that is rare, it is one I've speculated on as something that can be proven as hard core with a little round of experimentation." He leaned on the handlebars of his bike.  
  
"Sketch, you have too much free time on your hands to contemplate things like this." Max stated, stretching her neck and shoulders for a moment to try and alleviate the knots in it. "This little girl's gotta sit before her back decides to give out."  
  
"Original Cindy's got your back there boo," Cindy informed, scanning the crowd until she found who she was looking for. "Yo Sky, roll me that seat behind you."  
  
Sky - an Asian man in his late teens dressed in cropped blue biker jeans, red T-shirt and white flopped fishing hat - grabbed the rickety wooden computer chair that stood directly behind Normal and slid it all the way to Cindy. A few seconds after he did Normal tried to grab his green sheepskin lined jacket from off the back of his chair, but found that he only came up with a handful of air. "All right. Which one of you wise ass kids stole my chair?"  
  
"Thanks boy." Cindy took the chair from Sky, who had walked with it on its journey so it wouldn't crash into anyone.  
  
"No problem Cindy," Sky looked over his shoulder at Normal interrogating everyone near him on the whereabouts of his chair. "Just don't let Normal catch you with it or he'll start bustin' out with his 'good ol' days of highly competent employees speech'." Sky disappeared then before Normal could breathe down his neck when he spotted his precious falling apart chair.  
  
Max leaned back slowly into the chair's suspended seat to make sure it was fully capable of withstanding her pregnancy weight. The chair moaned and creaked but didn't come apart so Max took her chances that it would stay that way and leaned fully back into it. "You don't know the kind of heaven I've reached here." She sighed in relief to be off her feet.  
  
"You must've been really sore Max because that thing looks as comfortable as a flaming hernia." Sketchy said beside her.  
  
"At this point I appreciate any form of seating I can find so long as it holds up." Max let him know, pulling her feet to rest on the circular black bar wrapped around the pole the seat was attached to.  
  
"I personally think it might cause permanent damage to the kid for you to be sitting on something so hideously ugly." Sketchy went on.  
  
"I'll take my chances." Max informed.  
  
"Why am I not surprised as to the location my chair is currently in?" Normal had came down from his fenced in office 'cage' and looked at Max sitting in his chair like he had just caught his wayward daughter smoking behind the house. "When we don't ask permission to use items that clearly don't belong to us it is what's known as stealing."  
  
"Normal I'm nine months pregnant." Max returned, annoyed at him constantly referring to her as a thief, which she was, but she wouldn't waste her time swiping something as decrepit as his ancient office furniture. "I'm tired, my ankles are about to explode and my back feels like an elephant's been sittin' on it. So don't even think of layin' any of your crap on me today cause I'm not in the mood to hear bout your political out cry on the ravages of street vagabonds on the Seattle run business."  
  
Normal had to wait a moment for Max to spit his head out of her mouth before speaking. "I expect my chair returned in five minutes. There is a sofa in this place that is much easier on an expectant mother's back, I suggest you utilize it after your time's up." He headed back, to his desk not saying anything more.  
  
"Are my ears fully of waxy build up?" Sketchy asked sticking a finger to his right ear and shaking it out to clear away any cobwebs. "Cause I thought I just heard Normal use the phrase: 'easier on an expectant mother.'"  
  
"Maybe the boy ate a bad laxative last night," Cindy rationalized. "Poppin' too many of them soft chews can throw you into all kind of whack hallucinations."  
  
Sketchy ducked his head down, trying his best not to laugh, but it wasn't helping. "I'm sorry guys, but I feel that it's my civic duty to laugh at such a perfectly executed slam on Normal's after hours commodial habits." Sketchy was a master at wording his opinion with the style of a poet who had lived his entire lifetime on the streets.  
  
"I should look into being a more dutiful citizen of this once great country if the perks are as good as that." Max said from her seat. Her relaxed mood at chilling with her friends ended abruptly when a pang rippled its way across the front of her abdomen. She sucked in her breath and one hand flew to the spot where the pain had originated.  
  
Cindy's smile faded when she saw Max's maneuver. "You okay sugah?"  
  
"I'm fine." Max rubbed at her belly in circular motions, trying to will the pain away. "Just a little cramp." She gave a fake smile that even she didn't believe. After last night's incident Logan had insisted that Max keep track of any pains she had the next day, convinced that she was starting to go into the early stages of labor. She had been pouring herself a cup of coffee when a shooting pain had caused her to nearly shatter the cup on the floor. It had died down after about two minutes and she hadn't had another one so she still assumed that it was Braxton-Hicks, or 'false labor pains' pregnant women would often have days before they actually delivered.  
  
"Girl you're pregnant." Cindy reminded. "Getting a cramp constitutes you drivin' to a hospital and gettin' ready to be a baby momma."  
  
"I'm two weeks early, "Max stated. "And besides if these really were labor pains they'd be coming closer together then five hours apart especially with this being my third one." She lowered her hand after the pain had finally died down, although it left her with a weird buzzing tickle still lingering above her navel.  
  
"You mean to tell me you've had this pain before just now?' Cindy asked. She already knew the answer though. Max had all but written it down and notarized it for her. "Boo you need to go to the hospital - NOW. Otherwise you're gonna stamp an eternal bad mark on your daughter by giving birth to her inside Jam Pony."  
  
"If I promise to at least go get checked by my OB would Auntie Cindy chill?" Max asked, finally giving in.  
  
"Auntie Cindy says that swings with her," Cindy agreed. She looked over Max's shoulder at Normal who was staring at Max sitting in his chair like she was defiling an original masterpiece from Bodachelli. "Yo Normal!" Cindy shouted at him. "I'm takin' a personal day to see to it that my girl delivers her baby boo in a hospital setting-" She was about to say 'Got a problem with that?' but Max cut her off.  
  
I'm not lettin' Normal dock your pay on account of me." Max informed. "Especially if I don't even know if this is the real thing or not. I can make it fine on my own."  
  
"I would suggest you listen to her," Normal called out from behind his desk, actually agreeing with Cindy on something. "I already have one employee out of commission because of a thing she has for having babies. I'm very certain Max can have that kid on her own without you tagging along with her to play midwife." He threw a brown wrapped box at Sky's chest. "Fifteen and West Ave."  
  
"Have you seen what it's like outside?" Sky complained, fumbling to put the package inside his baby blue messenger bag.  
  
"Sell it to someone who cares slacker." Normal reprimanded. "If your pregnant coworker can slosh through it en route to the hospital you can certainly stand pedaling half a mile to transport this; now move it." Normal titled his head out of the open window like entrance in front of his desk, watching Sky's retreating figure. "If you didn't want to deliver packages in the rain you shouldn't've taken this job!" He pulled his head back inside and turned towards Max. "And you-" he pointed at her with one long pale finger. "I suggest you get out of here before you're required to pay a large decontamination procedural fee for dropping that kid on my floor." He made a whistling noise with his teeth and pointed Max in the direction of the door. "Bip Bip! This isn't a maternity ward."  
  
"The boss man just gave the orders Max." Sketchy notified. "Are you just going to sit there and let him talk to you like that?"  
  
"I think I'll let it slide for now," Max stated with a hint of a smile on her face. Another huge clap of thunder cracked through the outside air like a driver cracking a hellish celestial horse team across the sky. "Looks like the worst hasn't even hit yet, so I better get started before I'm caught seein' it up close and personal."  
  
"You sure you don't want some company boo?" Cindy asked again.  
  
Max shook her head 'no'. "If I wind up having her, I'll give you a heads up."  
  
"Yeah well you better give me the birth weight too." Cindy added stepping over to pull Max into a hug. "Take care out there Max 'cause you're my girl, straight up."  
  
"I will," Max said after pulling back.  
  
"Don't worry Max," Sketchy began "If this is the real thing for you we'll be right here doing what we do best: Slacking off on our runs to hang by the phone waiting for you to give us the stats."  
  
Max smiled at this, smacking Sketchy on the back of his shoulder "Sometimes you're too much Sketch." She turned and started to head up the ramp that lead out of Jam Pony.  
  
"Hey Max!" Alec's voice trailed after her and he ran up to intersect her on the ramp. His black Sketchers thudded to a skidded halt when he stopped in front of where she had stopped. "Is it time?"  
  
Max was a bit stunned at his choice of words. "You goin' soft on me Alec? Cause I never saw you as someone who would sharing his feelings on the 'miracle of life'"  
  
"Hardly," Alec retorted. "I've got too much of a good thing going to switch to bein' a woman." He paused as if to think about his next choice of words. "If this is it -I mean, I just thought I'd tell you good luck." His words were true Alec, showing consideration for his friends, but doing it in his own direct way. "I've had my seed forcefully spread around enough to know that a kid deserves more from his parents then just matching DNA. And I can honestly say that you make a helluva mom, and I'm sure you will again."  
  
Alec's remark was so genuine - at least as genuine as Alec could get - that Max smiled at him. "You want her middle name to be 'Alec' don't you?"  
  
He laughed for a minute. "Have you got one picked out already?"  
  
"Sara," she answered.  
  
"Sara?" Alec stated the name like a wine that left a bad aftertaste in his mouth. "See now, mine's definitely better then a pussy foot name like Sara, which is perfect for a kid of yours by the way."  
  
"Bite me Alec." Max returned, though there was really no anger behind it.  
  
"Later Maxie, when we're alone," he returned, draping one arm playfully over her shoulder.  
  
"You should've tried to get first base before I got pregnant." Max stated in a completely deadpan voice, something she had perfected over the years when she was making a joking comment but didn't want to sound giggly or air headed.  
  
Alec plastered a grin on his face like he had just seen a naked woman for the first time. "I knew you still remembered that night behind the dumpsters at Crash."  
  
"Just shut up and remove the arm so I can get goin'." Max ordered, though not harshly or angrily. It was rather the ribbing of two people who had the same warped history at Manticore and had come out of it with plenty of war stories and even more wit. Alec removed his arm so Max could continue up the ramp to her waiting Red Impala whose tires were submerged under two inches of accumulated rain.  
  
"Hey Casanova, rendezvous your affairs with married women on your own time!" Normal called out to Alec, sticking his head outside of his enclosed 'desk box' again.  
  
"Normal, how many fantasies are you gonna keep tryin' to live out through your employees?" Alec asked after finally reaching his destination.  
  
"Keep up with the smart mouth Alec, you might need it for your half bit comedy routine you have to suffice on after I fire you from your current job." He threw a wrinkled manila envelope at his chest. "Get out of my sight." He waved Alec away like a housefly he was trying to swat.  
  
Alec stuffed the envelope into his messenger bag. "C'mon Cindy, this run's near yours," he stated to the woman still standing with Sketchy beside the employee lockers. "We can pick up more of Normal's suppositories on the way."  
  
As Cindy met up with him heading up the exit ramp with her bike she held her fist out to give Alec props for his diss on Normal.  
  
"It's just one big joke to you people isn't it?!" Normal called out after them, but they ignored it like always.  
  
The car behind Max honked at her again for the third time, like it was her fault the rain was slowing up the traffic. /I've heard enough/ Max placed the car in park and stepped out into the horrendous downpour, and walked back to the yellow Chevy Silverado that was at a halt behind her Impala. She tapped on the tinted window on the driver side. An automatic button rolled the raindrop dotted paine of glass down and revealed a blonde haired teenage girl listening to an portable white IPod player in her lap.  
  
"Sorry this'll just take a second." Max reached inside the cabin of the truck and popped the hood release button by the by the steering wheel.  
  
"Hey!" The girl removed the earpieces from her head "What the hell are you doing?" She watched Max stand open the hood of truck, rain pouring off her already soaked clothes.  
  
Max only took a few seconds to locate the right connections to pull out to silence the horn and lowered the hood back down on the truck a second later heading back to her own car.  
  
She was soaking wet by the time she climbed back inside the Impala. She squeezed some water from her hair into the ashtray before putting the car in drive to follow the traffic that was finally starting to move. She made it another two miles down the road when a stabbing pain in her abdomen caused her to nearly swerve off the road. She pulled the car off on the shoulder and gripped at her belly until the pain subsided. /Shit./ This one was stronger then the three she had had in the last twenty-four hours. /There's no way in hell I'm giving birth in my car on the side of the road./ Once the pain had subsided she pulled back on the road where rainwater was now completely flooding the asphalt, having no more room to flow into the drains that led into the sewer.  
  
Half a mile up from where she had stopped a Sector Cop in a yellow poncho standing on the embankment beside the road slowed her to a stop with his hand. He motioned for her to roll down her window.  
  
"You'll have to turn back." The cop notified, sticking his head in the window. "Road's all flooded."  
  
"Is it so messed up that I can't chance it?" Max asked. She was not about to turn around after she had waded through all this way.  
  
"The streets are flooded ma'am." The cop returned with the air of forced instructional politeness. "Even if you wanted to be stupid and risk it you'd get stuck in soft mud twenty feet in-" He stopped short when he heard Max grimace audibly. It was then that he noticed her swollen stomach. "Are you having a baby?"  
  
"No. I ate too much spicy Chinese last night and got indigestion - of course I'm having a baby, you think I just decided to let myself go?" Max spat back through gritted teeth. After an agonizing five minutes the ache dulled away and she uncurled herself.  
  
"The roads to the hospital are all flooded too, you'll have to turn around."  
  
"What am I suppose to do, cross my legs and hold it in?"  
  
"I'm sorry ma'am but there's nothing I can do about it." The cop pulled back from Max's window. "Good luck."  
  
"Shut up." Max returned, rolling up her window. She did a three-point turn and headed back in the other direction. There was no way she was going to make it to the hospital now, her contractions were in full swing every twelve minutes now and even going back home was two sector stops away.  
  
Zack stopped his motorcycle in front of the address he had traced as belonging to one Lucia Weston. He covered his ride with a tarp from Lucia's Spinach garden so the bike wouldn't become rusted in the rain. He looked up at the house, sneering internally at the snow-white panel siding and earthenware flower boxes beside two bay windows on the front-end porch. /What? No white picket fence and lawn furniture?/ His black boots sloshed through the puddles that formed tiny lakes all over the front lawn as he made his way up to the door. But before he could even get close he heard a car, and turned to see a red Impala pulling up next to his covered motorcycle.  
  
"Zack?" Max was surprised as hell to see him standing there on Lucia's lawn. "What are doing here?" Water was dripping of her nose and her hair was completely plastered to her face.  
  
"Stay out of this Maxie, it doesn't involve you." Zack jumped the three stairs to the porch and reached for the brass knob that led inside the house.  
  
Max followed him up there and yanked his arm away from the door. "It sure as hell involves me if you're going in there to try and dress down a woman you know nothing about."  
  
"I know enough to not like her." Zack hissed.  
  
"I could say the same about you-" Max's retort was cut short when another contraction caused her to double over.  
  
"You're in labor." Zack informed turning to her, this time his voice held concern.  
  
"No shit Sherlock." Max snapped. "Roads were closed to Metro so I had to choose an alternative." Max pushed past him and opened the front door.  
  
"Max?" Rick stood in the foyer - remote in hand in a flannel button up and faded jeans - and looked over the woman standing soaking wet by his front door. "Come in." He turned off his TV and approached her. "Luc! Baby get down here it's Max-" he stopped short when he saw who Max was with. "What the hell are you doing here?" He had never actual seen Zack, but his wife had described the X5 to him before. "Get out. You're not welcome-"  
  
"Rick, unless you want me to give birth on your porch you better move." Max notified in a growl.  
  
"Max-" Lucia stood behind Rick and had heard her last statement. "Get inside before you get any wetter than you already are." She took her daughter's hand and pulled her through the foyer into the living room where she made her sit down on the sofa. "When did the contractions start?"  
  
"This morning." Max responded. "Sector cops closed off the roads to Metro, I thought this beat out being in labor in the street."  
  
Lucia laughed, mostly for Max's benefit, but in reality she was worried. The weather was so bad now that calling an ambulance would be futile, and she had absolutely no idea on how to deliver a baby. "How far apart?"  
  
"About ten minutes." Max responded, wringing rainwater from her long hair with her hands for the second time in half an hour.  
  
Lucia wiped a trickle of water from off of Max's face. "Honey, you're soaking wet." She turned to Rick and said: "Baby go grab a towel and a blanket from the linen closet.  
  
"I got it," Zack stated, shedding his leather jacket - it had gotten wet in the rain but the rawhide material repelled any water from actually soaking in. He walked over to the sofa - shoes squishing in the rainwater that collected on the bottom of the traction bumps - and draped the leather over Max like a blanket.  
  
Max accepted the offering with a surprised look. "How big of a back pocket have you been hiding this chivalrous response in?"  
  
"You're a drowned rat," Zack informed. "It's not exactly your best side."  
  
"You a real ladies man ya know that?" Max threw out in return, cocooning into his jacket. The leather smelled distinctively of Zack, a mixture of sweat and medicinal soap and a trace of sex. She also detected traces of a citrus aroma she had smelt before on Asha. /So that's where he was last night./  
  
"You're not a lady Maxie." Zack said matter-of-fact.  
  
Max's smart-alec response to this was lost to her when another contraction ripped through her body. "Damn!" She cursed, breathing out the pain. She had enough experience with labor to know the value of Lamaze. "Screw bein' a lady, I'd settle on a epidural."  
  
"I'm afraid we're fresh out baby," Lucia said, rubbing her daughter's stomach to ease out some of the cramps. "Something tells me you're not gonna make it to the hospital."  
  
"You figured that out all by yourself?" Zack growled at Lucia. His hostility towards her had not died down one bit from yesterday.  
  
"Si Chico (Yes boy). I also dressed myself this morning." Lucia snapped before turning back to Max. "You call Logan?"  
  
Max shook her head 'no'. "Didn't get a chance."  
  
"Since my girl's doing all the real grunt work I'll make the call." Lucia kissed Max's forehead and went to grab her phone.  
  
Rick watched Zack like a hawk the entire time Lucia was on the phone. "I don't care how strong you are or what you're capable of doing I want you out of here as soon as this is over." His voice held the quality of someone who was three seconds away from grabbing a loaded gun.  
  
"Believe me this isn't my ideal setting." Zack returned.  
  
"You're nothing by a pissy kid," Rick insisted. "A wise ass prick masquerading as a man, the last loner standing. Hell you're not even human; you're a created freak trained up for deployment as a killer. You're no better then a vicious attack dog."  
  
"Then I suggest you keep your hand back." Zack returned, an angry glint covering his eyes.  
  
"Sir I'm sorry you can't be out here." The same Sector Cop that had stopped Max was now talking to Logan through the rolled down window of his Aztec. "The roads are completely flooded."  
  
"Look this is an emergency!" Logan hissed with no patience in his voice. "I need to get to my wife. She's having a baby right now."  
  
"Well congratulations dad, but I still can't let you by. You'll have to find an alternative route."  
  
Logan cursed under his breath and rolled up his window. He was about to pull way when he saw the cop get knocked to the ground by someone outside. He leaned over watching the man slid to the ground and his passenger side door opened a second later to reveal a soaking wet Tinga sliding into the seat next to him.  
  
"Since he's being such an ass about it I had to go around him." Tinga said.  
  
Logan threw the car in drive, pulling around past the Sector Cop's form being pounded on the wet road. He crashed the car through the orange and white metal roadblocks a second later scattering them to the shoulder like dead leaves.  
  
"This thing got 4 X 4?" Tinga asked squeezing the water from her long set of braids.  
  
"It's down by the A/C," Logan responded watching Tinga push the button that would make the Aztec more tolerable to the flood outside. "How'd you hear about this?"  
  
"Zack's not the only one who knows how to set up on people." Tinga answered. "I stuck a honing signal on the fin of his bike and tapped Lucia's phone line knowing he'd tried to call her and give her shit so I decided to do a little intervention."  
  
"This is like a hobby for you guys isn't it?" Logan asked, keeping his eyes on the road so he wouldn't get them killed.  
  
"How's Maxie doin'?" Tinga didn't answer Logan's other question, concerned more about her sister.  
  
"Lucia says she's fine, well as fine as a woman in labor can be. She's obviously experiencing some degree of pain."  
  
"Got that right," Tinga agreed. "But a better description would be the feeling you'd get from having a watermelon ripped out through your vagina." She drew from experience of her own ten-hour labor with Case.  
  
"Ouch." Logan hissed at Tinga's choice of words. "Maybe I should stop having sex with her after this to spare her any more pain."  
  
"Yeah like that's gonna work," Tinga objected. "Maxie would tied you down to the posts of your bed before she'll let you go celibate."  
  
"You're right," Logan finally relinquished. "Besides it has mutual repercussions. I mean there's only so much you can do with the all night modeling channel and a bottle of hand lotion."  
  
Tinga looked completely shocked at his statement. /Who knew behind all that bookish,' save-the world' exterior beat the heart of an average male?/  
  
"For your benefit Logan you better be kidding." She watched the rain sliding in river amounts on the windshield of the Aztec. Even with the express route they had chosen it was an arduously slow task to drive through all the water. Tinga watched the rain sliding off the passenger side window. "This storm better cut us some slack or you're gonna miss the festivities."  
  
WESTON RESIDENCE  
  
FORTY MINUTES LATER  
  
"Damn!" Max cursed, arching herself against Lucia's back that was behind her on the couch supporting her weight. Her contractions had gone from ten minutes apart to five minutes and were now more intense. "I'm not waiting any more. Lucy's just gonna hafta get over not being born in a hospital." She groaned again at the pain that was still coursing through her.  
  
"Breathe honey, breathe." Lucia stroked her daughter's sweat soaked forehead and took several cleansing breaths to coax her into doing it. "In, out, in out."  
  
"I'm never havin' a kid again." Max complained.  
  
"You probably said that with the other two baby." Lucia said smiling. She wiped the sweat from Max's face with a washcloth she had wet in the bathroom.  
  
"This time I mean it," Max stated. "If Logan ever tries does this crap to me again I'm gonna cut him off."  
  
"I just hope he gets here." Lucia ignored Max's anger towards Logan; it was natural when she was experiencing the pain of childbirth. "I'm probably already gonna have to deliver my grandchild I don't think I can handle playing the role of the wrongful husband in this scenario anymore."  
  
Max managed a smile before another contraction hit her. "Shit."  
  
Lucia turned to her husband who was standing by the bay window watching for Logan's Aztec. "Any sign of him?"  
  
"Not yet," Rick pulled the satin under-curtain closed again and looked back to his step daughter-n-law lying on his couch. "How's she doing?"  
  
"She's great. We talked about going out for drinks after this was all over." Lucia snapped at him. She still hadn't forgiven him for the things he said earlier.  
  
"Better make mine a double." Max requested, hissing under her breath at the pain. She craned her head up from the back of the couch looking for something. She called out: "Zack."  
  
Zack stepped out of the shadowed foyer, observing Max's sweat soaked form like she was a sculpted piece of art. Then after paying his dues he walked the rest of the way over to the couch and stood in front of her. "I don't have a leather belt for you Maxie."  
  
"Right now I'd rather go for that shot of whiskey." She joked around for only a second before her voice turned serious. "Call Syl, I'm not gonna make it to the hospital."  
  
Right after escaping Manticore all the X5's started immediately to look for jobs because they could only steal so much for themselves without screwing up once and leaving a paper trail. Zane became a mechanic, Jondy a bartender, Tinga a bakery shop assistant - all basic off the street jobs that didn't require extensive schooling where their name had to be placed in any records or files. But Syl had chosen to become a midwife the day Tinga had contacted her from Portland to tell her she was pregnant. She worried about the exposure Tinga would be subjected to if she had her baby in a hospital setting. It was too easy for an eager young nurse to slip up and contact Charlie's extended family against Tinga's wishes to tell them about the birth on a non-secure line which Lydecker could easily trace with one call to a phone company. Syl had taken a four-month class at a small privately run school and had delivered Case six months later.  
  
Zack pulled out his sleek Altell secure lined wireless and dialed Syl's home number. He waited three rings before it picked up, sitting on the opposite side from Max's head on the couch. "It's Zack. You're never gonna guess where I am." Worrying that Max was about to deliver Lucia had gotten her daughter to change into one of Rick's old Lakers T-shirts and no underwear. From this angle Zack could see everything.  
  
Syl listened to Zack's quick story on her gray Tuscan style couch. She switched off the TV that had been airing the original 'Shining' with Jack Nicholson. "There's no chance in hell that I'm gonna make it down to Seattle in the next hour so I'm afraid you're going to have to deliver our niece under my instruction."  
  
Max couldn't believe a single word that came out of Zack's mouth when he told her what Syl had said. "You gotta be freakin' kidding me."  
  
"You think this'll be a picnic for me Maxie?" Zack spat.  
  
"Compared to what I have to do, yeah." Max returned.  
  
"This is your only option if you want to get that kid out, cause you know as well as I do a baby is deprived of oxygen for every second it stays too long en-utero." Zack was no midwife, but X5's as officers were taught various ways of offing people, including pregnant woman. They knew how to injure an expectant mother in such a way that she couldn't deliver vaginally and would cause the baby to die throwing the mother into a torrent of lethal infections because the dead fetus could not be removed in time.  
  
Max knew it too; she just hoped Syl wasn't making a mistake.  
  
"This is a bitch!" Tinga proclaimed, staring out the window even though she could hardly see through it anymore. The van in front of her had yet to move. "That stupid jack ass has been stopped there for over twenty minutes. What the hell is he doing, trying to hock his own radio?"  
  
Logan honked at him again, but the van just sat there like an unmovable island. "I'm three seconds away from plowing around him." /Max is having the baby and this looser decides to set up camp in the road./  
  
"Three seconds is up." Tinga leaned over and grabbed the wheel from Logan, maneuvering the car onto the muddy shoulder. The kick back from the Good Year tires doused the Ford Winstar in mud.  
  
The driver rolled down his window as the Aztec as it passed him curing: "Stupid foreign woman driver!"  
  
Tinga flipped him off and finally got the car back on the road in front of the van. She slid back into her seat, straightening out her leather jacket that had gotten crumpled in her movement. "Sorry, shouldn't have been all up on you like that."  
  
"Not a problem." Logan stated, grateful for Tinga's remedy on the situation. "If we weren't both married I'd kiss you right now."  
  
Tinga smiled. "Yeah well save the moments of infidelity until after Max delivers your baby Logan."  
  
Tinga hadn't rolled up Logan's window all the way and a tiny splash of mud shoved its way through the crack and whipped itself over both of them.  
  
Tinga made a disgusted face and brushed the wet mud off of her already soaking wet face. "Great, on top of everything else I need a shower."  
  
"Push honey!" Lucia coaxed, feeling Max about to crush her hand, but she didn't say anything because she was her baby and she could break her hand for all Lucia cared, she wasn't going to let go.  
  
"Is the baby's head crowning?" Syl asked from her end of the phone Zack had to his ear.  
  
Zack could see tiny bit of brown hair on the baby's head - it was almost halfway out. "Yeah she's there." A pause. "This is sick."  
  
"Welcome to the world of childbirth Zack," Syl informed. "This is what you have to look forward to if you get Asha pregnant."  
  
"I won't be on this end though." Zack explained.  
  
"Will you stop making small talk Zack and deliver the damn baby!" Max yelled at him.  
  
"You heard her Syl," Zack told his other sister.  
  
"Once the baby's head is completely out tell Max to stop pushing and suction out her mouth and nose with a bulb syringe, and make sure the cord isn't wrapped around her neck."  
  
Zack picked up the blue plastic bulb syringe Lucia and Rick used to clean out Kira and Abby's ears. /Good thing these people care so much about their fuckin' dogs./ Both dogs were currently lying on the couch whining at the smell of fluids that were wetting the blanket Max was laying on.  
  
Max pushed once more and the baby's head came out fully. "Hold it for a second Maxie, gotta take care of somethin'." Zack squeezed out the amniotic fluid from the baby's nose and mouth. "Okay hit it one more time little sister."  
  
"Easy for you to say jerk off," Max spat, taking a big breath and bearing down.  
  
"That's it baby," Lucia coached beside her. "Push, push, push!" She watched as Lucy finally came entirely out.  
  
Zack caught the baby before she hit the floor hearing her cry at being out in the world. He examined his tiny new niece and his face screwed up in shock when he saw the nape of her neck - a small barcode was visible on the flesh.  
  
"Zack?" Syl said. "What's wrong? Is the baby okay?"  
  
The barcode was just like their's except smaller, but after a second it suddenly faded out like an erased pencil mark. "Nothing." Zack held up the baby for Max to see. "Mission accomplished soldier." He set the screaming newborn on Max's chest.  
  
"Nice work commander." Syl said from the phone.  
  
"Madre de Dioa, que bonita." (Mother of God, how fabulous!)" Lucia exclaimed. "You did it sweetie, I'm so proud of you!" She kissed Max long on top of her head and looked down at the newborn that was singing the most beautiful song Lucia had ever heard. Her lips were as full and thick as Max's, and when her eyes finally for a second Lucia could see the deep chocolate brown in the pupils. "Logan's definitely in trouble now, she looks just like you." She stroked her Lucy's soft brown hair. "Hey baby, I'm your nana, Lucia Emerald Rial -Weston, I know I look too young to be a grandmother, but that's something I can't help."  
  
Max laughed and cradled her baby closer to her. The baby's eyes settled on her mother's and the last of her crying died down. "Congratulations Lucy, you're the first person to ever be delivered by your Uncle Zack."  
  
Zack stared at his new niece, taking in the eyes that looked so much like Max's. He kept trying to erase the image of the barcode from his mind, but it wouldn't go away. "First and last Maxie," he stated.  
  
The front door opened so quickly that it almost flew off the hinges when it smacked with a resounding 'thud' against the opposite wall. Logan's figure finally emerged in the living room, dripping wet.  
  
"Glad you decided to show up dad." Max called out to him.  
  
Logan took in the sight of his wife holding their new baby as he walked over to them. "Sorry, I got caught in traffic."  
  
"Uh huh." Max returned stroking her daughter's head and her brown eyes opened again. "Lucia Sara Cale, this is your daddy though he's normally more punctual then this."  
  
Logan touched the baby's naked backside. "Don't believe a word mommy says Lucy, she's usually full of it."  
  
Max punched him in the shoulder, but then felt him lean over to kiss her, cupping her face in his hand.  
  
"Hello?" Bling picked up the cordless phone in Logan's computer room. After Logan had gotten the call from Lucia, Bling had showed up and had agreed to watch Jessie and Lexi after Logan told him Max had gone into labor.  
  
"The infantry has landed Bling." Logan said. He had an arm draped around Max who sitting up against him on Lucia's couch breast-feeding Lucy. The baby cooed and sucked greedily at her mother's breast, savoring the taste of her first meal outside.  
  
"That's great!" Bling was elated. "How's our girl?"  
  
"I'm fine." Max called out, her genetically-enhanced hearing allowing her to hear both sides of the conversation on the phone. She shifted Lucy higher so she could have better aim at her food. "This baby's tryin' to suck off my breast though."  
  
"Hear that?" Logan said with a smile.  
  
"Oh yeah." Bling answered. "Let me go get the big brother and sister and tell them the good news."  
  
A minutes later both Jessie and Lexi were huddled around the phone trying to talk at the same time.  
  
"Is she all wrinkly daddy?" Lexi asked.  
  
"Of course she is!" Jessie answered her question. "She's a baby." He then spoke into the phone, "Daddy when are you coming home?"  
  
"Tomorrow Jess." Logan answered. "It's still storming outside so we're staying over at Nana's. Uncle Bling's gonna be there until we get back."  
  
"Can you kiss the baby for me daddy?" Lexi asked, chiming it. "Tell her that I'll read her a story when she gets here."  
  
"I will princess." Logan promised. "I'm sure she'll love it."  
  
"Can I say hi to mommy?" Jessie asked.  
  
"Of course." Logan agreed, "Here she is." He handed the phone to Max telling her: "It's Jess."  
  
"Hey baby." Max greeted him. "You got yourself another play partner."  
  
"Did it hurt a lot mommy?"  
  
"A little." Max lied. "But it's the kind of pain that's worth it." A pause. "You bein' good for Uncle Bling?"  
  
"Yeah. I miss you mommy."  
  
"Miss you too sweetie, but I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
"Okay, bye mom."  
  
"Bye baby." Max hung up turning her attention back to the newest member of her family. Lucy had stopped suckling and now her warm breath was just breathing on Max's exposed breasth.  
  
The swinging door to the kitchen opened and Lucia came in with a tray of left over arroz con el pollos and two glasses of decaf iced tea. "I know this isn't what you're use too considering Logan's culinary skills, but it'll take away your hunger nonetheless."  
  
"This is more than fine Luc," Logan corrected watching her set the wooden tray down on the coffee table. "After all we did just come to your house uninvited so we can't exactly be picky."  
  
Lucia watched her granddaughter sleeping against Max's chest. "I would hardly call that barging in." She leaned over and kissed the baby. "You're the by far the most beautiful guest I've ever had drop by." A pause. "Well maybe with the exception of your momma."  
  
Max smiled and asked a moment later: "Where's Rick?"  
  
"He went out to get some celebratory sparkling cider." Lucia answered. "It's his way of apologizing for being such a fink to your brother Zack, who by the way should've left just because of my egotistical, but still lovable husband."  
  
Zack had left an hour ago to give Tinga a ride back to her apartment to check on Case. Rick hadn't said a word to the man after their confrontation in the hallway, but as Zack was leaving he said simply. "Thank you for helping deliver our grandchild."  
  
Zack didn't reply and left the house in silence.  
  
"Tinga needed a ride back to check on Case." Max cleared up. "She has really good tactics for bending him to do her will."  
  
Lucia picked up her own iced tea glass that she had left on the coffee table's wooden surface, seemingly resting it on an invisible table in front of her. "I told you there was something in Zack to like." She looked at Lucy. "Only a man with a true heart would deliver his sister's baby."  
  
Max and Logan looked down at Lucy when her mom said this, not responding, simply watching their daughter's brown eyes close again in sleep.  
  
WATERFRONT  
  
"Are you sure you saw it?" Tinga asked. "Maybe it was just a shadow." Zack had stopped his bike at the waterfront ten miles from her apartment to tell her what he had witnessed when he had delivered Lucy.  
  
"A shadow in the shape of a barcode?" Zack snapped. He picked up a robin's egg sized rock from the off white sand and threw it into the still water. The yellow and red reflections on the water's surface from the lit up industrial buildings on the other side broke at the impact of the skipped rock. He went on: "It wasn't a shadow Tinga, It was a clear as ours."  
  
"That's impossible!" Tinga disagreed. "Lucy is only half X5 just like Jessie, Lexi and Case, she wouldn't have a barcode. They're encoded into our DNA, there's no way one could just show up on her and disappear a second later."  
  
"Are you callin' me a liar?" Zack growled, this time hurling a stone into the water instead of skipping it. "Cause I know what I saw. It looked almost identical to Max's except for one change at the ending sequencing bar."  
  
Tinga absorbed this information, trying to come up with some kind of explanation as to how it could be true. "What does this mean then?"  
  
"How should I know?" Zack snapped at her. "But I'm sure as hell gonna find out."  
  
UNKNOWN LOCATION  
  
The large laboratory was completely dark except for the glow of ten white Pentium computer monitors that never switched off. They rested in long rows atop an elongated cafeteria-style wood papered table. One of the monitors on the far end suddenly came alive as an image of a barcode - the exact same one that had briefly appeared on Lucy's neck - appeared across the 19-inch screen. Underneath it, in 12 point Times New Roman typeface appeared the words:  
  
'Live birth  
  
Female.  
  
8lbs 2 oz  
  
Sequence String: 332960073452-03   
  
Third Procreation of Class X5 Alpha Female.   
  
Designation: 452.'  
  
A gray window appeared a moment later in the middle of the stats proclaiming:  
  
'Saving new documentation to database.'  
  
A computerized bar slowly filled in green as the file saved. After it was finished the image shifted to a black screen with a silver 3D monkey standing partially erect inside a circle. Set above the image were the words:  
  
'Manticore Special Operations Cataloging System  
  
Security Written Protection: 'Alpha' is: 'ON'  
  
Authorized Personnel Access Only'  
  
(FADE OUT)  
  
And there you have it kids, the birth of Lucia Sara Cale. She's the last one, big familes are nice but they've only got so much room in that penthouse...heh. The last part is just a little thing for you to chew on and wonder about until I explain it. It won't be in the next chapter though. I'm as mean as Cameron. I'll tease you with something and then leave you hanging for a while..yeah I'm wicked, but you know you love it. grins Sorry for the absolute lack of Max and Logan's dog Kaja in this chapter. I honestly keep forgetting I have her in here (bad me). She'll be around in later chapters.  
  
Well let me know how you liked it.  
  
I'm out.  
  
Peace,  
  
Mystic 


	22. All It Takes

Choices 23 -"All it Takes" AUTHOR: Mystic25 EMAIL:   
  
Summary: Margo Cale invites her 'dear' nephew (Logan) and his wife over for a lawn party, but the events take a turn when Max decides to get something back that was owed to Logan.  
  
RATING: PG13 for language   
  
DISCLAIMER: James Cameron is a greedy money sucking pig and I stole his characters. There I said it. If he wants to start something he can just come on back.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry the summary sucks, I couldn't think of anything, but it will make sense when you read the fic. This one alternates from Max and Logan's point-of-view. I like writing things from their different perspectives.  
  
= = = = =  
  
MAX   
  
2:15 AM  
  
Kaja is starin' at me as I take stumbling steps across the hallway. At one point I almost step on her tail because even I- with my super soldier agilities and endurance- cannot deal with being woken up every four hours for the past three weeks by an infant who hasn't grasped the fact that most people _sleep_ at night. Even though I rarely sleep I would like to have the opportunity sometimes. As usual I'm barefoot for this trek down to Lucy's nursery so it is no real surprise when I step full force on one of Jessie's toy army men that he had never picked up from playing "battle".   
  
"Damn!" I take a moment to pluck the plastic soldier's bayonet from my foot. Kaja was now sitting right in front of me on her haunches, cocking her head to one side at my curse like she didn't believe I had just said that.   
  
"You know it would be simpler if you just ate these like other curious dogs with no sense of taste." I say to my German Shepard, watching as she pulls forward to sniff at the toy in my hand. She gives it one solid warm lick with her tongue before turning a pitiful gaze up to me, as if to ask my permission to take it.   
  
"Sorry girl, I was just kiddin' about eating this thing." I scratch her right ear and she melds into my hand at the contact. "But trust me you aren't missin' out on anything new and exciting." Another piercing cry from Lucy in her crib blasts through the hallway. It was her way of reminding me that _she_ was the reason I was awake, not the dog.   
  
I move past Kaja and finally reach the door to the nursery. I open it silently even though I know the occupant of the room is wide awake and waiting for her late night meal.   
  
Lucy is lyin' flat on her back on the tiny crib mattress cryin' her head off, and when she spots me leaning over her she reaches out two tiny arms, grabbing at the air above my breasts. This girl is just plain greedy, she nurses in half hour stretches before she falls asleep and wants more four hours later. But being the mother of two weaned kids, I should know this by now. All my children were greedy at this age. It must be something in my genes that created it.  
  
"Shh honey," I pick her up and cradle her small body to me. "You're gonna wake up the city with that racket." I walk her to the rocking chair sitting by the window and sit down gently on the swaying surface. The rocking movement calms her slightly, but she's still carrying on because she still hasn't gotten what she wants - food. I lift up to my tank top expose my right breast so Lucy can suckle. Her tiny mouth tickles my nipple as she moves it back and forth over me to get her meal. When I first breast-feed Jessie when he was a baby it was _not _as glorious an event as all the books claimed it would be. Oh sure it was a very bonding moment for him and me, but it _hurt_, something that none of those damn experts who wrote those books devoted much space to, because who would enjoy 'that special moment' with baby if they told you it felt like a crab's claw was having it's way with your nipple? It took several weeks to get use to the feeling, and enjoy it for what it actually was - a time for my kids and I to connect with each other.   
  
Lucy's brown eyes are locked on mine as she eats, watching me intently. I stroke her soft chocolate-colored baby hair with my free arm and listen to the sounds of the homeless on the Seattle streets dumping wood to their trash can fires to make them grow stronger. Amidst this clattering symphony of wood and metal I can hear some of them droppin' their vocals in rhythmic tones. A few of them have gotten together and were harmonizing a melody that would make a joke out of any Motown group:   
  
_"When the night, has come  
And the land is dark  
And the moon is the only, light we'll see  
No I won't be afraid; no I won't be afraid  
Just as long as you stand, stand by me."_   
  
I have heard snatches of this song before but have no idea who sings it. It was done by a band way before the Pulse ever hit, around the 1950's. I'm not sayin' that because it was originally sung so long ago that it doesn't deserve recognition, I'm not the kind of girl who screws anything that didn't come out in the last three minutes. I'm just sayin' that I know two kinds of music: classical compositions - Brahms, Mozart, Handel - that Manticore beat into our heads to further our brain development; and what I call 'music for the masses' - Limp Bizkit, Coldplay, Slipknot - music I actually own and have intermixed between Logan's classical CD's and the old works of legends such as the Temptations, Sammie Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. But this song isn't in either one of our CD collections, but it's nice though, comforting. And there isn't much comfort left in America these days.   
  
Lucy has finally stopped nursing and now is asleep against my bare breast. Don't know if it was the song or the suckling that did it, but either way she has reached a level of security that never existed for me as a child. I rock her for a few more minutes, not for her benefit, but for mine. She is already sleeping; this is just my time to gaze at her. She's only three-weeks-old but already her eyelashes are incredibly thick and long. With her eyes closed they cast shadows on her soft cheeks. Mom was right; she is a tiny mirror image of me. If Logan ever had to prove his status as her father based on Lucy's looks he'd be in deep shit. But _I_ know full well who was there at Lucy's conception. Never knew that a game of chess and a small bottle of cognac could go so far.  
  
After I feel that Lucy has efficiently settled down for the night I slowly stand up and walk her back to the crib, lying her small form back down on the mattress. I take this opportunity of serenity to stroke her soft baby cheek with one finger, knowing that I would be seeing her again in a few hours for another feeding. Who'd a ever thought that me, with all my cynicism, would take such pleasure in the basic simplicity of watching my baby sleep? Deck would be so disappointed if he knew that I was wasting my perfectly good talents of killing and maiming to play 'mommy'.  
  
"Mommy?" The door creaks open slowly and Lexi's tiny body comes through the small opening. She's wearing that long nightgown with the words 'Girls Kick Ass' that she begged and pleaded that I get her when she saw it at the market. It wasn't that I didn't agree completely with the slogan, I just didn't see the benefit of my three-year-old learnin' those words every time she looked down at her pajamas. But I gave in eventually, with the promise from Lexi that she would never use last word in a sentence until she was 21.   
  
"Sorry baby," I whisper, tiptoeing over to where she was still standing by the door. "Did I wake you?"  
  
"I wanted to see Lucy," Lexi admits. Ever since I had brought her home both Jessie and Lexi had fallen in love with their little sister. They would watch everything I did with her - changings, feedings, bath time. But they didn't think of her as a new toy that I brought for them to play with like some children were stupidly encouraged by their parents to believe about their baby siblings. Jessie had said it himself: 'Mom, she's looks like you, will she be as pretty when she grows up as big as you?" He was such a mature soul that it was hard to believe sometimes that he was only four with a birthday coming up next month.   
  
"She's asleep right now honey, but you can take a peek at her if you want." I take my daughter's hand and lead her quietly back to the crib, picking her up so she can lean over it's side and peek at her baby sister.   
  
"She's so small." Lexi marvels. "Do all babies start out that way mommy?"  
  
I nod, and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "You started out that way too, but you were so cute it started an argument about who got to hold you first."  
  
Lexi turns her head back to me. "It did?" She loves hearing stories about herself.  
  
"Yeah." I inform hugging her close to me, smelling the honey kid's shampoo in her hair. I look down to my other daughter asleep in her crib. "It seems to be the characteristic of all my girls."  
  
"Mommy what does 'characteristic' mean?" Lexi asks.   
  
"Means the way you are, how pretty, how tall, whether you like chocolate ice cream or strawberry." I explain the meaning in terms my baby girl can understand watching her face light up as she instantly gets what I'm trying to say. Being born to a revved up momma has its share of perks.  
  
"I think Lucy has pretty characteristics." Lexi tests out her new vocabulary word and pulls forward to get a better view of the baby.  
  
"No arguments from me," I agree watching her watch Lucy sleep. "I think we should let her sleep 'cause she likes to wake up early for breakfast." I walk away from the crib carrying my daughter out the door and once we're in the hallway I set her back down on her feet. "You should go back to bed now honey, it's too early to start skulking around."  
  
"Can I sleep in your room mommy?" Lexi asked. She seized any opportunity she could to try and get in bed with Logan and me because it was a large king size sleigh bed - a huge comfortable island for a kid.   
  
"You have your own bed sweetie," I remind gently. I knew a girl at my old building that slept with her infant son and literally crushed him to death one night when she rolled over on top of him. Lexi was bigger then an infant, but she would be swamped between her daddy and me and it was too easy for an accident to occur. She had only sleep in our bed once - when she was a baby and her room had been touched up with paint, and even then I laid her on my chest and made myself stay in the same position all night like I had done in solitary confinement back at Manticore.   
  
"Please?" Lexi begged with the big-lip smile and sad eyes.   
  
Damn, why'd she have to get Logan's eyes? I always drown in that kind of blue. I sigh, feeling the effects of defeat come over me. "Aiight, but you have to stay in _one_ spot kay? No rollin' around like a squigglin' puppy."  
  
"Kay." Lexi agreed with the biggest smile I've even seen. She races ahead of me to the master bedroom and grabbed a hold of the knob.   
  
We bypass Kaja on the way to my room, but she takes no notice of us because she has settled down to chew on her army helmet chew toy from Zane - where the boy digs gets this stuff I'll never know.  
  
"Shh," I put a finger to my lips when she pulls the door open. "Put it in stealth mode honey or you'll wake up daddy."   
  
Lexi silently agrees, putting a finger to her own lips and steps quietly over the expensive maroon Oriental rug that covered the glazed hardwood floor. It took almost a minute for her to reach the bed due to the fact that the floor space of the master bedroom is almost as big as my old apartment. She finally reached her target area and crept up on the bed silently, crawling into the spot that I had vacated to check on Lucy.   
  
"Max-" Lexi apparently wasn't quiet enough to not wake up Logan. He shifts his head to where I had been lying before and is surprised by the sight of our daughter there instead of me.   
  
"No daddy, Lexi." Lexi giggles at the sound of her daddy calling her mommy by her first name. It was the same laugh that she had emitted when she caught me calling Logan "baby" one day in the kitchen.   
  
Logan takes a moment to clear some cobwebs from his head so he could speak to her coherently. "What are you doing up so early kiddo?"  
  
"Mommy said I could sleep in here with you." Lexi no longer contained her excitement about her grand adventure for the rest of the night. She leans over and kisses his nose.  
  
Logan smiled at her; he could never turn his daughter down when she was in her 'sweet and cute' mode. It was a trait she had acquired from me, except mine was more of an 'alluring and sexy' mode. "Then I guess you better make room for her." He returns the kiss on her nose.   
  
Lexi smiles again and scoots over so I could slide in beside her. She snuggles in between the sheets and rests her head on Logan's shoulder. She is my daughter too, but she is defiantly a daddy's girl. Their relationship is something very therapeutic for me to witnesses since I never had a great fatherly role model in my life - first Deck, then Lucy's dad - and it had taken me a long time to place any semblance of trust in men. When I first hooked up with Original Cindy and had she told me she was a lesbian I almost considered joining her to escape any future confrontation with men.   
  
"Where were you just now?" Logan's voice draws me out of my thoughts. One hand is caressing Lexi's back as she faces him.   
  
"Girl's gotta have her privacy," I inform.   
  
"You married into the Cale family Max. Privacy has nothing to do with it." Logan states.  
  
I laugh dryly, knowing full well what he meant and loving him for offering me his banter instead of trying to rectify my problems by 'talking about it'. I look over at Lexi who has now completely buried herself in Logan's shoulder. "I say you found yourself a pretty new girlfriend."  
  
Logan smiles then and looks down at Lexi's brown hair. "She takes after someone I know."  
  
"Cept I'm not pretty." I tell him flatly.  
  
He snaps his head up then. "Are you high or something?" He uses the same line he gave me when I broke in here to steal Bast and started this whole mess of a loving relationship and three children; and then switches to a completely newly thought up line of charm: "Because you are unquestionably beautiful sweetheart."  
  
"See now that I'll buy. " I remark. "Pretty is somethin' you say to a little girl you don't know to comment on how she looks in her Easter Dress. Beautiful is what you say to a woman you wanna make it with every day for the rest of your life."  
  
"Well then lie down here beautiful so we can get started with the rest of our life." Logan says with a smile and coaxes to lie down beside him.   
  
"We just had a third baby Logan-," I remind him. "How many more kids do you want?"  
  
"You're the one with 11 siblings, you tell me." He gives me a seductive eyebrow raise and smiles like he knows how much he's desirable to me.  
  
If this goes on any longer I'm gonna hafta change my clothes. His damn sexy intellectual expressions get me every time. All those women chasing after muscled up jocks are completely missing out on the appeal of a spectacle-clad cyber journalist with spiked brown hair and five o' clock stubble. I so want to do things to him right now, and he knows it with that grin plastered all over his face. But we both know we can't - one because Lexi is in here and I'd rather not shock her by giving her a first hand lesson on the birds and the bees. And two - I am still a post partum mom, that means no sex for six weeks. It's been three weeks, six days, nine hours and twenty-three minutes since we last met on the intimate level. And I've been feelin' every second of it. I'm not a nymphet, who needs it every five minutes, but sex is like a drug, once you get the feel of it in you it's not something you want to give up for one and a half months. The only other time I feel this hungry was when I was in heat, and at least Logan could indulge me, but this is torture.  
  
"Max-" His voice draws me out of my thoughts again.  
  
"What?" I turn to catch him staring at me, the second time in three minutes. I'm tarnishing my 'constantly in focus' reputation. "Sorry, I spaced out."  
  
"I noticed," Logan returns now whispering because Lexi has gotten her wish, and has fallen asleep in our bed. "You must've been thinking about the same thing I was." I catch his dark sensual tone as he says this and his hand seems to be twitching in his desire to touch me.   
  
"Sorry baby," I pull myself down to the pillow and rest my head against my elbow. "I didn't make up the six weeks time table. Not like it's a picnic from where I'm sittin' either."  
  
Logan emits the tiniest hint of a sigh and looks up at me. "It was times like this I wish I had better fantasying skills." His finally reaches out his hand to connect with my wrist.  
  
"And I'm glad you don't." I let him know. "'Cause otherwise you'd be the epitome of the three legged male that Original Cindy disses everyday dreamin' of penthouse playmates while your woman's at work."   
  
"Well Original Cindy doesn't have _all_ men pegged." He looks into my eyes like we're doing a love scene in a movie. "I already have my woman and my penthouse. The playmates are just going to have to play somewhere else."  
  
I laugh quietly and say reluctantly: "Sorry, we still can't."  
  
Logan sighs again, more audibly. "I know. I just wish there was another way. Because for the record you are the sexiest woman I've ever met and this city's about to run out of cold water from all the showers I've had to take for the past three weeks."  
  
It takes every fiber of restraint within me not to jump him then. "We'd better go back to sleep, otherwise I'm gonna screw the celibacy rule."  
  
Logan smiles at me in the dark and lays back down, placing his head next to Lexi's and closes his eyes, not saying anything more, because I know he was thinking the same thing.  
  
= = = =   
  
LOGAN   
  
8: 55 AM   
  
The icy pinpricks of the shower water greets me again as it has for the past 21 days. I've now saved enough hot water to make oatmeal to feed the entire population of China. I shower quickly, don't even really soap up and step out of the frosted glass octagon shower, grabbing a plush egg shell white terry towel to dry off with and then slip into my red robe.   
  
I tie the sash off and then notice a smell coming from the fabric that could only be described as utterly Max. It was a mixture of the cherry lip balm she always carries around and put on after her shower, her almost medicinal - but clean smelling - shampoo and traces of the citrus soap she always washes with to remove motor oil from her hands after she tinkers with her bike. These were all swirled together into one intoxicating scent and they were all over my robe that she had stolen on more then several occasions. To plenty of men, knowing that their girlfriend or wife wears articles of their clothing and intermingles her smell on the material is one of the biggest turn ons. But I don't _want_ to be turned on. As priest-like as that sounds I know that this lusting for her will ultimately end back here in the bathroom under the water. Maybe it was my fault for getting her pregnant and evoking the situation we have to live with for another month, but at least back then I _got _to have sex with my wife, not spend all my time sitting on my hands after each time she gave me one of drop dead gorgeous smiles.   
  
She isn't there when I come back in our bedroom to find more suitable clothes than a bathrobe for the day. Lexi is gone too, she is an early riser just like her mother, which is kind of good for me since I don't have to try and dress in a hurry so she won't wake up and catch me in the nude. I'm not ready to explain _that_ part of life to my three-year-old daughter just yet.   
  
I step into my walk in closet and pull out a pair of jeans and my black zip up wool sweater. Most of this closet is devoted to _my_ stuff, and until Max moved in with me and I saw the meager space her things took up in here I never realized that I owned a lot of clothes. When I was growing up being well dressed was just as much a part of life as eating breakfast. Aunt Margo use to take me and Marie shopping every other week with mom to pick up what Margo called 'suitable attire for people of our breeding.' It was also a way for Margo to rub my mother's face in the fact that she had 'really simplified her brother-in-law Robert's lifestyle by tying him down to the poorest excuse for an heiress she'd ever seen.' Mom would always respond to this snootiness in the same way - 'accidentally' loose Margo in a stream of traffic on the way back to her and Jonas' villa on the East Side of Seattle. As I slip on the clothes I think of how my mother would've loved the clothing selection I'd chosen. She was very much a fan of the 'casual, but still stylish' look. Coming home from school I'd often find her in her Levi 501's and a baby pink cardigan and loved the look on her way better than the pearls and Gucci suits Aunt Margo wore even in the house.  
  
Max has a tank top in that same pink and every time I see her wear it I can't help but think of mom because it was her favorite color. She had it in dresses blouses, skirts even hair clips and ties. And I always thought it was one of the best colors on her; she looked like more then a mom in it - she looked like a real, vibrant woman. I'm 36, but I still miss her. I didn't have the luxury of building up a desire to be on my own from my parents like other teenagers did. When I went down with Margo and Jonas to ID her body at the morgue I thought of all the things she would miss, basketball tryouts, school plays, first dates. And now that list has gotten extensively longer. My high school graduation, my graduation from Yale, my first journalism gig for the Seattle Sentiental, my marriage to Max, our three children being born.   
  
When Lucia first came back into Max's life - after the skepticism had worn off - a kind of jealously had welled up inside me. Her mother had come back to her while mine was still dead and buried in my family plot. I knew that it wasn't fair, Max had endured far more then me as a child and deserved to know that she had a mom who loved her, but I still wanted my mom back. Sara Elizabeth Cale was the first woman I had ever loved and it was unbearably cruel to have her die in the prime of her life and never be allowed to see me again.   
  
I'm so lost in thought that I don't even realize that I'm still standing in the middle of my closet in my robe, just holding my clothes.  
  
"Hey," Max's voice causes me to turn to spot her standing beside the closet door dressed in a pair of army green five-pocketed flair low riders and a black spaghetti strap soft V-cut tank top. "I may have been spaced out before, but you were beyond la la land there buddy."   
  
Black looks much better on her than it does me right now and it helps me focus on the here and now. "I wasn't that far baby," I rectify. "This closet isn't zoned for 'beyond la la land'."   
  
She smiles at me again in a way that reminds me very abruptly where all my male organs lie and I can't help but notice the way she's eyeing me under my robe. God, anther whole month of not touching her - I don't think a cold shower's gonna cut it anymore.   
  
"Logan if you don't quit that I'm gonna hafta smack you." She crashes my mental seduction of her body.   
  
"Sorry." I repeat what she told me last night before she pretend to fall asleep while I watched her, pretending the same thing until I finally got knocked out somewhere around four. "Have you eaten yet?" Food is always an out for me; I can create the most creative culinary masterpieces to avoid dealing with a situation.   
  
"I savored my first real cup of coffee in a long time." She returns with a pleasing smile on her face. "If that ain't heaven I don't know what is."  
  
Her smile is contagious and I respond to it. I love Max for many reasons, and one of the top ones is the way she finds such pleasure in things that most people would take for granted; fresh coffee, hot showers - all things she missed growing up as a child because of steel barracks and military training. "Did you pump? Because it's my understanding that caffeine has this tendency to end up in breast milk."  
  
She shoots me a look. "I'm aware of the drill. I've had kids too."   
  
She isn't really mad at me, more like borderline annoyed. "You know you really need more in your system then just coffee." I say. The best way to avoid a fight is to change the subject. "How about I pull together a three cheese omelet? That is if you set the table."  
  
"Not a problem, so long as your end of the bargain is to my liking." Her return is typical Max, agreeable yet still in tune to what she wants. She disappears down the hallway and after a few more minutes of getting dressed I follow her.  
  
The modern art painting hanging on the hallway wall greets me as it does every morning. It wasn't something I picked out, it came with the penthouse when I bought it and I didn't get rid of it because it matched the décor. I don't have a problem with modern art, but my taste is more geared towards the old masters like Edward Manet, Van Goth, and contemporary works of Norman Rockwell. When I was still married to Val I sold off my favorite Rockwell painting that mom had given me in order to pay the fees for a dry out clinic for my now ex-wife, which Val never even went to. I found it later on an online auction but I was out bid by one Margo Cale who shelled out twenty-five thousand for the painting that now hangs in her cocktail room. I've got it set in my mind that the next time I go over there I'm going to ask for it back, explain to my Aunt that I never _wanted_ to part with it in the first place. But she'll never go for that. The only way I managed to get mom's locket back from her was after Max stole it. Maybe I should just ask for her to do the same thing now - she's good at it, and she'd be more then willing to stick it to Margo again - but I can't ask her to do that. Max is beyond the scope of my personal cat burglar now. I don't expect her to slink into her cat suit to retrieve something I should've never sold off in the first place - even though she looks damn sexy in that black body-hugging thing.  
  
All these thoughts are still coursing through my head as I reach the kitchen and examine the chrome refrigerator for the ingredients to my omelet. Max has already set the table immaculately and was now busy with preparing small simple snacks for our two oldest kids to take to preschool. Strapped to the front of her body - in a navy blue snuggly - is Lucy, still asleep despite all her mommy's movements.   
  
They are the single most beautiful sight in the world right then and I watch them both for a moment, taking a mental snapshot and storing it away with the countless others I have in my brain. "You two did a good job on the table." I kiss Max first, then the baby who doesn't stir at all. Her eyelashes are thick and her lips are full like her mother's. I'm going to have to keep my gun handy to fend off boys when she grows up.  
  
"One of the members of the cutlery unit was asleep through the whole process." Max states, looking down at the baby. "But she'll be forgiven after she does somethin' outrageously cute."   
  
"She sounds a lot like you," I return, looking over my wife's handiwork of food for the kids' lunches. Carrot sticks, orange wedges that she scored off the Farmer's Market last week and peanut butter sandwiches with no jelly because we ran out and there seems to be a shortage of it in Seattle. "Nice spread." I tell her. "They won't even realize that they're eating healthy until after they've already found amusement in all the colors and textures."  
  
"I excelled in tactical under handing as a child." Max says, folding the last sandwich together before depositing it into a plastic baggie.   
  
Jessie has come into the kitchen without my knowledge and is now stepping up over the side of the cabinets in order to eye his food that is being prepared.   
  
"Is there jelly this time mommy?" he asks, trying to peak into the smooshed halves of bread.   
  
"Sorry hun, Seattle's all out of jelly." Max states placing all of the food laid out for our son into a brown paper bag. You'll just have to take your PB straight."   
  
Jessie makes a face then, because he hates the way raw peanut butter sandwiches sticks to the roof of his mouth. "Can I at least have a juice box instead of water?"  
  
"Now that's doable." Max answers him with a smile. She grabs two small red cardboard boxes of imitation cherry flavored juice - the best Seattle markets had to offer - from off the far right end of the counter and hands them both to him. "Give one of them to Lexi when you see her."  
  
Jessie reaches his hand out to take the juice from Max, but retracts it a second later. "If I do it, do I get to hold Lucy?"  
  
I chuckle quietly at my son's demand. The first day we brought the baby home he got to hold her on the couch. He had the biggest 'big brother' grin on his face the whole time Lucy was in his lap - it was the kind of expression I imagined Zack would have had around his sisters as a child if he hadn't been so hotheaded since birth. And ever since then Jessie has been bugging us every day to hold her again because he had become what I always hoped he be - addicted to his baby sister, just like he was with Lexi. Though he was only a year old when she was born he begged to hold her, although he was so young he knew excatly who she was and began loving her from day one.  
  
Max smiles and - placing a supporting hand behind Lucy's head in the snuggly - she kneels down to Jess's height. "Tell ya what, she's gonna be napping for most of the mornin', but if you give this to your other sister you can give it a shot after school."  
  
Jess grins back at her. "Thanks mommy." He kisses her cheek and took the juice boxes from her running off to find Lexi who is still getting dressed in their room.   
  
"Max Cale, I'm surprised at your behavior." I scold her, watching her stand back up into a full erect position. "Bribing a four-year-old with his own sister."  
  
"I only use what works honey." Max retorts walking over to me. "And to broach on another topic I still haven't gotten my promised culinary sensation."  
  
"I wouldn't go so far as to call it a 'sensation.' Max." I insist.   
  
She takes a miniscule step closer, pressing herself as close to my body as the baby she is holding will allow. "Then how about if I'm the sensation and you just work on the culinary part?"  
  
Dear God is she _trying _to kill me? I can smell the coffee on her breath along with an infusion of amaretto flavoring she adds to it because it tasted like cherries - her favorite flavor. As if that isn't enough torture she darts her tongue out to wet her dry lips. I now have to forcefully remind myself that we can't be intimate. Not that I am a horny ogre who only appreciates my woman on how much she can put out - I love Max so far beyond her physical beauty - I just relish every time we made love because it connects me to an ever cautious female soldier who only allows deeply intimate moments to happen with someone she completely trusts.   
  
"That's definitely an arrangement I can go for." I say on my way to the refrigerator to get out the eggs and cool my flushed face off in the vegetable crisper. After I've regain a phony air of pre-pubescent virgin ignorance I take out a bowl of eggs and one block each of ricotta, parmesan, and asiago cheese from the top shelf and bring all the items over to the butcher block island, removing the iron skillet hanging on the pot rack above my head.   
  
I don't see Max anymore, because she has disappeared back down the hallway towards the nursery for something. She comes back just as I'm whisking five eggs in a glass bowl with Lucy now in her infant carrier. She has woken up from her nap and now stares at me with her huge brown eyes.  
  
"I suppose you want an omelet too." I say to Lucy after Max sets her down on the empty counter to watch me cook. Lucy's face contorts into a soft baby smile. "Sorry honey, this stuff's kind hard to take without your first molar in place yet." She coos at me in response, wigging around in her carrier. "You can bribe me all you want little girl, but it's not gonna work." I lean right over her and kiss her stomach. One of her small hands reaches out to touch the side of my cheek. Max is going to have to be the disciplinarian with this one, I mean how can I say no to _that_? I turn and kiss her on the palm, holding her much smaller hand in mine. "Despite how sweet that was you're still going to have to take your meals from mommy for a while kiddo." I kiss her again on the top of her head and go back to my cooking, only to find Max observing me. "What?"  
  
"I'm just tryin' to unmelt my heart." Max says. "I mean there's only so much a girl can take before she becomes a puddle of warm sentiment on the floor."  
  
She has always had a soft spot for kids even before she became a mom and this isn't the only time I've caught her staring at me when I was interacting with our children. I think it's therapeutic for her to see a man who actually gives a damn about his kids, it was something she never had herself. Lydecker didn't even assume that role with her and her foster father was a violating prick. Before I found out from Sara that the latter had died I had toyed with the idea of trading in my hand gun for a laser sighted AK-47 and shooting a couple of extra eyes holes in his head as retribution for the shit he put my wife and her foster sister through.   
  
The front door opening draws me out of my past thoughts of bloodlust. It's obviously not an unknown person off the street or a member of my family because both adhere to the rules of knocking. That then leaves two choices - it's either Bling stopping by for something, or one of Max's siblings who always welcome themselves in.   
  
My second suspicion is confirmed when the slim, well-laid-out form of Jondy appears in from the foyer. "Everyone can calm down now, da bomb squad has arrived."  
  
I groan at my sister-in-law's choice of words. "On what planet is that ever possible?" The dishrag she launches at my head is inevitable.   
  
= = =   
  
MAX   
  
"Nice to see you too Logan." Jondy throws out as he picks up the rag she pitched at him.   
  
She then directs her attention to me, her long hair almost smackin' me in the face, as she turns to me in childish glee. "Maxie, it's been a while." Her tone is so casual that I almost think she's just gonna bang fists with me like we're just chillin'. But then she pulls me into a hug. "And I must say it's been too damn long of a while." She pulls back at examines with the same scrutiny she did to the bombs she dismantles. "Where the hell did all that baby fat go, you cannibalize yourself?"  
  
"Honey you know how this DNA thing goes." I remind. "What kind of super warriors would we be if we didn't drop pregnancy pounds in a hurry?"  
  
"Speakin' of which - " Jondy cut in. "Mind if I take a peek at your latest spin a procreation?"  
  
"She's right over there." I nod over at the carrier on the counter where Lucy is busy tasting four of her fingers.  
  
Jondy's lost then. She makes a beeline for her niece and just stares at her. "Damn Max, stop having such cute kids, give the rest of us a chance to catch up." Lucy just smiles and starts blowing tiny spit bubbles in her excitement at seeing a new person. Jondy smiles at how cute her tiny niece is presenting herself. "I'm seein' no ill effects on my niece from bein' delivered by my brother the walkin' cock." She kisses Lucy's head. "You're just a big ol' cutie pie aren't ya? You're makin' me want to start punchin' out my own seeds."  
  
"You need a _man_ for that girl," I remind to Jondy. "Or at the very least a donor at sperm bank."  
  
"A depository of little swimmers on permanent open house is not my method of choice for procreation Maxie," Jondy notifies to me. "It's best to just hire a male hooker and do it the old fashioned way." She wasn't kidding either. Jondy' did what men for centuries had be doing to women for years, recognizing sex for it's complete potential. Her philosophy on sex was that it was a tool - very good in expressing physical affection to the guy who moved her furniture, but also useful to accomplish certain goals like reproduction and manipulation on male adversaries.   
  
"I'm a fan of the classics myself." I agree then curse mentally cause I keep brining up things I can't do for three more weeks, three more damn weeks. I gauge Logan's reaction to this out of the corner of my eye, and I'll be damned if the man isn't smiling that intellectual, sexy grin that has turned me on since day one. Damn sexy lovable bastard. That's one smile I'd thoroughly enjoy wiping off.   
  
Jondy looks to Logan and then turns to me because I think she sensed what was going on the minute she walked into the penthouse. "Hope I was interrupting somethin'."  
  
"Not at all," Logan states almost sadly. Shit now he's bein' all sad, why doesn't he just go shirtless right in front of me?   
  
"You two are pathetic." Jondy states in a 'tsking' tone. "It's not like what you want to be doin' is illegal or immoral."  
  
"It's called 'post-partum' care." I remark. "Not so easy to just do things when you're instructed to be denied for six weeks."  
  
"Maxie when have we ever followed instructions?" My sister asks matter-of-factly. "C'mon six weeks? Damn you'd have to chain me down to keep me from getting action for that long."   
  
"It's worth it though," Logan informs talking about our bedroom relationship like it's casual dinnertime conversation. So maybe he _is_ as restless as me. "To give Max a chance to recover after birth it's worth waiting six weeks for."  
  
God now he's being sincere and courteous to my needs - I'm gonna disembowel the person who came up with this damn no sex after baby rule.  
  
"Just keep telling yourself that Logan," Jondy comments, not believing his words for a second.   
  
Logan looks like he wants to respond to that remark but the phone rang and he didn't get the chance. He picks up the silver cordless unit on the table behind the couch.  
  
While he's talking Jondy turns to me with a reproachful look. "You don't have to go for 100 % penetration girl, there's no harm with just bein' topical with your lovin'."  
  
"It is if you remember how good it felt after you go sublevel." I say keeping the longing sigh out of my voice cause what kind of soldier reveals her personal emotions?  
  
"It's still better then you pretending that you're satisfied with just admiring your husband from afar." Jondy is speaking like a wise priestess on lovemaking. "Believe me Max, if you two don't initiate some kind of intimate contact with each other soon you're both going to explode."  
  
If she only knew that explosions are something I _want _to happen between my husband and I.  
  
Logan has come back from his rather short convo over the phone, looking like someone told him they'd just ran over his childhood puppy. "That was Aunt Margo. Apparently she has met up with a gentleman caller and wants us there to meet him."  
  
"What you mean like a comin' out?" I ask, not believing for one second that Margo just wants us to meet her new shack up.  
  
"No." Logan interjects. "Margo never just 'comes out'. It's a cocktail lawn party, just close friends and family, but believe me she'll be flouncing this guy all over the place to rub her new found fortune in everyone's face."  
  
"I'm glad to see that havin' a new man in her life hasn't changed her at all." I tell Logan. Margo Cale is the token version of the upper crust snit. The woman lives to put others down. After I had married Logan she had me over to her crib to show her friends how even a 'average girl' can be transformed into a proper member of society. Too bad I didn't come back after that.  
  
"Let me guess, Margo is Logan's 'aunt.'" Jondy states, saying 'aunt' with an English accent.   
  
"She's the original WASP blueblood inbred female." I agree. "Kind of woman who'd sell out her kids to the Black Market if she thought they'd turn to profit."  
  
"I think Logan resents being related to that remark." Jondy cuts in.  
  
I smile at that and then turn to my husband. "Why does she want me along for this shindig, doesn't she hate my guts or somethin'?"  
  
"You're the wife of her 'dear nephew' " Logan answers. "So your coming along will be tolerated."   
  
"How charming." I return. I wonder if this toleration thing swings _both_ ways. Cause there are a few things I'd like to see if Margot Cale can 'tolerate.'  
  
"This sounds like a bangin' partay." Jondy cuts in, smiling like a little kid who just found their secret candy stash still hidden in their church coat. "Mind if I crash, or is it invite only?"  
  
"It is," I say to her. "But I _invite_ you to crash."  
  
Jondy smiles at me again. "Then let's get crunk."   
  
= = = =   
  
LOGAN  
  
KENDRA AND WALTER'S APARTMENT  
14TH AND WEST STREET  
SECTOR NINE  
  
"There's my cutie pie!" Kendra gushes over Lucy as soon as Max gets the door open. Max wheels in our daughter in her baby stroller with Kendra attached to her the entire way.   
  
"God she is adorable." Kendra cooes again, kneeling next to Lucy, and tickles her stomach. Kendra hadn't been there for Lucy's birth - she had managed to get away to San Piedro Island with Walter for three weeks and had come back two days after Max delivered. She had stopped in to see us the very next morning and had fallen in love with Lucy the minute she saw her.  
  
Lucy laughs that adorable laugh of hers. "You're just too much sweetie." Kendra looks like she's about three seconds away from a melt down. She un straps the baby and picks her up. "Walter, they're here!" She yells over her shoulder at her... lover - I guess. They've been living together for five years so I suppose that would be a good title for him. Although I would rather not think about exactly _how_ he acquired that role because there are too many bad thoughts floating around in the world already.   
  
"She's already eaten twice this mornin', and I just changed her." Max begins to rattle off all the things that pertaining to Lucy's care for the afternoon. Jessie and Lexi both had school today, but Margo insisted that I bring Lucy along so she could have a 'proper coming out'. However, Max and I both agreed that we didn't want to subject a newborn infant to the drudges of a ritzy Cale party so we opted to leave her with Kendra and Walter for the day, and Margo claimed she 'understood'.  
  
"Got it," Kendra informed about Max's instructions.  
  
"We're gonna have a good time aren't we?" She rubbed the baby's back, bouncing her around.   
  
Jondy emerged through the front door, not bothering to knock because she already knew who was in there. "If we're goin' to this bitch we need to move out, some blue and white meter maid is tryin' to ticket my bike." That's my straightforward sister-in-law for you, but then again I married into this family I should know what swings with them by now.  
  
"You're Jondy right?" Kendra asks. "Max's sister?" Before Jondy could respond Kendra went on. "We met at the baby shower."  
  
"Right." Jondy agreed, finally remembering where she had seen the blonde before. "You're the one who's shacked up with that kinda overweight sector cop."  
  
"Somebody call me?" Walter steps into his tiny living room, dressed down from his usual work uniform in ancient looking jeans and a long sleeved plaid button up shirt that, to me, makes him look like a lumber jack minus the ax and the ox named Babe. Walter is now laughing - a deep rolling sound like what he said is the funniest thing in the world. He looks adoringly at Kendra; actually 'adoringly' doesn't accurately describe it - he looks like he wants to have sex with her right there against the fake pine baseboards. I should've just waited in the car - I mean I could've gone all day without seeing that.  
  
Walter smiled at the sight of his girlfriend holding my daughter. "You're a natural angel pie." He tickled Lucy's chin with a hair-covered finger and she actually smiled at him. Not that Walter is a bad guy, at least not any more, but I don't picture him pushing a baby stroller with Kendra anytime soon. "Hell of a girl you got there Max." Walter says to my wife. "Maybe my sweetheart and I should think about having some of our own."  
  
Max smiles back but I can see she's repulsed by it. "There's plenty of time for that Walter. You might wanna try just bein' alone with your girl as much as you can for now."  
  
Walter's smile turns seductive because he's thinking about what Max just said. Would somebody _please_ gouge my eyes out now? I don't think I can take any more cutesy, lustful stuff between those two. "You're probably right there. I tell ya shaking down this little lady is always the best part of my day."  
  
Max cringes at that thought, looking just as uncomfortable as me and I'm glad I'm not the only one who's on the verge of losing their breakfast. "I'm glad for you."  
  
"_Guys_." Jondy reminds us that she's still in the room. "Remember - me double parked? Now I'm not one to break up a party but if that pussy foot Rent-A-Cop marks my ride with paper his head is gonna roll."  
  
"She's right." I say to Max, silently thanking Jondy for getting me out of this disgusting situation. "I told Margo we'd be there at noon."  
  
"Well then we better not disappoint the dear hearted heiress." Max says this with an over exaggerated light tone but one with its fair share of sarcasm. She takes Lucy from Kendra for one last goodbye, cradling the baby to her shoulder. "Be good for Aunt Kendra and Walter okay sweetie? And don't you dare start learnin' to read before I get back."  
  
"I seriously doubt that's gonna happen sweetheart." I inform.   
  
"Shut up and kiss your daughter good-bye." Max orders, holding up Lucy from her body.  
  
I kiss her growing brown hair. "Bye honey. If you do learn to read before we pick you up let me know how my stock's doing." I am surprised when Lucy starts cooing at me, which is followed by such an endearing smile that I now want to ditch my snit of an aunt's party in favor of staying home to just stare at my baby daughter. But of course I can't do that. I'm Logan Cale, the last living link to Jonas's brother Robert; there are obligations to fulfill and people to pretend to be nice to.   
  
Max reluctantly gives Lucy back to Kendra. This is the first time we have left her with anyone since she was born and it is hard for her to let go - not because she's selfish, but because being born in Manticore makes her appreciate every second of life she could spend being with the people that she loved. Just looking at her painfully giving up Lucy over to her friend makes my heart ache, but also fills me with more then just sympathy for her. Her protective mother mode has always been very sexy to me. Now I'm finding it _extremely_ hard to remember that we're abstaining and even harder to keep my hands off of her.   
  
You don't have to worry about a thing Max." Kendra reassures, setting Lucy back down in her stroller. "Just go and try to have a good time."  
  
"Kendra I'm goin' to Margot Cale's house to work, not have a good time." Max returnsin all honestly.   
  
I can't help but smile. There was a time when I use to kiss up to my Aunt Margo, mainly because she and Uncle Jonas were paying my way through private school and Yale, but now that I'm married and financially secure I can totally agree that going to one of Margot's shindigs is as entertaining as cleaning out the lint trap from the dryer.  
  
But Margot invited Max and me personally to her house so I guess I should be nice to her and her new boyfriend. After all, she is like family.   
  
= = =   
  
WINSFIELD ESTATE  
  
(RESIDENCE OF JONAS AND MARGO CALE)  
  
SECTOR FIVE  
  
12: 02 PM  
  
I drive the Aztec on the long circular road through the quarter acre of winding rose bushes on my aunt's property. Rows of Arboretum trees rise up in back of the rose bushes like wooden guards at their posts. The road that I'm driving on is stone, laid down by Jonas's contractor eight years ago, but where he managed to find tumbled river stones during the middle of the American Pulse crisis I'll never know.   
  
"A place like this sold on the Black Market three years ago." Max informs from beside me in the passenger seat, looking out at the immaculately groomed lawns of Margo's gardens where prized hybrid roses and Azalea bushes shoot up in lined rows. "Gangsters picked it up to the tune of seventy g's. and turned it into an all night party and skank house."  
  
"When we get inside I'll let Aunt Margo know that she has a market option for this place with the pimps and prostitutes." I don't look at Max when I say this for two reasons: one because I know from past experience that this curved road cuts sharply to the left right before it reaches the house and driving on it is very tricky. And second because my very gorgeous and vivacious wife has chosen to wear, over her tank top and pants, her full length chocolate leather coat that I bought her for when she was pregnant with Jessie. Max owns nothing extremely fancy, except for that red dress she had worn to my Bennett's wedding - and that one navy blue number that Senator Richard Patterson had maxed out his politically safeguarded Visa Platinum to buy her so she could attend that Congressional fundraiser. But they were all too high end for a simple lawn party so she had kept on what she was wearing only adding the coat. The effect of the long leather on her sleek well-toned curves is amazing, and I couldn't look at her because 'amazing' always makes me want her.   
  
Max smiles, still looking out the window. She soon spots the two-story white estate house that Margo called home. "Dayum," she states. "Nice to know that even with Jonas' untimely demise Margo still found a way to hold onto her purse strings and her mansion strings."  
  
"This is where I lived after mom and dad died." I tell Max, slowing the car to a stop in front of a double set of four white washed stairs. "Well actually 'lived' doesn't adequately describe it. As soon as I got here Margo and Jonas sent me to a private academy in Issaquah. But I got to come home on weekends so they'd have these parties, like today, trying to shove Yale or Princeton board members down my throat in 'encouragement' for me to go."  
  
Max turns to face me then. "I thought you went to Yale?"  
  
"I did go to Yale." I inform. Damn, she's so sexy, maybe I could just lock the doors and let my aunt catch us after we're finished - wait, what was I saying? Oh yeah college. "I graduated summa cum laude with the Class of 2010, but it wasn't my first choice. I had a full scholarship for NYU for a major in journalism but they wouldn't hear of me entering a non-Ivy league school so they got me into Yale at the last minute by making a bribing contribution to the Dean of Students."  
  
"Poor baby," Max cooes beside me. "You've had such hardships in your life."  
  
"NYU had one of the best schools for journalism Max." I tell her. "Yale's program was so rigid and stuck up that I switched my major to business finance in at the end of the first term. After I got my degree I applied to NYU to double board in journalism and computer programming technology and with my Yale undergraduate work they accepted me right away."   
  
"I'm sorry baby but I still don't see the tear jerker response warranted for a wealthy teenage intellectual bein' denied access into the school of his dreams. But then again I obviously have a pathetic grasp of upper-class ideology."  
  
She broadsides me with that remark. Sometimes I seem to forget that she wasn't born into a life of privilege the way I was - and she really didn't give a crap about being left out of the high-end social circle. So I don't say anything because there was nothing to add to that.   
  
The curve of the driveway finally leads us to the front steps of Margo's two story egg shell painted estate house. Huge Roman columns support a triangular canopy style roof that juts out to provide shade for the stairs. The last time I was here was four years ago- the day I had decided to propose to Max. I came to ask Margo for mom's engagement ring, but after driving all the way up here and sitting through an hour of Aunt Margo grilling me on every aspect of my soon-to-be-fiancée she informed me that she had given it to Bennett the day he proposed to Maryanne. I was so pissed off I could've thrown her across the room, but being the dutiful nephew that I was I just thanked her and left. And the place still looks as overly luxurious as it did then with its only rivals being the White House and Windsor Palace.   
  
A manservant comes quickly out through the door dressed in a navy single-breasted suit and approached the car as soon as I cut off the engine. I step out right into his path, startled by how close he felt he had to get to my face.   
  
"Welcome to Winsfield Sir. All of the guests are being received in the lawn at the back of the estate. You can access it through the main house via a back set of French doors."  
  
"Thank you." I respond quickly. I am never comfortable around servants. They get paid to do nothing but kiss up to people and treat them like the can't do anything without some assistance, and I stopped being a baby a long time ago.   
  
Jondy's bike is parked right in front of mine and as soon as the servant sees her on it his face screws up slightly. "Madam, the biker clubs are all on the east side of town. You can get there in fifteen minutes if you hurry."  
  
"Excuse me that's my sister-in-law you're speaking to." I cut in angrily. Even servants who catered to the rich have developed an idiotic prejudice for anyone they didn't believe would tip them well.  
  
The servant realizes his mistake, and I know he's about to try and kiss up and apologize. "My apologies Sir I thought-"  
  
"I know what you thought, but right now I suggest you go back to doing your damn job and stop insinuating on situations you know absolutely nothing about."  
  
The servant now looks like a whipped dog, but he was so insolent and obnoxious he deserved it. "Yes Sir." It was the only thing he knew he could say to me without landing into even more trouble. "If you'll permit me to escort you and your party to the lawn-"  
  
"We're perfectly capable of finding it on our own." I snap back. I know he just wants a chance to slander us some more to Aunt Margo before he tells her we've 'formally arrived'. "Just leave us to our own business and find a tarp to cover her motorcycle, it looks like it might rain."   
  
The servant bows to me slightly, mumbling a feeble: "Yes Sir." before turning to walk across the lawn to Jonas' old garden shed where they keet the tarps they covered the roses with in wintertime.  
  
Jondy watches him leave like a bird on the run from a cat. "Damn Logan I didn't know you were so authoritative." She sounds impressed.  
  
"I've been around servants before Jondy, they'll look for any chance to kiss your ass once they find out they're obligated too, and I had enough of it growing up."  
  
"Still it's a turn on." Max announces from beside me. "I mean the man called you 'Sir'."  
  
"What would you have done if he called me Mr. Cale?"  
  
"Margo would disown you if I told you." Max responds with a smile that would melt steel.  
  
God she's so hot, why must she keep doing this to me? Three weeks dammit remember three more weeks and I can act on all those looks.   
  
= = = =  
  
MAX   
  
It would figure that Margo Cale would have such a ritzy estate. I doubt the woman ever bought anything that wasn't at full retail price. Even her lawn furniture that I now see stretched out before me in the well-manicured lawn looks like it was swiped from Louis the Fifteenth's Palace. The over priced tables and chairs are all filled with men and women dressed in pale white Dior or stone gray Armani eating what looks like canapés from china plates. Man if this is all there is to the parties the rich try to keep everyone from they don't hafta fight so hard to keep out the masses - they just need to invite them once and everyone would leave out of boredom.   
  
"Posh." Jondy looks over the group laughing at snippish jokes. "Wonder how many of them thought to watch their bags." All of the women's purses are just casually discarded beside them. "Lyin' around like that somebody might just decide to take advantage of a free offer."   
  
"Most likely it's all platinum debit cards girl." I let her know. "By the time you hack into them and falsify your name they would've transferred their money to a Swiss bank account."   
  
"Hey I like a challenge." Jondy returns. Next to bomb disarment, she is an expert pickpocket as all my siblings are.  
  
"Ladies, can we keep our plans of theft and identity fraud to ourselves right now?" Logan asks while I'm admiring the way he looks in a camel hair blazer and matching pants with a steel blue button up shirt that he changed into for this affair. The top button of his shirt was undone folding the fabric out into a sexy V-shape that gave me just a peak and his chest. He's been out of the chair for almost six years now but he still weight trained every morning with Bling and the result are that he is now nicely chiseled. Damn, I shouldn't have peaked, now I'm gonna hafta fight an urge to jump his bones. I'm not in heat, but this is worse then that. At least with heat I knew that it was my DNA that made me go on the sexual prowl. But this is just pure raw lust I'm experiencing and 12 hours isn't gonna eradicate it.   
  
I avert my eyes and look out over the crowd of women. Yep, nothing like staring at poorly done silicon implants and face lifts to take your mind off a dirty deed. Most all of the women are blonde or pathetically dyed blonde. One of the women stands out from the rest though. She's blonde like the others, but her hair is streaked with bits of red and brown, which she has pinned up into two black chopsticks. She is taking a drink from a Champagne glass when she spotts Logan and brakes out into this huge grin.  
  
"Hey dork you made it!" She sets her Champagne glass down and comes over to Logan. I still have no idea who the hell she was but just the fact that she called Logan a 'dork' makes me like her. Mean's that she wasn't so inbred that she didn't like slamming people in good humor. "Glad to see you got dragged into this too." She hugs him to which he responds.   
  
"Then you are enjoying yourself." Logan says to the woman.   
  
"Cut the crap Logan and introduce me." She returns.   
  
Okay now I officially like her. At first I harbored an insane notion that she was Logan's mistress, but that's completely stupid. If my man was steppin' out on me he'd be in the hospital right now.  
  
"Allie Lancaster, this is my wife Max and her sister Jondy." Logan finally reveals the woman's name.   
  
"Max," Allie smiles at me. "Glad to finally meet you. The last time I met up with Logan you were conveniently absent." She turns slightly to Jondy. "And you too girl, didn't want to leave you out. You look like someone who can liven up this dull fest."  
  
"I do my best table dances at dull fests." Jondy announces with a smile.   
  
Allie returns the smile before shifting her gaze back over to Logan. "Margo was wondering where you were, I'm sure she was about to send out a search party in five more minutes."  
  
"Well Aunt Margo can rest assured that I was on my way here the entire time I was 'lost'." Logan responds to Allie. Now I'm glad I know her name and all but I still have no idea as to how the hell they know each other.  
  
"Oh she knew it." Allie agrees with him. "She just wanted to make sure you weren't 'defiling' the Cale family name by doing something as 'obscene' as having a quickie with your wife here."   
  
"Well she'd be a lil disappointed." I say to Allie. "We're kinda starvin' off for six weeks per medical advice." Why did she have to mention sex right now? I'm already so close to welding on a chastity belt to control myself.   
  
Allie turns to Logan with a 'surprised-as-hell' look on her face. "Logan Robert Cale - you mean to tell me you did _that _to your woman again?" Her voice sounded like Zack when he was reprimanding me, but laced with a more playful side. Allie turns back to me. "I'm sorry Max - I mean not because of the birth outcome I think it's great - but because I should've taught my boy here more self control when he was my charge."  
  
"Allie was my baby sitter when I was a kid," Logan finally clarifies his relation to the woman. "She and Marie were best friends and my sister thought a fun way to torture me would be to sic her under qualifited girlfriend on me every time mom and dad went away."  
  
"You better take that back before I embarrass you in front of your wife." Allie threatens. "She could always find someone better."  
  
"Better than what?" I throw in.  
  
Allie smiles while checking me out - not in a lustful way like I've seen Original Cindy do when a hot momma walks across her path - but she was definitely pleased at what she saw. "I may have been a little lax in my baby sitting protocol Logan, but I must say I taught you well with your choice in women."   
  
Logan slides an arm around my waist. "I thought so too."   
  
His lips brush the side of my forehead a second later - and they're warm and soft, sensual -Focus Max, you're post partum. What would be the benefit of sneakin' a little somethin' somethin' if you are too sore to enjoy it? Damn but that sounds like a load of horseshit right now - still I know it's true.   
  
"You see what I have to put up with?" I say. "All that sentimental piety can really grind on a girl's nerves."   
  
"It's the Church of Logan Cale Max." Allie stated. "You don't want to enter but once you get inside you never want to stop worshipping."   
  
She had such a way with words. But despite the fact that I didn't know how she knew about Logan in that way I still liked her. She was his babysitter; after his mom died he probably went to her for things like that.   
  
"Speaking of worshipping." Allie changes the subject. "Your cousins Bennett and Maryanne have been here since the party started. Maryanne's five months pregnant now and Margo has all but promised her a seat on Jonas's board because of the little Cale heir she's got inside her."   
  
Allie's now starin' at the young brunette woman talking to Margo Cale. Maryanne is dressed in a breezy silk summer dress despite the fifty- degree wind-chill in the air. But she's got a suede coat on, guess it's keepin' her warm enough, and her stomach that had gotten into a size three gown for her wedding is now bulging out of her dress. Poor girl, I know what it's like to try and make nice with Logan's snooty relatives when you're that uncomfortable.   
  
"Wow." Logan remarks beside me. "Things have certainly changed since I saw them last." He looks to me. "We should probably go say 'hi' I mean before they spot us and make a big scene of Maryanne's place in the family soft spot with her pregnancy."   
  
"What kind of shit is that?" Jondy asks in disbelief. "Maxie's given your high ball divin' rich relatives three chances to coodle her already, how come she didn't get that big of a fuss?"  
  
"That's because it's all about the husband girl." I inform. "Bennett is the favorite son of Jonas and Margo and they just 'appreciate' Logan for bringin' backup beneficiaries into the family."  
  
"Seriously?" Jondy says, sizing up Margo who looks like a well-bred hooker in a white chenille ascot front blouse with a matching calf length skirt, suede suit jacket and white one-inch platforms.   
  
I nod. "First card I ever got from her after Jess was born said: 'Congratulations on your Promotion.'"  
  
"That's it. I'm gonna hafta lay out the white washed bitch." Jondy proclaims.   
  
"Let Max and I get her into a false sense of security before you unleash any 'laying out' Jondy." Logan insists. "Remember I have to still be related to her when you're done."   
  
"Whatever your thing is." Jondy responds. "I'm gonna go hunt down one of those servers with Champagne. Just because I hafta see a bunch of snobbish moronic rich people doesn't mean I hafta see them sober." She turns and left with Allie who considered her plan somethin' she's down with as well.   
  
"C'mon let's get this bitch over with before I change my mind." I say leading the way with Logan through a cluster of people I didn't know and would never want to know.   
  
Margo is laughin' at something Logan's cousin Bennett just said when I step behind her. "Sorry I missed the joke."  
  
Margo turns to me then, a tight-lipped smile coming on her face. "Max, you made it."   
  
Was that disappointment I detected in her voice? Well I'm game for a lil snobbery. "Funny how that works out when you're invited." I'm smiling sweetly enough. I'm way better at facades then Margo - her forced smile looks like a crack split in her face.   
  
She laughs as tightly as her smile and moves to kiss me on both cheeks like neither of us have a problem with it. "Welcome dear, I trust you brought my nephew with you."   
  
No Margo, that tall handsome man behind me is the damn gardener. This doesn't faze Logan at all. He obviously has a lot of practice at being ignored by his family until it's convenient for them to notice him.   
  
"It would be hard to tear myself away from this Aunt Margo." Logan announces his presence to her and kisses her cheek softly, makes me want to hork at how he's forcin' himself to make nice with her.   
  
He then turns his attention to Maryanne who is smiling widely at him try to attract his attention.   
  
"Maryanne." Logan smiles at her, getting her name right the first time unlike at her wedding. "You look smashing."  
  
"You're among family Logan." Maryanne insists. "You don't have to be polite with me, I know I must look like a big tractor trailer." She pats her large stomach.  
  
"Don't listen to her Logan." Bennett speaks up from beside his wife. "She's just fishing for compliments."   
  
"Honey you're terrible." Maryanne complains.   
  
"You shouldn't rag on your wife Bennett. I invite myself into the conversation. "Carryin' a kid around for nine months is a full time job with crappy pay."  
  
Bennett is now smiling at me. His eyes are blue like Logan's but not as heart stoppingly bright, they're more like a muted cornflower. But he's still handsome in a powder blue Ralph Lauren button down shirt and white khakis. "The famous wit of the Mrs. Logan Cale." Bennett announces. "Who by the way is the second most radiant woman here."  
  
I smile at that, I can't help it - Jonas' family or no, a compliment is a compliment. "And the lifetime standing charm of Bennett Cale. I'd say that's cause for another celebration, even though I knew nothin' about the first one until just now."   
  
"Bennett wanted to call you a few weeks ago Max but from what I understand you were a little busy with having your baby." Maryanne says.  
  
"That's right." Bennett adds, turning to Logan to slap him on the shoulder. "I never gave you a formal congratulations dad, another daughter. You're practically surrounded by girls."  
  
"That's not necessarily a bad thing." I rectify.  
  
"I'm not saying it is Max." Bennett informs to me. "But you know how it is, a boy has more responsibility. Hell if ours turns out to be a girl that son of yours is gonna be the one to carry on the Cale family legacy."  
  
It's not like that was as arrogant as some of the crap Uncle Jonas laid out on Logan when he was alive, but what Bennett said fell into that category between arrogance unconsciousness snobbery and it was pissin' me off. "It must be hotter then out here then I thought, cause it seems to have melted that glacier enough for you to step off it."   
  
Margo laughs, something all rich heiresses seem to have been taught how to do to take the edge out of a situation. "Oh Max, you do have a way with your words dear."  
  
"Oh don't I." I agree, forcing a smile. Kinda wish there was somethin' boling I could throw in her face. "Excuse me."  
  
"Where are you going sweetheart?" Logan asks in puzzlement.  
  
"The mother of the Great White Hope for the Cale family name needs a drink." I watch Bennett's face become slightly embarrassed after the slam I just nailed him with. They were your words buddy I was just adding on to them.   
  
I step over the shaded lawns, through the crowd of people I had pushed by before, a few of the chic rich women stop to stare at me, some even going so far as to whisper some stuff that I heard completely because of my heightened DNA.  
  
I turn around to stop in front of a particularly bleached out blonde in a lilac garden dress. "I did come with Logan Cale but I don't know how much he would pay for an escort 'cause as his wife I would never ask him somethin' like that." The woman's smile fades along with her friends, but mine grew. "Glad I could help you ladies out." I move past them before they could try to say anything stupider then they already have. Bunch of pansy ass twits.   
  
A server walks by me with a full tray of Champagne, stopping it right under my nose "Would the lady care for some?"  
  
I take a flute from the middle. "Thanks." He bows at me for a moment then disappears to deliver the rest of his load. The fizz tickles my nose as I take a hit of the Crystal - the finest Champagne still in existence - so it'd be fitting that Margo Cale would have this on hand for her 'simple lawn party'.   
  
The French doors that lead back into the estate have been left open to allow the guests to move freely to the restrooms or to just lounge all over the expensive Ashley furniture in the living room. My boots click on the gray-stripped marble laid out just inside the threshold. There's a good three feet of this stuff that stops just in front of the pristine white leather sofa where a expensively dressed couple are eatin' canapés and discussing the Goghan that hangs in front of them over the brick laid fire place.   
  
"Have an expensive cracker." Jondy waves a finger-sized saltine covered with Alaskan King Salmon spread at me.   
  
I finish the cracker in two bites cause I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast and I'm starving. Aren't parties supposed to have more food then this?  
  
"So how'd you make out with the rich?" Jondy asks, throwing back another slam of Champagne.   
  
"Same as I always do." I say, sipping from my own Champagne flute.  
  
"My apologies." Jondy says. "Need me to take down anyone for ya?"  
  
"I got it covered." I inform. "Logan's family's rich, but they're not the strongest in the gene pool."  
  
"That's why they can't handle us girl, they know we can kick their asses."  
  
I smile at that, but then it quickly fades when I see Bennett approaching me. "Speak of the rich devil."  
  
"Max." Bennett stops slowly right in front of me, like he's makin' sure I won't lay him out.   
  
"Back for more fun I see." I say sweetly, but his cringe tells me he got the message. "Bennett Cale this is my sister Jondy. Bennett and Logan are cousins." I say to Jondy.  
  
"Is that so?" Jondy asks, eyeing Bennett like a soldier in enemy territory. "Well then it's an honor Sir." She holds out her hand like a medieval Lady.  
  
Bennett looks baffled for a moment, but then his well-schooled breeding kicks in and he kisses her hand. "The pleasure is all mine ma'am."  
  
Jondy smiles and retracts her hand. She loves makin' people squirm. "I trust that you're gettin' along famously with Maxie here."  
  
"Of course." Bennett agrees too quickly. "She's a great person to be around." He's now completely out of his element, this is our territory. "But if you wouldn't mind I'd like to talk your sister alone."  
  
"Okay." Jondy agreed. "You can talk to her alone, but remember Bennett no one's _really _alone." She handed me her empty Champagne flute. "You might need this to bust over his head."  
  
Bennett watches her leave and lets out the most relieved breath. "She's certainly an intense woman."   
  
"It runs in the family." I tell him. "Along with pumping out a single male heir for every generation."  
  
Bennett cringes again. "I deserved that." He stuffs his hands into his pocket like he's a nervous kid and I'm his first date since his balls dropped. "Look Max - about what I said out there. I know it's not an excuse, but when mom told me that she had found a new 'beau' and was bringing him over to meet me I got catapulted right out of my calm life, and with this baby coming everything's just so damn hectic that I guess I unconsciously considered you a good vent for all my emotions."  
  
"Sometimes you hafta remember that you're not livin' in a dream Bennett." I rationalize in a pissed off tone. "You can't just vent on your cousin's wife just cause she's there."  
  
"I know, I know." Bennett agrees. "And I'm sorry. Mom and Dad have a lot of problems with you because you didn't come from the Debutante school of wives like Maryanne. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but mom sees her so well suited for me that there's not even any scandal involved. But you and Logan constantly stir up the waters and I guess I'm kind of jealous because I'm not brave enough to be the eccentrics of the family."  
  
"You should be happy that your mom's movin' on with her life. She can't sit in a wake for your dad forever." I say in a quick subject change.  
  
"The guy's a boorish rich snob." Bennett states. "Not that dad wasn't exactly the same way, but at least because he was my father I could love him despite all of his less then perfect mannerisms. But mom's new boyfriend is an entirely different manner. I'm not some ten-year-old kid who he can suck up to so that I'll say it's okay for him to live with us and help me out with my Little League games, we're talking rich money dating rich money with no care as to what the children of the parties think. And I always pictured mom as one of those women who would become a headstrong heiress after her husband died, taking over his company and pining for him. Damn was I wrong there. Be lucky your family's not wealthy Max, there's too many deceptions you have to follow."  
  
"Other people have their deceptions too Bennett, " I tell him. "For example I don't know who I'm foolin' with this coat on to hide my baby fat." I was really saying this as a way to get him out of his self-loathing over his life. In actuality I had gone back down to my normal weight a week after Lucy was born. All female soldiers at Manticore had a DNA sequence encoded in them for fast weight loss after birth because if we were ever made to give birth it would slow down any battle plans if half of the soldier population was carrying extra pounds.   
  
"Are you kidding me, you're stunning." Bennett falls for my hook and graces me with another one of his well thought out compliments. "No one would've ever guessed that you even _had_ a baby."  
  
"If this is a way to get back into my good graces keep it comin'," I return, finally accepting his apology. Bennett isn't a true hard snob; he is just a product of his upbringing like Logan.  
  
Bennett is smiling too. "Logan never gave me a name for your daughter. Guess he's still mad at me for being born to Jonas."   
  
I smile at that. From the way Bennett's been talking about his father I suspect that Logan's not the only one who's had issues with the man. "Lucy Sara Cale."  
  
Bennett digested the name for a moment. "I'll bet she's living up to such a beautiful name. Logan must have been the deciding vote on the middle name."  
  
I had given Lucy her middle name for my foster sister Sara, promised it to her the day we finally met up again. But now after hearing Bennett's words I realize the double implications of my daughter's name because it was also the name of Logan's mom.  
  
Bennett doesn't sense my hesitation to his statement so he keeps going. "I wish you could've met her Max. Aunt Sara was so vibrant and fun, she always kept us laughing. Always made me wonder why she married into this snippish family."   
  
Now he has me intrigued, I want to know more about the woman I've only heard seen in photographs. I've heard snatches of what she was like from Logan, but they're all spacey and he always sounds as pained to talk about her as I am when I mention Eva or Ben. "Were she and Logan close?"  
  
"They were closer than any other mother and son I'd ever been around. But she never hovered over Logan's because his father, that's my uncle Robert, always told her that he was a man and men shouldn't be coddled. But Aunt Sara did her best to influence herself on Logan's life. She'd go out and shoot a few hoops with him after his studies when Uncle Rob wasn't looking. She was great at it too, point guard at UCLA. Allie brags that she was the one who taught Logan the moves, but in reality Aunt Sara showed him most of his skills."  
  
"You're right. I wish I could've met her." I concur. "She would've been better company then this cheddar hording group."  
  
"On behalf of part of this cheddar hording group Max, I totally agree with you." Bennett clinks his glass against mine and downs the rest of the Champagne better than Deck did with his flask of whisky while he watched us do invasive procedures. He hands off his now empty flute to a server who is heading towards the kitchen with a whole tray load of them.   
  
"Thank you Sir." The white jacket wearing server states, like collecting dirty used crystal off of the rich was a gratifying career.  
  
"No problem." Bennett announces, and turns back to me. Now if you'll excuse me m'lady I have people to pretend to like." He brushes past the sofa where a crowd has already gathered because they couldn't pretend anymore that 52-degree weather was ideal for having an outdoor party, and Logan is among the crowd.  
  
= = = =   
  
LOGAN  
  
Bennett comes past me just as I make my way around the couch I'm sure Aunt Margo had to have assembled after it was in here - it's as big as a tanker truck.  
  
He's obviously had a lot of Champagne because he's stumbling slightly. He could never handle a Champagne flute or a high ball as well Uncle Jonas. I smell all of his drink undertakings on his breath when he slaps me on the shoulder and leans right next to my ear.  
  
"Forget what mom says Logan, Max is a keeper."  
  
"Thanks for the tip." I have to push my cousin off of me. "You better go find some coffee I doubt Aunt Margo and Maryanne would find your new found sense of drunk straight forwardness as amusing as I am."   
  
"Logan I'm not drunk." Bennett insists. "I'm just nicely, nicely tipsy."   
  
"Stella is brewing a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen." Stella is Aunt Margo's housekeeper, a very pretty Hindu born woman who only keeps the job because she has a two-year-old to feed.   
  
I have to steer him in the direction of the kitchen and after I'm sure he can make there without falling over his own feet I leave him to continue my originally planned journey to Max.   
  
She watches my every step with those sexy eyes of hers and now I'm the one who has to make sure that I don't fall over.   
  
"I see you two made up." I remark about seeing her with Bennett who hopefully isn't breaking any of his mother's expensive china coffee cups as we speak.   
  
"I'll respect my soldiers on the wrong side of society."   
  
"Funny, I never pictured Bennett Cale as a shut-in member of the rich elites."   
  
"Maybe you just never wanted to."   
  
That remark halts me. Not that I believed for one minute that my cousin led this entire double life where at night he cooked in soup kitchens and read to the orphans of the Pulse Rioters. But still, Bennett knew the rigors of growing up male in the Cale family that - for all its wealth and privilege - was a hard and obligated life.   
  
"Maybe you're right. I just naturally assumed that mine was the only life Aunt Margo and Uncle Jonas screwed over."  
  
"There's a different form of screwing over reserved for the son." Max says in her all knowing voice.   
  
"If there was I never saw it. Bennett and I never really hung when I was home for the weekend. He was always away at some college recruiting reception or a soirée to try and find a suitable wife."   
  
"I don't get all that suitable wife crap." Max states, her brown eyes burning the way they always did when she was passionate about something, and I couldn't help but think how striking that made her look. "How do you know if a girl is suitable before you even know really anything about her?"  
  
"Believe me sweetheart there are a guidelines that have been established. And money is at the top of those guidelines."  
  
"They judged your mom with that B.S and they were totally off about her."  
  
"Ahh but the thing is they don't _think_ they were off about it, and no one will disagree with them because everyone is just as narrow minded. Mom threatened to call off her engagement to dad twice because of the way my grandparents treated her when she first met them."  
  
"I'm glad she decided to stick around with the stuck up crowd." Max is now smiling that grin she does after we've just had really good sex. "'Cause I don't think I could deal with you not bein' born."   
  
"I'm glad she decided to stick around too." I agree with her. Mom's been dead for years but when I think of her I don't think about the blood and the mangled mess of her body when I saw her at the morgue. In my mind she's still this beautiful woman that my schoolmates were jealous of because I had gotten the 'hot mom' and as a teenager I certainly didn't consider my own mother 'hot', but I did consider her beautiful, in every way. "Come with me I'd like to show you something."  
  
Max is inquisitive about my remark, but before she can offer me any of her wit I add on: "I promise you it'll be worth your wile."  
  
"In that case, lead on Mr. Cale." Max says, her smile still in place.   
  
I slip my hand into hers and lead down a long hallway covered with five thousand dollar silver wallpaper. A few people pass by me, on their way back to the festivities, though what they find so fun about it I don't even want to know.   
  
I finally stop in front of a handsome mahogany door with a brass carved handle. "In here."  
  
"If you're tryin' to seduce me baby-"  
  
"Sorry to say I'm not." I'm aching for it just as badly as her apparently. Good. At least I'm not alone in my misery. "We'll just have to disgrace Aunt Margo's expensive antique divans on a later date." As I talk I twist the knob and push open the heavy door into the 'cocktail room'. When I was a kid I had watched Sound of Music - mom's favorite movie of all time - and Captain Von Trapp's lavish estate had this guilded ball room that mirrored what this room looked like, with the exception of a pale yellow Venetian plaster on the walls. The floors are solid maple that echo off of my shoes as I walked with Max across it.   
  
"Hasn't Margo ever hear of minimalisitic?" Max comments as she takes in the great expanse of room. Three long French style windows that looked over the east gardens stand against the back wall, partly hidden Queen Anne's lace curtains. Despite the grandeur of the room it was sparsely furnished with a few expensive blush red chenille upholstered high back sofas and a single leather chair that sat at the far ends of the room leaving the middle of it completely bare. The wall that isn't taken up by furniture was almost completely hidden by Uncle Jonas' ebony wood wine cabinet and fully stocked bar.   
  
"Max to her this _is_ minamilistic." I say honestly. The room still has traces of smoke from the Cubans' Uncle Jonas would smoke in his leather chair -which didn't match the décor at all but he had fought tooth and nail with Aunt Margo to keep it in here. I can still see him sitting there puffing away on the thing and enjoying a brandy sniffer. He used this room a lot to hold meetings in or to just debate on the best prices of wine with his relatives.   
  
"I'd hate to see her approach on over doing it." Max's words draw me out of my reverie. She's now standing at the bar looking through Jonas' liquor supply. She pulls out a twenty-year-old bottle of Merlot and examined it.   
  
"That's a good year." I tell her, walking over to her. "Uncle Jonas put in a request with the wineries in Tulo Italy to have that made."   
  
Max nods approvingly, but it fades a moment later. "Not that looking through your bastard of an uncle's private hooch stash hasn't been a blast, but I hope you had another reason for dragging me in here."  
  
"Actually the reason is right above your head."  
  
I watch her set down the Merlot, turn on her heel and stare straight on into the Norman Rockwell painting that once belonged to mom. It isn't an original, but it is a certified copy re-painted and released by the Norman Rockwell foundation to raise money for charity. Mom had bought it for five thousand dollars, but after the adversaries of the Pulse wiped out every piece of American culture even artwork copies became extremely rare, which is why Margo got ripped off when she bought it off of that online auction. It's still in the dark pinewood frame that dad bought for her and doesn't look any worse for wear then it did when it was new.   
  
"It's nice." Max says looking at the painting. She probably thinks I just wanted her to see it so I could go into a long winded speech about how this is a piece of Americana that the Pulse didn't exterminate.   
  
"It was mom's. She fell in love with this at an auction. It use to hang in the living room right above our sofa and sometimes I'd find her staring at it even though she was pretending to studiously read Dickens or some other classic dad had given her. But mom's true passion was art, it was her major in college and she kept stacks of art books next to dad's original bound copies of Moby Dick and Othello. She willed it to me after she died, but after Val and I started having problems I had to sell it to pay off her AA bills, and Aunt Margo snapped it up as soon as she saw it at auction."   
  
"With all the back stabbin' Margo does I'm surprised she still has time to host big parties like this." Max's eyes have adopted something in them, something almost like pity, but I knew it wasn't that. She never pitied anyone, even if they were on the verge of dying, because feeling sorry for them wouldn't make it better. She looks the painting up and down almost like she wants to lift it for profit. "I see now where you got your artistic taste from." Her eyes turn from the painting to me with an expression that hovers between a smile and a laugh. "And here I thought it was acquired over time like the appreciation for a good wine after really good sex."  
  
She would have to say sex right now when I'm trying to forget it and just get lost in the piece of my past in front of me. "Sorry to disappoint you then."  
  
"I'm not disappointed," she makes this clear to me. She gazes full on at the painting again. "I'm mean the woman loved you enough to leave you somethin' so close to her to remember her by."  
  
Something tugs at my heart right then, but it's so muted that I can't make it out. It may be sadness and if it is I don't _want _to make it out, because I'm not about to fall apart over mom's painting in the same place where Uncle Jonas saw his way to getting trashed every night. "I'd rather have more than just oil on canvas to remember her by."   
  
Max looks at me with such truehearted compassion, completely untainted by obligated emotions of a wife to her husband. She's knows what I'd rather have than a painting, but she won't say it because she respects my need for silence. "Hope I turn out to be as good a mom as she was."  
  
Normally I would say something utterly charming and loving to my wife and reassure her that she's a fantastic mother, but what Max said strikes me hard. I know she was trying to complement mom, but I don't want her to be as good as mom _was_, because 'was' is a word that's reserved for something that no longer exists. And I want mom to still exist.   
  
Max is still staring at me, waiting for assurance that she wasn't screwing up our children's lives. When I don't say anything she seemed to take it as an answer. She steps away from the painting and I hear her footfalls start to echo as she takes several steps away from me. "Your Aunt Margo's probably gettin' ready to formally shove her boyfriend down our throats."   
  
"Max." I step down from the bar and walk slowly over to her. She stops in her break for the door and looks up at me with a quiet inquisitiveness in her brown eyes. "You don't need to hope for something like that, you're already as good a mother as her." I trace my right thumb along her full bottom lip, feeling the slight thickness from her rose wine lipstick. "I guess I just got caught up in hearing her spoken in past tense after just coming off looking at something she cherished so much when she was alive."  
  
This pulls at something inside her I can tell, her eyes have softened around the edges the same way they did when a lonely weather torn boy begged us for food money outside Crash one night. "I think she cherished you more then any damn painting Logan Cale, so I suggest you remember that."   
  
That's my Max, she never offers me any sappy poetic verses on death and remembrance and I would never want her too. If I wanted to be around sap and sentiment constantly I would've married a greeting card company. "I'll try not to let you down." I lean down to kiss her forehead, but she tilts her head at the last second up so I wind up making contact with her eye.   
  
She laughs gently at my mistake. "You need some target practice."   
  
"Next time I'll set the marker lower."   
  
I hear a slight hitch in her breath from her at my remark and her eyes grow a little darker, but she tries to control it. "Baby, please, three more weeks okay?"  
  
She is almost begging me to starve off, like she knows how badly I want her and how I had to reduce myself to pure mental seduction. I haven't ached this much since I first hit puberty. "You're right, Aunt Margo's probably going to send a search party to find us if we're not back soon. - You want some Champagne? It's out with everyone else?"  
  
"You read my mind." Max agrees walking ahead of me to the door and - after I make sure I won't embarrass myself - I follow her.   
  
We slip out of the cocktail lounge and make it down the long hallway without anyone noticing because all of the guests are still entertaining themselves with appetizers and alcohol.  
  
"There you two are." Aunt Margo's call is directed at us. Guess that means someone did notice that we've been gone. She takes slow deliberate steps towards Max and I. One of her arms is entangled with a man that I have never seen before so I assume that this is her new fling. He is taller then I would've imagined, about an inch or so above my height, but still is as expensively dressed as I pictured Margo's beau to be in a double breasted charcoal gray Brooks Brother's suit and matching silk tie. Even his corporate short hair matches his suit; guess he wanted to go for a set of colors.   
  
Max leans over to me and says in a low voice: "Remember there's a lot to be said about the enemy you know."  
  
"Just don't say them now sweetheart," I mange to get out before we're pounced on by Aunt Margo and her gentleman friend.   
  
"I was just about to have Stella go look for you two." Margo declares. "I couldn't let Trent here go through the party without meeting my favorite nephew."  
  
"Well then we came back just in time." Max announces.  
  
"Oh forgive me, where are my manners." Margo apologizes as if she hadn't planned her little 'mistake' the entire time. "May I introduce you both to Trent Dalton. Trent this is my nephew Logan and his ah, wife Max." It pains Aunt Margo to say that last part, but it doesn't amount to the pain I want to inflict on her for shunning Max.   
  
"Pleasure to meet you." Trent Dalton shakes my hand first, a hearty, but authorative grip, before moving on to shake Max's. "And you as well Max. I'm sorry, but Margo's told me very little about you. She barely even spoke of her nephew being married."  
  
"She was probably just so busy plannin' this party that it must've just slipped her mind that she even _knew_ me." Max says sweetly, but everyone can detect the deliberate sarcasm in her voice.  
  
Margo laughs like a true wealthy woman scorned; tightly and with a façade of appreciation for Max's sense of humor. "Logan dear you really must try and put a cork on all of her mirth once in a while or they're won't be anything left for later."   
  
I join in the laughter, but just barely because there is something else I'd like to put a cork on. "You know how it goes Aunt Margo. You can't bottle up something as exquisite as Max, it would be a crime against humanity."  
  
"Not to mention a crime against the eyes." Trent adds, kindly enough, but there's a rich person's sleazy look hidden behind his eyes that I don't like. He's with my Aunt Margo but he's hitting on a married woman who's young enough to be his daughter; and more importantly, who's my _wife_. "She is exquisite isn't she? Got that exotic sexual allure that most men only dream about with a beautiful foreign prostitute."   
  
I'm two seconds away from gouging his eyes out. He's not admiring her from afar anymore, he's fondling her in his mind and it's pissing me off and degrading my wife.  
  
"I hope that's not an insinuation, because it'd give me leeway to say a few choice things about you." Max's voice is still charming, but there's an underlying growl in it.  
  
Dalton laughed at this warning. "Oh no, Max, it's merely an observation. Some women would even consider it a compliment to be compared to something so obviously beautiful and well endowed."  
  
"Show me a woman who agrees with that Mr. Dalton - and I'll show you a hard core skank."   
  
Dalton's remark just blew up in his face. I can tell by the way he's squirming. So it's not surprising he takes a long drink from his highball so he won't have to deal with Max putting his mouth back on his ass where it belonged.   
  
"Max dear-" Aunt Margo is obviously trying to say something that will tip this conversation back to her side. Good luck with that Margo. "I just want to compliment on how fantastic you look."  
  
"Thank you." Max responds. She hates Aunt Margo but she an expert at playing nice to her face.   
  
Margo shifts her attention over to her premadonna escort. "She just had a baby Trent, a little girl. Can you believe it? And already back down to that small size." She looks back to Max. "I'll bet she's a beautiful baby little Libby-"  
  
"Lucy." Max corrects.  
  
"_Lucy_?" Margo repeats the name like a bit of her lunch just came up in her mouth. "It's lovely dear. But I just assumed that you were naming her after Logan's Great Aunt Elizabeth Cale, the famous dancer with the Manhattan Ballet Company.  
  
"Sorry, Logan never told me about the Manhattan Ballet Company." Max apologizes with the smallest amount of sincerity she can get away with. "I named her after my mom, Lucia Weston, but I'm afraid she hasn't been into any dance companies that I know of."   
  
"That's wonderful Max, but I was under the impression that you never knew your mother because she abandoned you. Now what kind of woman accepts such a low life scoundrel such as that?"  
  
Oh crap. Max just reached the maximum level of abuse she would tolerate before she started unleashing her full Manticore-perfected wit. Not that I mind, my maximum level of tolerance was reached the second Margo introduced us to Trent.   
  
"You should really roll with changes." Max announces. "I can't imagine being stuck in the same mind numbing rut day after day. I'd go crazy if all I ever did was be chauffeured around like cattle in expensive cars and host dull parties just so I can count the number of people I still don't have to pay off to come to them."   
  
The silence is louder then the noise right now, because at least with noise comes excuses to pay attention to them and not try to pick up the shattered pieces of your rich Aunt's over inflated ego. But fortunately Max finds some noise to latch onto; in the form of Jondy putting the moves on a young server carrying another one of those trays of Champagne.   
  
"Oh look there's my sister Jondy." Max states. "I hate to break this up but I really should go spend some time with her before she has to go back to living in the sewer." She leans over and kisses Margo on the cheek, using Margo's own poison of over forced sweetness against her. "Thank you for the divine conversation Margo, I enjoyed it immensely." After pulling back from Margo's stunned look Max steps over to kiss; me without any fake airs about liking me. "I'll probably take some time baby so -"  
  
"I'll look for you sweetheart." I finish for her. "I know this concrete jungle better then you."  
  
The since Margo first spotted us first genuine smile comes across her face. She turns back to Margo and Trent. "Excuse me."   
  
She leaves me alone with my aunt's wrath, but I'm finding a great distraction in watching the way her leather jacket hugs her just right as she walks across the room.  
  
= = = =   
  
MAX   
  
Jondy is so absorbed in her server hot boy that she doesn't even notice my arrival. Pretty sad for a girl who's suppose to hear a pin fall on top of Mt. Everest. Still the guy _is_ nice. Olive skin, dark black hair, kinda oily and greasy, but somethin' I could still get into if I wasn't already married to a hot boy of my own.   
  
"Is your name really Pablo, or is that your form of Spanish for 'let me get into this baby girl's pants'?" Jondy never bought into believing that there was such a thing as an honest guy.  
  
Pablo smiles at Jondy though, he's got nice teeth too, they're insanely white, but nice.   
  
Jondy is smiling too. "Not that I really care if it was."   
  
"'Scuse me," I step in-between my sister and the man she's thinking about doing it with. "Hi. Pablo is it?" Pablo cocks his head at her for a minute; he obviously doesn't understand me very well. Margo seems to have a thing for hiring workers that can't complain about their paychecks or working conditions because they don't know how to say it in English. "Can she give you a rain check on the deed you're contemplating behind that smile?"   
  
"Si Senora." Pablo says to me. It doesn't take fluency in English for him to get the point. He heads towards a group of partygoers that were signaling him because their flutes were empty.   
  
Jondy watches him go, her disappointment obvious in her face. "You just crapped on the best fun I was gonna have in weeks."   
  
"Sorry to spoil you're hunt for good sex, but I need you for somethin'"  
  
"Unless you've got a hot Latino boy in a white dinner jacket in your back pocket I ain't hearin' it."  
  
"Cut the crap girl or I'll set you up in convo with Logan's Aunt Margo."  
  
"Okay fine I'm in." Jondy always could be swayed with the right kind of persuasion. "But this better be global."   
  
"It is." I agree pulling out my silver cell phone that Logan bought me years ago. "Margo's turned out this Norman Rockwell that Logan's mom left to him. It's hangin' in her drunk parlor and I'm gonna get it back."   
  
"Then who are you callin'?"  
  
"Someone who owes me a favor." I dial the number and wait for it to connect.   
  
"State it before I hate it." The in-your-face male voice answers at the other end.  
  
"Yo' Tyrone."  
  
"Who is this?"  
  
Spoken like a true gang member hot shot. Brady Tyrone doesn't remember anyone's name unless it's printed on a toe tag in the morgue. "I got your best girl back from the South Side Wars before she could become a causality."  
  
There is silence for a moment. Tyrone's remembering' the night I plucked his six-year-old daughter from the hideout of a rival gang who had kidnapped her for fifty large during the three week long gang wars at South Market. "You should've told me it was you straight out girl. I don't spare the love for a savior of the streets."   
  
"You can love me up later Tyrone, but I'm callin' in the favor you promised me."   
  
"Name it and I'll supply it."   
  
"Your head shop on M street still got that Rockwell copy in the window?"  
  
"Not anymore baby, cause Tyrone's about to put it in your fine hands."  
  
"Just one thing I ask, I'd like it to be a special order."  
  
"Anything for you sweetness. Where'd you like me to make the drop?"  
  
"Your couriers are the bomb but this time I'd like it sent by Jam Pony messenger by a sistah of mine named Original Cindy."  
  
"Just name the locale and I'll get my guy on it."  
  
"It's at 153 Rochelle Court. Place called Winsfiled Estate."  
  
"Damn, you're movin' up in the world. Must be on account of that white boy with the deep pockets you shacked up with."  
  
"Love is love Tyrone."  
  
"I hear you on that momma. Everythin' is on me and it'll be rollin' up in the next hour."  
  
"Appreciate it. And could you give my girl a little seed money for goin' above and beyond?"  
  
"I got your back."  
  
"Thanks." I hang up the call.  
  
"See you got friends in low places." Jondy states as I replace my phone in my pocket. "This must be one helluva painting."  
  
"It's not the painting." I inform. "It's the reason behind it." Normal Rockwell was a famed and very talented artist, but I could easily fence even the hardest to find prints of his anywhere in the city. This was about something deeper, settling a score that was owed to Logan.   
  
"When's this hot deal rollin' up?"  
  
"In the next hour. Just hafta make sure I'm the one who signs off on the drop. Margo's libel to turn it down if she doesn't know what it is."  
  
"So how the hell are we suppose to kill an hour?"  
  
"I can think of a few good ways." Allie Lancaster announces, holding up two bottles of Chablis she obviously snuck off with. "Well maybe not kill it, but we could get it good and smashed." She uncaps a bottle and poured it in an iced tea glass. "Any of you ladies want in on this action?"  
  
"I'm good." I tell her. "I've pumped, but I'd rather not come home faded to bottle feed my baby."  
  
"Guess that means more for me." Allie smiles slowly; but it isn't a drunken smile. She is obviously a girl who can handle her liquor. "I see you've abandoned being polite to this crowd and have moved on to the isolation phase." She takes a long drink from her glass. "It's their loss anyway for snubbing someone with actual taste and charisma."   
  
"It's all about the way they look through the world through snob colored glasses." Jondy states.   
  
"Amen to that." Allie agrees licking a bit of wine off her bottom lip with a quick swipe of her tongue. "Not that Logan counts as one of those snobs," she says in defense of my husband. "He was your typical young boy, practicing his piano skills, putting frogs in his sister's bed."  
  
When Allie mentions frogs my mind conjures up an image of a very young Logan grasping desperately to a wiggling green frog to keep it from hopping away before he can stuff into his sleeping sister's sheets. I don't know if he wore glasses back then, but I could never picture him without them. They are kinda his trademark; so he must've had them at an early age to have them to be the extension of his face that they are now. "It's kinda hard to picture him doin' that now, he doesn't seem like the type to relax and let loose that much."  
  
"It's the breeding from Margo and Jonas and loosin' his family that did it." Allie states, choosing to set her half-full glass down on a silver tray that one of the servers has abandoned on top of a cherry wood end table. "Before all that shit happened he was the wildest kid you could imagine, he still was the tortured artistic soul at heart but he wasn't so tense and serious as he is now. That thing I told you about the frog - Marie wasn't even afraid of frogs. It was a game they played when they were kids, they'd try to find the biggest wettest frog to stick in each other's bed just so their 'ribbit'noises would wake each other up. One time Logan even grabbed this huge horned toad from Sara's garden and had to have three stitches in his hand from where the thing jabbed him." Allie laughs at a memory that only she knows about. "Marie and him got reprimanded something fierce from their dad so they had to stop their nightly runs but Robert went out that same night and bought them each a ceramic frog to keep in their room so they'd remember it when they were too old to care about their childhood anymore."   
  
"They didn't die immediately in the crash." Her voice shifts and becomes something sad as she changed the subject. All memories about childhood tricks are long gone. "It was a small commuter plane and when it went down it was in thick underbrush and the FAA weren't paying damn attention to small crashes because of all the air raids so it was three days before anyone even found them. Marie managed to get her mom's cell after they crashed and damn thing still worked and all she could think of was to call me. But when I answered the phone all I heard was this raspy voice. She must've been pinned by debris something because she was gasping, asking to talk to Logan, but he was at school and when I told her -" Allie bites her lip. "She wanted me to tell Logan that she was dying and she was sorry she wouldn't be there when he came home. And then I didn't hear anything after that but static." Allie doesn't notice a tear drop from her eye. "She could've told him that she loved him, but she knew he knew that. She was mad because it wasn't fair that she was leaving him alone. I was so in shock that I didn't even call the police, they called us the next day to report the crash -" Allie breakes off to take a swipe at her eyes. "Whoo sorry. Some things will never stay buried." She laughs but there isn't any humor or lightheartedness in it. "Think I need another gulp of that." She picks up her glass again and chugs the rest of the wine.   
  
"We lost a sister too." Jondy states with the same sadness that Allie possessed - the ones of those that were left in the aftermath of a tragedy. "Her name was Eva, and she died when she was nine - she was shot."   
  
Sometimes I still hear the shot echo down the hallway when Eva fell and hear the sliding of the gun landing at my feet. And it's this I'm thinking about, not Marie, even though I know it's selfish. But as much as I want too mourn her I never knew her, but I knew Eva and I loved Eva and I hate every second that I'm aware she's gone.   
  
Allie could say any sympathetic line she wants on us, there are crap loads of them that would fit. But she respects the silence for a moment because she understands this kind of pain. "Guess you have more in common with Logan then I realized." She picks up her glass again and sips from it. "I'm sorry kids, but we're gonna have to start another line of conversation before I fall to little pieces here-" the last word ends in a tight forced laugh.   
  
"You could build an igloo on Margo Cale's face." Jondy is the first one to change the subject. She isn't one to linger on an emotion for very long because it was the only way we managed to survive in Manticore without going crazy.   
  
Allie laughs - a real laugh this time - and raises her glass to that. "I'll have to try that sometimes Jondy. It beats the hell out of looking at her face and trust me right now is not as bad as it can get. Try seeing her without makeup or her false eyelashes."   
  
"That's perfectly aiight." I correct. "I'm too young to die."   
  
Allie laughs again. "I'm likin' you more and more as the day goes on Max. Logan better recognize what a good thing he has."   
  
"Believe me girl he recognizes -" Jondy answers on my behalf. "He's recognized three times already."   
  
"This only makes me more pissed off that I'm still childless and without good sex." Allie sighs.  
  
"Play me that tune again sad violinist." Jondy agrees in a 'bleeding heart voice'.   
  
"You two are pathetic." I explain. "Hatin' on yourselves because you don't have strong and virile men to slay bounty to lay at your feet."  
  
"Easy for you to say Ms. I-have-three-kids-and-am-married-to-a-wealthy-hot-and-considerate man." Allie draws out like an angry high school teenager contemplating her older sister's better life. "Ahh but I guess I still have my art and my dog, there's always that took look forward to, coating a canvas in oil and watching a Chinese Sharpe trying to tear them apart while they're drying." She turns to me. "Just for the record Max, in case Logan forgot to tell you or he didn't consider it important enough to tell you I'm an artist - mostly abstract stuff, mosaic kinda things of big still lifes - planes and cars and buildings. I'm not claiming myself to be another Edward Manet but I'm pretty good at it."  
  
"There isn't any shame in giving yourself credit where credit is due." I tell her. Logan never mentioned that she was an artist. But then again I just met her a few hours ago and he probably didn't have enough time before we got sucked into seeing Margo. "Logan told me about your gallery show last year."  
  
"It wasn't anything to brag about." Allie rectifies. "I managed to sell four of my eight paintings to the simple tune of eight hundred dollars total, one of which was bought by Bennett out of sheer pity for my lack of sales. I am the cliché of the starving artist." She raises her glass to me in a salute to herself and finishes off what was left of the wine.   
  
"What'd you do with the other paintings?" I ask, taking the bottle away from her before she gets completely plastered.   
  
"They're collecting dust in my studio as we speak." Allie announces.   
  
"You still must be doin' pretty good for yourself if you can afford to have your own studio." Jondy says.  
  
"My studio _apartment _Jondy." Allie clears up. "I paint in one corner of my living room, it's hidden behind shoji screens because I usually wind up splattering paint everywhere, but it's still a real mess. In fact I'm getting a headache just thinking about all the pallets, oil tubes and canvases I've got strung all over the floor. I'll be fortunate if my dog doesn't get into everything before I get home. Be lucky you're not an artist Max you'd never see your floor boards again."   
  
"Everyone here keeps tellin' me to be lucky I don't have these difficult things in my life. But I say money puts food on your table and artistic talent means you can create somethin' pretty to hang above that table. So what the hell is wrong with having banging skill sets or advantages in your life?"   
  
"Perhaps I stand corrected." Allie says after a long moment. "Far be it for me to complain about the _privileges_ I was endowed with while the masses are denied basic necessities and I just watch in a self-composed selfish funk from my Ivory Tower." She has no drink to sip this time so she just lookd up at me.   
  
"My Ivory Tower gets a little funky too." Jondy states. "Of course that's because the place reeks of my last date's empty vodka bottles and the Ivory is just painted on but we're defiinitely kindred spirits on that one girl."   
  
Allie laughs - the first time I heard her since I got here. It's a full-hearted sound lacking any teenage girl giggle quality because she has obviously grown out of her bubbly phase a long time ago.   
  
"I dare say something amusing has gotten your attention ladies." Trent Dalton has taken it upon himself to invite his way into our conversation. I expect Margo to be at his side but when I look she's nowhere near him.  
  
Allie stops laughing as soon as Trent is near us. Even though she has been associated with the Cales and their resulting wealthy hierarchy of friends I can tell they aren't her kind of people. And I bet if I took her into Crash to hang with my guys she'd feel more at home with them. "Sorry Mr. Dalton, We'd love to stay and chat but we were just on our way to absorb the nature of Margo's prized roses."   
  
"Would you mind just taking the other one with you?" He addresses Jondy as 'the other one' like the truehearted snob I know he is. "I'd like to speak to Ms. Max here alone."   
  
"Of course." Allie agrees, obviously holding back her true feelings towards Dalton because the last time I saw that look of tension was on the face of a woman in labor at the hospital when I delivered Jessie. "I just hope you are willing to deal with the aftermath."  
  
"You need not worry about that Ms. Lancaster." Trent reassures with just the tiniest hint of a British accent, which is obviously fake because he keeps slipping back into an American drawl. "I'll be a perfect gentlemen to Mrs. Cale."  
  
"It's not Mrs. Cale that I'm worried about." Allie corrects. "It's you."  
  
Trent coughed in the most pathetic attempt I've seen, to pretend that Allie's remark didn't bother him.   
  
"If you use anything other then your mouth with Maxie you'll miss it in the morning is that clear?" Jondy adds on in warning.  
  
"Yes of course." Trent coughs louder. If he weren't such a well-trained superficial gentleman he would be checking his crotch to make sure everything was still attached. "So nice meeting you Miss."  
  
"Wish I could say the same." Jondy offers as a final remark before she walks off in the direction of the French doors leaving Allie to trail after her.   
  
"Your sister is a very unique woman Mrs. Cale." Trent says after he's sure Jondy isn't close enough to hear him.   
  
"So I've already been told today." I say. "But can we get back to what was so important to discuss with me that it dragged you away from your woman."  
  
"My woman." Dalton repeated, somewhat disgusted by my choice of out right wording. "I'm sorry ma'am but a man of my breeding isn't fashioned to understand nor stomach that kind of street language. Margo is a lovely, and a charming example of feminity if that was what you meant. As you are as well."  
  
"I believe we've already covered that point earlier Mr. Dalton." I remark wanting so bad to wipe that trashy smile off his face. As much as I hated Margo Cale I still don't think it's aiight for her boyfriend to be chasing tail behind her back. "And I thought I made it very where I stood on your opinions."  
  
"Loud and clear Max." Dalton agrees, dropping the formality of addressing me by my married name because I guess he considers himself above that. "But that's not why I wanted to talk to you."  
  
"Oh there's more? Where do you manage to hide all of this secret charm?"  
  
"If you please my dear may we move to the sofa where we can talk more comfortably?" He offers me his arm.  
  
Even though I'm repulsed by the idea of actually touching him I accept his gesture and allow him to escort me to Margo's oversized halogen bright white sofa because I know that some things - as chauvinistic as they are - are not worth bitching about because if I did, I'd loose good steam for the real objective.   
  
Dalton waits for me to sit down before he slides in next to me at a respectable distance for two people in different committed relationships. He's obsesses about the art of chivalry, I can tell.  
  
"So now that you got me nice and comfortable Mr. Dalton do you do you plan to instigate your wicked way with me?"  
  
"Hardly." Trent Dalton corrects, although I know it's just for show. He looks like he'd be all over my business if we weren't sitting in the middle of his beloved's estate house. "I'm a gentleman after all Max and you're a married woman. This is the safest conversation you will ever have."  
  
Yeah I work with Normal in hopes that he'll eventually let me feel him up after work one night. "I'm glad to hear that Trent. 'Cause I'm afraid I'm a one man kinda girl." He's not the only one who can drop the ceremony of titles and call people by their first name.   
  
"You must love Logan very much."  
  
"I do." I respond, thinking three steps ahead to see how he's going to use this information to his advantage.  
  
"I could tell that right from the start. I mean let's face it Max you are not of the, shall we say 'privileged' stock of Seattle so there must be something else Margo's nephew sees in you. A kind of pure simple love that completely ignores your lack of social upbringing."   
  
That is one of the most politely winding disses on my character I've ever heard, but it doesn't matter how much he dressed it up - it was still a diss. "Well what I lack in any form of a debutante breeding Trent I more then make up for in mutual respect for my husband, but I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about that."  
  
A server approaches us as if he had sensed that the tension between his Lordship and me had needed to be muted. Apparently the wealthy have nothing better to do at these parties than to see how much they can get trashed.   
  
"1997." Dalton admires the medium sized crystal flask the server has placed under his nose. "A very good year for English Cognac. Will you join me in an indulgent Max?" He's already instructed the server to pour out the Cognac into the stemmed crystal that had been especially designed for the liquor.  
  
"None for me thanks I'm breast feeding." I tell the server who blushes at the mention of my breasts. I have pumped enough milk to last Lucy through to the next two days I just didn't want to sit with this man and down a few.  
  
"As you wish madam." The server bows to me again. All of Margo's servants seem to have a thing for treating simple American wealth like ancient linage royalty. He walks away and leaves us alone again.  
  
"Surely you can formula feed the child and enjoy a few hits from a fine drink." Trent insists already enjoying his first hit from his glass.  
  
What is this Masterpiece Theatre? He makes my baby sound like a stable horse. "'The '_child's_' name is Lucy. And if you wanna get completely wasted Trent that's your deal but don't expect me to follow you out of some sort of respectability clause you want me to follow. 'Cause I'm not into waking to see my kids crawling around in a pool of my own drunken hork."  
  
"There's that fascinating wit." Trent doesn't seem affected by my words. Either that or he has one hell of an ability to cover it up. "You really are a live wire Max. Notwithstanding your incredible and vivacious beauty I don't see how a man with Logan's breeding manages to put up with you, but then again he is somewhat of a live wire himself."  
  
Okay that's it. I'm through with playing nice with Trent Dalton. He's a loud mouth, over inflated prick and if I wanted to spend my time around a man like I would've stayed hooked up with Darren. I stand up from the couch and stare him down like I did to Bruno Anselmo right before I put him under. "You've brought it to my attention that I'm don't have any social upbringing. So that frees me from acting like I like you. You're sittin' here insulting everything about me except my rack and yet you expect me to fall all over your ass like one of these giggly inbreeds. Well I got a revelation for you Trent. I'm not a lady, I'm a pissed off female and you're an invertebrate pimp. So lets just stop trying to hide our identities okay? Because I'm giving you fair warning that if you try to lay anymore of your pissy rich white boy bonehead ideologies on me the next time you come to a party like this it'll be your welcome home from the ICU." I pick up his still full cognac glass and slam the booze in his face; not like a dainty woman scored either, hard enough so that he'll have to rinse cognac out of his nose hairs.   
  
"Mmm." I suck a bit of cognac off my finger from where it splashed on me. "You're right Trent, this _is_ a good year for English Cognac."   
  
"Max!" Margo's voice wafts over to me. "Max dear there's a delivery here for you."   
  
I look down at Trent who's trying to wipe the liquor off of the crotch of his expensive suit. "You'll excuse me for a moment won't you?"   
  
Trent shoots me what would have been a glower if I had been around to see all of it, but I left the pissed off man to his cleanings and headed in the direction of Margo's voice. I find her standing beside her open doorway where Original Cindy is waiting outside the estate.   
  
"You really should have told me about this Max I would've have paid the COD if I knew you were going to have a package delivered here." Margo insists once she saw me.  
  
"It's no big deal," I shrug. "I know how hard it is to open your pocketbook." I watch Cindy trying to keep a straight face at my slam. "Oh Margo, Trent said something about wanting to speak with you. I think he found a defect in his suit."  
  
"Oh well then I'll just leave you to this dear." Margo leans in closer to my face. "Be sure and tip the messenger. They tend to get cranky if you don't give them enough to suffice for their meager pay."   
  
"Of course." I say with a cheap smile, waiting until Margo has disappeared back down the hallway before turning back to Cindy. "Sorry for the diss."  
  
"No problem sugah." Cindy replies, moving a piece of her richy curled black hair away from her face. "Original Cindy knows that you didn't mean it like pasty momma back there."   
  
We share a laugh and Cindy checks out the leather jacket I'm wearing. "Look at you flossin' in that sleek number. I always said that your boy had female taste when he picked out that slammin' coat. None of those rich heffas in there can come close to matchin' your style."  
  
"Thanks." After the whole thing with Trent I'm so glad to be able to talk to someone who isn't fake. "And thanks for pickin' up my drop. It's definitely above and beyond."  
  
"Anything for my boo." Cindy answers with a smile, peeking inside for a moment to stare at Margo's house. "Damn, this place is a high end as they come."   
  
"You wanna hang for a moment have a drink?"  
  
"No thanks girl. I gotta get back after this pickup before Normal blows a gasket. You're lucky you're spendin' the day chillin' with the rich and famous 'cause the boy has lost that stick up his ass completely." She hands me the white cardboard tube containing the item Tyrone has sent over to me. "What I don't understand is how my boo managed to get Brady Tyrone into agreeing to fork over somethin' from his private stash."  
  
"I did him a favor a few years ago. His daughter got taken by the Triad for ransom and I swooped in and got her back. It's just his way of returnin' the favor."  
  
"For real? The Triad are some of the hardest thuggin' gangsters in Seattle. Tyrone should be down here kissin' the ground you walk on if you saved his seed from them not just givin' you what's in this tube."   
  
"Believe me, what's in this tube more than rewards me for saving his baby girl." I sign on the bottom line of the signature sheet.  
  
"Thanks girl." Cindy says with a smile, a real one not the 'service with a smile' look that Normal forced us to use on runs.   
  
"How's Lucy?" I ask, changing the subject. Cindy and I both love Kendra to death, but the closet she's come to taking care of kids is teaching her young students Japanese, she knows nothing about taking care of babies.   
  
"I called Kendra before I headed up here for this drop. She says Walter is lovin' your baby to death. He's readin' Pride and Prejudice to her."  
  
"Walter reads Pride and Prejudice?"  
  
"Original Cindy's surprised as you are boo. But apparently the man's got a soft spot for the classics."  
  
"Let's just hope he remembers that Lucy has a soft spot too - it's called a fontanel, and it's on the back of her head."   
  
"For the sake of Walter's child rearin' abilities he'd sure as hell better." Cindy agrees with me with her smooth flava. She pulls out a hundred dollar bill Tyrone's guys obviously handed off to her to make this drop. Damn, I told them to tip her, I just never knew they were that good at it. "Thanks for the extra seed money boo, but you don't have to prove how much you roll in the dolla dolla now to still be my girl."  
  
"This is an out of the way task." I explain. "I just wanted you to know you were appreciated."   
  
"Sugah I know I'm appreciated every time one of your babies calls me auntie." She pockets her earnings. "I better be gettin' back and add to this dead president collection I already got goin'. Late."   
  
"Bye boo." I wave at her as she walks back down the spotless white stairs, watching the disgruntled bastard of a servant roll her messenger wheels to her. He's even got white gloves on, so he doesn't have to 'contaminate' himself. But I've pretty much figured out that everyone here is a jack off so his moves don't surprise me.   
  
After I shut the door I find that I'm the center of attention of Margo and three of her closest snobs. Apparently _now _they decide to pay attention to me.   
  
"If you went through all that trouble to have something delivered here Max it must be very important." Margo sips on a dry Chardonnay as she's observing me. The woman can't seem to do anything without alcohol bein' involved.   
  
"Believe me Margo it is." I agree, uncapping the tube at one end. "I found this jewel last week. But the dealer said that he could only deliver it today and if I wasn't there to pick it up he'd move on, so I decided to take advantage of your generosity."  
  
"Of course you would, you're family after all." Margo has to spit those words out because compliments aren't normally in her vocabulary. "Would you mind sharing your wondrous find with the rest of us? Some of us here are worthy of seeing such beautiful things." The women around Margo laugh haughtily.   
  
I smile again even though my face is starting to hurt from pretendin' so long. "I'd be honored." I pull out the contents of the long tube, glancing up for a moment to see Jondy looking at me with confusion. I know she wants to know how the hell I plan to pull off a heist and switch a fake painting for a real one if I showed everyone the fake. The girl needs to chill sometimes; I mean who does she think I am? "This was positively a steal." I unroll the thick paper and hear the audible sighs of appreciation.   
  
"A laser copy Georgia O' Keefe." The woman standing beside Margo compliments, looking at the large interior of a rose done in brilliant oranges and reds that O' Keefe was famous for. "Where ever did you find it my dear?" Her words have just a touch of a southern planter's accent.   
  
"There's private art gallery in Issaquah that I went to a few weeks ago." I'm gushin' over the painting like a proud parent. Jondy has gone from looking confused to stunned, but she'll understand this all in a second. "I won it at an auction for only double the original price."  
  
All the women make enthusiastic noises again. I may not have been born wealthy but I know all the rules about dealing with old money women.   
  
"Margo never told us that you had such a good sense of investment." The same woman complimented me again, this time stepping over to me, flouncing the three-karat diamond ring and tennis bracelet that she obviously wants me to see.   
  
"It must've just slipped her mind." I return.   
  
"Well she shouldn't just let a treasure like you get away honey. You are your own best investment. Her nephew did right marrying you."  
  
Her remark is the most honest one today out of any of these wealthy elites. She might be using it for bait against me later but I'll take my chances. "I've always thought so too."   
  
More laughter fills the room, but it is quickly drowned out by the sound of Jondy loudly clearing her throat to catch my attention. She looks the same way she did when she caught a base Op masturbating on guard duty.   
  
"Excuse me." I say politely to the ladies, willing to be a good girl and have manners - at least for the time being.   
  
I step carefully in between all the Channel suits and perfume to meet Jondy who has pulled back to the crown molding encased entrance of the living room. "You wanna stop playin' magician long enough to tell me how the hell you expect to pass off a Gerogia O'Keefe for a Van Goth?"  
  
"You're just gonna hafta trust the magic - Now enough chit chat I got a date with a master."   
  
= = = =   
  
"No offense Maxie but your date could be better looking." Jondy is standing in Jonas's fully equipped testosterone bar staring at the Rockwell that's hanging above her head.   
  
"That's exactly what I need, my sister's half cocked approval before I initiate a heist." I lift the framed painting down from the wall and flip the damn heavy thing over to undo the clasps that hold the velvet lined backing in place.  
  
"Damn," Jondy cursed staring at it. "Even these rich bastard's frame backs are high class." She watches for a moment while I lift out the back to reveal the blank side of the Rockwell print. "You puttin' in a phony copy is the perfect thing for this frame Maxie. It balances wealthy chic with illegal knock off so well."   
  
"I'm all about the yin and yang girl." I peel away the print, careful not to tear the thin laser print paper and flip it over to see the front. Now I know Logan just showed me this painting but it looks different outside it's frame and I can't help but smile at the change. It looks - freer, like a rare falcon that was let out of its roost so it could finally see what life was like outside of a cage.  
  
My moment of awe passes and I neatly roll up the print set it aside while I pull out the Georgia O'Keefe painting Margo and her self-praising friends were admiring earlier.   
  
"Honestly it looks like a tree." Jondy stares at the brightly colored image. "Maybe O' Keefe was going for that and people just thought it resembled a flower and shelled out big bucks for her works because of that and she just quit caring what it was when all the green came rollin' in."  
  
"I don't know if I'd go that far." I insist, feeling along the top edges of the O' Keefe painting for the lightly adhered edges I knew would be there, separating this painting from what lay behind it. I pull gently at the edges and they peel away like a sticker to reveal a second work underneath - an exact replica of the Rockwell painting. "But sometimes you just gotta see the forest through the trees." Jondy looks at me with shocked silence as I slide the copy Rockwell into the frame. "Tyrone is famous for his double stick art. He'll get his hands on a hot painting, copy it and then attach it to a less valuable seller like this so his merchandise will make it past sector stops." I replace the frame backing over the picture and push down the clasps that hold it in place.   
  
"I thought Logan's Rockwell was the original."  
  
"It is." I clarify, flipping the frame back over to examine my handiwork. "Tyrone probably heard about Logan's mom's copy being for sale and lasered it before it hit the auction block."  
  
"So basically you're giving Margo a cheaper version of her twenty-five thousand dollar painting?"  
  
"It's not my fault if she can't tell the difference. I knew she would want to see my drop off so I gave her a little something completely non important to admire."  
  
"And here Lydecker thought we were wasting our abilities out here on our own."  
  
I'm about to replace the painting when something thin slides out of the back and hits the floor with a solid 'clunk.'  
  
"Wow a two for one." Jondy exclaims.  
  
I pick up the item from the hardwood and realize that it's a thin jewel case for a DVD-R. There is a disc inside the case and a line of writing is written across it proclaiming:   
  
_For Logan._  
  
= = = =

LOGAN  
  
I asked the server to pour me this glass of Rhone but I haven't even nursed it yet. It's a good year, excellent bouquet - what more could an elite Cale man ask for in a wine?   
  
"Are you waiting for it to sprout legs?"   
  
Finally a voice that doesn't make me want to cringe. I finally had to retract myself from Aunt Margo's conversation because she kept goading me with questions about her concern for the social upbringing of my children with my bohemian lifestyle.   
  
"Logan hello?" Allie's voice draws me out of my daydream again.  
  
"What? Sorry I wasn't paying attention."  
  
"Way to make a girl feel special." Allie states, crossing her arms and looking at me the same way she did when I use to freeze vinegar in the ice cube trays.   
  
"Sorry." I repeat again. Good old gentleman genes. I will always be respectable to a woman even if I don't know what the hell she was just talking about. "With the amount of boredom stifling this room it's kind of easy to get lost in thought."  
  
Allie laughs quietly at that. I've always loved her laugh. It was so contagious and light, but never airy or stuck up the way some of Marie's private school mates use to laugh. "Why are we even here Logan? It's obvious that you're bigoted relatives shut you out of their lives a long time ago, and I'm just a former baby sister hanging out with a bunch of rich people who only just manage to tolerate my existence."   
  
"We're here because we have a contractional obligation to like these people. They became part of our lives a long time ago, whether we like it or not." I offer Allie the Rhone but she turns it down so I lay it on the mantle of the fireplace that I'm standing beside.   
  
"At least you have Max to keep things real for you. Meanwhile I'm gonna be stuck sucking up to these bastards ten years after I die. Maybe that's why your family decided to fl-" Allie suddenly shuts up like she has just uttered a curse word in front of the Pope. "I'm sorry Logan." She's older than me by three years but right now she resembles a guilty six-year-old and covers her hands over her mouth "I'm so sorry. God, I think I had too many today. I didn't mean any of that." She is practically begging me to believe her. "Marie was like a sister to me, I never thought for a second that they did it deliberately-"  
  
"Hey it's okay." I reassure Allie. She's getting very flustered over her words so I decide to end her misery and pull her into a hug.  
  
She responds to my embrace and wraps her arms around my neck. "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss them." A sad undertone coats her words. "I know it's so damn selfish. They were _your _family."  
  
"But they were your family too." I return. My words remind me of a conversation I had with mom when I was seven and this older kid told me that Marie and Allie couldn't be sisters because they didn't have the same parents.   
  
_/FLASHBACK: "Marie and Allie don't have to share the same blood to be sisters Logan." Sara Cale sat on the front porch swing with her son listening to the rain hit the roof.  
  
"But mommy Marie shares my blood and she's MY sister." Logan insisted working on the chocolate brownie his mom had set out for him.   
  
"I know that sweetheart, but some girls are related by blood and don't consider themselves sisters. It's the love and feelings you have for people that makes them a family. Now Allie may not have the same last name as me, but I consider her one of my daughters.  
  
"All because you love her?"  
  
Sara laughed quietly at her son, musing up his hair. "Sometimes loving someone is all it takes."/  
_  
"Is this a bad time?"  
  
Allie immediately pulls back at the sound of Max's voice, hoping that my wife isn't the type that blew things out of proportion. "We weren't doing anything worth signing divorce papers over."   
  
"Of course not." Max agrees. "I'm not that untrusting of my husband to think he steps out on me at any given opportunity."   
  
"I'm gratified." I remark, catching sight of a paper mail tube in Max's hand. "Don't tell me you cased the joint."  
  
"Logan Cale." Max reprimands. "I would never 'case a joint'. What I do is called 'recon'."  
  
"I feel so much better now."   
  
"You know I live to please my man." Her smile is inviting. I only wish I could take full advantage of her invitation.   
  
"Then how about revealing the fruits of your undertakings?"  
  
"Not yet. Don't you have a thing called patience?"  
  
"I gave up when I married you." Max glares at me so I have to quickly apologize or face her wrath for the rest of the day. "That was a joke baby. Obviously not a very good one, but I'd like to remind you that not even our _dog _sleeps in a doghouse."  
  
"Then the dog's daddy will hafta exercise a little more self-restraint if he doesn't want me to build one and put him in it."  
  
"The only correct response to that Logan is a solid 'Yes dear'." Allie jumps in. She's never been married but I swear she's learned all the tricks to it.   
  
I'm not about to say 'yes dear' my wife because I'm not a whipped lover boy and Max doesn't like to be called 'dear.' So I do what any self-respecting man with a beautiful wife inches away from him would do. I pull her to me by one hand and start kissing her so hard I'm sure her lips are going to leave an indentation against mine.   
  
Max doesn't like being caught off guard but her discomfort seems to vanish once she realizes what I'm doing. I have gone all damn afternoon without really kissing my wife because all these rich people have a problem with intimacy. But I already have three more weeks of celibacy left and I got to have something to keep me satisfied until then.   
  
Her hands are soft around my stubble - she never even uses hand lotion but her skin is still like silk. She tastes like all the expensive drinks Margo's been serving today. I'll have to thank her for that later; at least my aunt can do _something_ right by me.   
  
"Honestly you two, can't you take it outside?"   
  
I pull back from Max, not because I'm embarrassed by what I'm doing but because the voice was so irritating that it's distracting.   
  
Trent Dalton is standing in the entranceway of Margo's living room acting like he caught two teenagers necking in class.   
  
"Is there something wrong about the way I kiss my wife Mr. Dalton?" Only someone with as much breeding as me could be fuming and still sound so polite.   
  
"My boy, there is nothing wrong with expressing affections to your lady, but you sometimes you must confine your lust when you're around such high standing members of society. Your lovely wife may not grasp this concept, but surely a man of your stature can understand the embarrassment you've presented on your family."  
  
"Oh shut up Trent." Bennett's voice cuts in. He's standing next to Maryanne who looks a little shocked at her husband's straightforwardness but she isn't appalled by it. I think she thinks it is long overdue.   
  
Trent glares at Bennett. No one talks to an aristocrat like that. "Is there something you'd like to say Bennett?"  
  
"I think I said it already." Bennett hisses. He doesn't appear to be drunk anymore. The coffee must have worked; either that or he's just a very out spoken drunk. "You think that just because you're dating my mother that gives you leeway to insult my cousin?"  
  
"My dear boy, I wasn't _insulting_ anyone. Your cousin just needs to learn to control himself."  
  
"Control himself how Trent? He's kissing his wife, they're both adults, what the hell is so out of control about that?"  
  
"Bennett dear; watch your language." Margo insists, standing a few feet away from Trent. "Trent was only saying what a lot of us wanted to."  
  
"Forgive me mother, but I don't think it's right to put down someone who obviously is very much in love with his wife. I don't care why Trent feels this way. He can't treat Logan with that kind of audacity; he doesn't even know him. And even if he did know him you shouldn't stand for it, this is _your_ family he's insulting." Bennett is on fire now. I've seen him get angry about a lot of things, but he's never defended me to this level before. It kind of restores my faith in him  
  
"We'll talk about this later sweetheart." Margo says quickly.   
  
"I'm glad," Bennett agrees, "Because Maryanne and I are leaving. We had actually planned out today to pick out nursery furniture but we came at your insistence to meet your new man. But I've had all can take of your soirée and your incorrigible boyfriend so I'll just let myself out." He takes Maryanne's hand and leads her through the crowd that has fallen silent, stopping briefly at Max and me. "If I were you Logan I'd leave while I still had time to do something worthwhile today."   
  
"We'll be leaving soon anyway Bennett." I inform him, trying to keep the glee out of my voice. "Our kids get out of school in about an hour. Plus we still have to pick up Lucy."  
  
"Forget what I said about having boys. Just hope they don't catch the obnoxious Cale gene." He starts to lead Maryanne to the side door but she stops him with a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Give me a second honey okay?" Maryanne requests. "Why don't you bring the car around?" She rubs his back with her right hand. Bennett just gave a big speech about me being so in love with Max, but it's the same for him and Maryanne.   
  
He agrees with her silently and she watches him leave for a second before turning back to us. "I'm sorry you guys. Bennett gets really tightly wound sometimes. I guess things are just a little hectic with this baby and all."  
  
"You don't have to apologize Maryanne." I insist. "I think he was just making sure he vented _before_ he got home."  
  
Maryanne smiles, a genuine one. I think Bennett's display gave her a chance to vent herself. I have had enough experience with my family's rules and regulations to know that it can be very suffocating. "Oh we're not going home yet Logan. Since Bennett has taken upon himself to leave a party early that I never wanted to go to in the first place I'm going to use the rest of the day and go shop for nursery furniture." She walks forward and kisses me quickly on one cheek. "I hope you two will come to the baby shower. I promise it will be less formal then this."  
  
"We wouldn't miss it." Max agrees from beside me. She looks more at ease with Maryanne then she did at the wedding. I think it's because she realizes they are basically both in the same boat and she can respect that.   
  
Maryanne kisses Max on both cheeks like proper ladies of the court use to do. "You may have to give me a few pointers on babies Max. I just hope an ace like you won't mind putting up with a beginner."  
  
"Every momma's a beginner with each kid." Max clarifies, putting Maryanne at ease in the only way she can, telling her the truth. "Every experience is different. But you learn as you go, and that's why it's fun."  
  
Up until now I don't think Maryanne considered having a baby something 'fun'. She probably just thought of all the burdens of pregnancy and the rules that the kid would have to follow being born a Cale. However, Max is right. Having kids is fun; it's an adventure. I'm suddenly missing a tiny little girl named Lucy very much now. I want to hold her almost as much as I've wanted to make love to Max for the past three weeks.   
  
= = = =   
  
FOGLE TOWERS   
  
3: 15 PM  
  
"Daddy, mommy promised _I_ could hold Lucy!" Jessie is staring at me with a little boy's scowl on his face. As soon as we arrived home my son flung his backpack on the couch and plants himself next to me on the other side.  
  
Lucy is undamaged from her visit to Kendra and Walter, but I'm sad to say Walter isn't. When Max put her in the stroller I could swear his eyes were tearing. Who knew that underneath all that Sector Cop eviction attitude was a softie for kids?   
  
But I'm glad to be home with her and the rest of my little family. I gave Allie a huge hug goodbye and waved to Margo and Trent as my Aztec was pulling out of the estate. Margo wanted me to come to an art auction that Allie will be featured in next week. I said 'yes' of course, but I did it for Allie not for my snooty aunt. I've loved watching Allie paint since the day she started baby-sitting me. She use to do poster paint and water colors then and the pictures weren't nearly as detailed and riveting as they are now, but it was just fun to see her put strokes of colors on the canvas. Jondy was invited as well. Those two must have really hit it off. Allie was looking at her all dreamy eyed, like she just found a new best friend. Jondy left an open acceptance because I could tell she was itching to get back on the road and travel. X5's have that gene where they couldn't sit still. She was here five minutes for an abridged goodbye saying that she was going to sneak into Zane's trailer and see how long it took for him to wake up and notice her lying in his bed.  
  
"_Daddy!"_ Jessie is now beating on my leg to get my attention. "I want to hold the baby!"  
  
"Ow, Okay." I finally give in, shifting Lucy to my shoulder so I can have a hand free. My daughter is spitting bubbles against my expensive argile shirt but I really don't give a crap. She can pee on me for all I care she's my baby after all. "You know how to do this okay, sit all the way back and keep your legs out." I help Jess lean back into the cushions and he is eager to comply with my wishes.  
  
"Hold up." Max insists coming out of the kitchen with a curved neck airflow bottle in her hand and Lexi on her heels. "I think you're old enough to give your baby sister a bottle."   
  
"What do I do?" Jessie sounds a little unsure, but he has Max's genes, he'll figure it out soon enough.   
  
Max sits beside him and hands him the bottle while I pass him the baby. After he has a secure hold on her Max goes through the steps of bottle-feeding. "Hold it up high, and just support her neck." Jessie does this and in a minute Lucy is sucking down the breast milk greedily.  
  
"She's eating it." Jessie exclaims and I watch as Max smiles at our son's eagerness. "She likes it when I feed her."  
  
"Of course she does. You're her big brother." Her hand strokes Jessie's hair warmly.  
  
"I wanna help too!" Lexi orders, climbing up on the couch. She plants herself down right next to Lucy's head and I'm certain she won't move until she gets what she wants. She is like her mother in that way.  
  
"Here." I take her hand and place it on the baby bottle. "You hold onto the bottle while Jessie holds her okay?"  
  
Lexi uses both hands and grasps the bottle so firmly that I can't help but laugh at how excited she is to be doing something to help take care of Lucy. "Look mommy!" She's smiling so hugely now that it almost engulfs her entire face.   
  
Max is smiling too. Lexi has a grin that is contagious. "I'm glad you two are learnin' how to share." She looks down at Lucy who is busy eating, staring at her brother and sister with large eyes. I think she knows that she has an audience because she starts letting out airy coos in between sucking on the rubber nipple. She's not even a month old and already she knows the value of attracting an audience. That's my girl for you.  
  
Speaking of my girls, Max is perched like a sculpture on the arm of the couch, but she is actually more beautiful then any piece of chiseled art because she is breathing and vibrantly alive. I could sit all day watching her, soaking in every aspect that makes her sexy to me. But I know that we have duties to maintain, and our children to take care off.   
  
Max looks up to me with smoky fire in her eyes; obviously she caught the way I was staring at her. "You wanna come over here and act on that look?"  
  
God, she'd have to say that wouldn't she? As if being this close to her wasn't torture enough. "I only wish I could Max." I don't call her any pet names because the amount of sexual tension here feels just like the way it did when we still danced around each other all that time before we got married. Back then she was always just 'Max' not sweetheart or angel. Actually it's kind of fitting to me. Max is who I fell in love with, and when that first started to happen I never thought of her as a 'sweetheart'. "But you know we can't. And even if we could it would be highly unethical to do it right here in front of our children."  
  
She looks likes she's actually contemplating the idea of finding a way to make it work, but the look fades as quickly as it came, leaving me to guess if it was ever really there in the first place. "Since you had to go and screw up my fantasies I'm ordering you to come with me 'cause I have something to give you."  
  
"You're _ordering_ me?" I ask with a hint of amusement.   
  
"Damn straight," she clarifies in a crisp commanding tone that would put Lydecker's to shame. "You have two options: come with me quietly, or come with me after I hurt you."  
  
"They both sound like winners sweetheart so to save the time of choosing I'll just go with you without any strings attached. Can I ask where we're going though?"  
  
"You'll see; just be patient." Max reassures, grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet. The kids are still busy feeding Lucy so we mange to slip out under their radar.   
  
Max's persistent pulling leads me to my computer room/office where a coil of rolled paper is sitting atop my desk like a misplaced Roman column.  
  
"You shouldn't have?" I say bemused, walking over to my desk. The roll of paper is long and completely white, keeping its shape by repeated curling without the aid of a rubber band.   
  
"Open it." Her words are a direct order.  
  
I pick up the paper and unroll it, seeing the hint of a building peak out at me. It takes a minute for my brain to register what I'm seeing, but when I finally realize what it is, my curiosity changes to a stunned expression. It's mom's Rockwell that just this morning was sitting in Jonas' austere drinking room. "How did you-"  
  
"You don't marry a genetically engineered thief without enjoying some of the perks." Max says casually, a slow creeping smile spreading over her face.   
  
"Wow," I'm too surprised to say anything intelligent right now. "Not that I'm not grateful to have one of the only remaining links back to my mom but won't Margo miss this above the bar?"  
  
"Logan Cale what kind of a thief do you take me for? I swapped out this baby for a duplicate that's identical to untrained eyes such as Aunt Margo, she'll never know the difference unless she decides to auction it and by then it's kinda too late."  
  
She stole this for me, all because I mentioned it was mom's? I know I contemplated it this morning but I never actually _thought_ she would do something like this. "Thank you."  
  
She has no pitying looks behind her eyes, no gaze of merit for helping a poor boy get back something from his dead mother. She's merely looking at me with an expression that says its part of her payment for our quid pro quo. "Everyone deserves to have some point in their life where they're not being screwed over and yours was long over due."  
  
"I know of a few other things that are long over due as well." I step over to her and wrap my arms around her back, kissing her softly.   
  
"Didn't we already do this today?" she teases, but falls into my kiss because she knows that it's much easier to make out without having tons of rich people judging you.  
  
"I could stop if you want me to baby." I say, even though the words are hard to get out because I am now reduced to quick shallow breaths by how hot Max's kiss has made me.   
  
"You do and I'll kick your ass." Her threat is a low whisper because she is busy making me crazy.  
  
"Mommy!" Jessie's voice calls from the living room. "Lucy needs a burp."  
  
Max sighs and drops her head to my shoulder.  
  
"You better go get her." I slide a hand through her hair, feeling myself tighten back up at the interruption.   
  
"Yeah." Max's words are a breathy sigh, not because Lucy is a burden, but she doesn't want to be interrupted any more than I did. When she pulls away from me I have to take a moment to think about what to do with my hands that were just around her body. I'm not so aroused that I have to cover up any 'tents' so I instead turn to back to the painting that lay on my desk.   
  
I can still see it sitting above our gray sofa in the frame that mom meticulously dusted because she loved it so much. Dad would often joke that mom loved that painting more then she loved him. To which she would always tell him that he had discovered her secret. I can still hear the laughter and the subsequent giggling cries as dad chased her around the house to make her take it back. For all of dad's flaws and macho rich attitudes he was really in love with mom. When I was a kid I would catch them plenty of times lying on our porch swing together, or dad watching a chick movie with mom just because he knew he could fall asleep in her lap.  
  
There's something lying next to the painting, something that I didn't notice until now. It is a plastic jewel case for a standard DVD-R. There's a white label taped across the clear part of plastic and across it is very familiar handwriting:  
  
_For Logan_   
  
"Max." I call out to her.  
  
She doesn't answer me with words and instead comes into the computer room holding Lucy up against her shoulder.   
  
I hold up the case for her to see. "Where did this come from?"  
  
"It was behind the frame." Max tells me, patting Lucy's back trying to get her to burp. "I figured it was from your mom. You said she willed this painting to you so she probably thought you'd find it back there."  
  
I'm almost shaking now. My family was home movie crazy; we had dozens of movies documenting all the important school plays, soccer practices, birthdays, anniversaries, but they all were only up until I was eight-years-old, our camera was a piece of crap that dad got second hand despite the fact he probably had enough money to buy out Panasonic. He finally bought a fancy Sony DVD recorder when I was fourteen, saying we were going to make a whole new set of movies but he was lazy and never did it. I had seen mom take off for the store one day for a blank DVD and I figured she was finally putting dad's camera to good use but she never said or showed me anything. I had guessed that she didn't know as much as she thought about the camera and was too proud to ask dad for help, but now I see I was wrong.   
  
"Put it in. You can romance it later." Max insists in her spitfire way.  
  
I snap out of my trance and slide the disk into my Sanyo DVD player, switching on the silver TV while my machine clicks and whirrs around the disc.  
  
In a moment a brightly colored image pops up, the living room of my old house. And sitting in front of the camera like she's taking a mug shot is mom. My breath hitches for a moment at the image - I've looked through pictures of mom since she died, but photographs are one dimensional, what I'm looking at now is inherently different, it's more real. I see the date reader in the corner showing me that this was 2003, the last year she was alive. She is as beautiful as I remember, wearing her pink cardigan and gold locket that now sits on my dresser. Her auburn hair is pulled into a soft half ponytail, leaving some wisps to frame her face. I'm entranced just by her image that when she starts to speak I'm startled by the noise.  
  
_"Hey Logan sweetie."_  
  
Her voice is melodic, the same one that would soothe me when I had a cut on my knee or command my dad to take his feet off of her coffee table.   
  
_"Marie just left to take you to school and dad had an early meeting so this is the perfect time to do this."_   
  
She hesitates for a moment and fingers her locket, stroking the gold like it is alive. Behind her I notice the painting and somehow I realize that she positioned the camera so I could see it.  
  
_"I know how much you love this painting honey. So I'm giving it to you when I'm gone. It's kind of morbid to talk about, but I was checking the account amount with your college fund at the bank yesterday and it got me thinking-about a lot of things"_   
  
She laughs and I haven't heard it in so long that it's like the first time I ever remembered it, when she showed me the North Star in the night sky when I was three.  
  
_"I'm not going to be here forever, and if you're looking at this tape it means I'm gone. I only hope that it's when I'm old and crotchety. But if it isn't, then I'm sorry baby I know that this painting isn't enough to make up for my absence but I know you'll still cherish it and think of me."_  
  
A sigh catches in her throat and her eyes look sad, but I can see the brave front she's trying to keep up, because even though she's talking about her early death she never actually believed she would die before her time. She thought she would grow old with dad when she made this; it was just something for 'in case'.  
  
_"If that happens, I know I won't be around to watch you and Marie grow up but treat each other good, okay honey? Brothers and sisters are something not everyone gets the privilege of having. And know that I never loved one of you more than the other one. You're my only son Logan; nothing will ever change that. If I'm gone before you grow up don't worry. I'm sure you're watching this as the man I know you grew up to be, probably look just like your father, tall, handsome, kind. And hopefully you've found a beautiful woman who makes you very happy."_  
  
I don't realize moisture has fallen down my face until the drops hit the desk surface.  
  
_"Don't worry about not having my approval about her. Just treat her good sweetheart okay, and know that I already love her because she loves you-- I love you too Logan. If I ever had any doubts about marrying into dad's snobby family they go away every time I look at you and Marie. I love my college degree and my independence, but if all of that was gone tomorrow I wouldn't care because I love you guys more. Being your mom is the most important thing to me. I hope you get to be a parent so you can understand how beautiful it is._   
  
_Sorry for the ruse with this video but I don't trust your Aunt Margo. If something happens to me I know she won't take the time to make sure you get this; so I'm putting it on this painting because I know you will find it because you're MY son, and you've got my inquisitive genes." She laughs. "Just don't tell your father I told you that. I'm 'signing' off now I guess you would say baby. Take care and I love you."_  
  
She blows a kiss at the camera as it cuts off. I pick up the remote and rewind the DVD, stopping it just when she blows the kiss, not really knowing why I did it. I know she's not here, but when she blew that kiss she felt alive for a moment and I just want to hang onto to that.  
  
"See? She did give you more then just oil and canvas to remember her by." Max's voice is soft and she steps over to me. Her hand wipes away the tears tracks from my face and I snatch it to kiss her hand.  
  
= = = =  
  
MAX  
  
VOICE OVER: "Logan never talked much about his mom. I used to think it was because some memories are too sad to remember, I know about things like that."   
  
(Max leans over holding Lucy and kisses Logan on top of his head and then rests her chin in the groove of his shoulder)  
  
VOICE OVER: "But his memories aren't sad at all. They're very warm and happy and that hurts more because she's gone now. But there's always a piece of her that lives in him because she loved him so much--And sometimes loving some one is all it takes."  
  
= = = =   
  
End  
  
This is a little sad I know, but Logan's mom was only mentioned a few times in the series and I felt that they obviously had this strong bond that deserved to be recognized. Sorry this took a while to get up I was working on three fics at once, and it rained here a lot so I couldn't get on my computer.  
  
I just really gotta give _major _kudos to my beta reader Sammie. I mean, here I have these incredibly long stories and she sits there patiently editing all of it, not many people would put up with something of mine for that long, lol. Thanks again girl, I cherish every day you don't start charging for your services.   
  
This took a long time to get up cause after Sammie sent it back to me to revamp it would rain, all the time, every day, so I would get about an hour into editing and it would lightining so I'd have to get off my computer, and this kept happening so it took me four friggin days just to edit the damn thing. (shakes fist at the stupid tropical weather.)  
  
Thanks again for being so patient with me guys, I take a while, but at least I know I have loyal fans who stick by it until it comes out. I've got my idea for the next chapter so hopefully it will go a lot faster.  
  
R/R please  
Peace  
Mystic


	23. Training Day Part One

Choices 24- "Training Day"

SUMMARY: They are siblings, uncles, wives, mothers, lovers, friends – but before all of that they were soldiers, although there was never a chance to perfect that training as adults. But now – they have to.

RATING: PG14 for violence, language and mature content.

DISCLAIMER: James 'Big-Kahowna' Cameron owns the characters he made and/or mentioned in his series (which is called "Dark Angel" – he owns this as well, the greedy bastard)

A/N: There will a grand return of Ames White, I'll tell ya that much, also Lydecker is here too, cause those are some good characters and it's about time they merged.

A/N #2: I know that there was this whole White 'Sandeman' thing in Season 2. But I'm ignoring it on the grounds that my whole story won't make sense with it in place. Egg my story if you must but I hide under creative license.

XXXXXXX

SEATTLE-BRODSTREET BAR

SECTOR EIGHT

8: 35 PM

The pub was lively even at the early hour of eight p.m. when most of the city had five more minutes before they got off of work and only two hours before curfew. But the bartenders never complained because the early crowds always brought with them the best tips. The prostitutes that worked outside the bar were glad for that too because they enjoyed the same tips.

The bar was a typical grimy drinking hole, lit with beer lights and neon signs that bathed the drunken patrons in a swath of florescent pinks and yellows like a retro version of an abstract painting.

Somewhere in the smoke laden semi-darkness a beer bottle smashed and was followed by raucous laughter from the man who had just punched a kid for staring at his girl's rack. This was immediately followed by more laughter from others in the bar as the punchee crawled away to the men's room to splash water on his aching eye.

Just as the young man's shoulder made contact with the brown swinging restroom door, the front door of the bar was pulled open and a figure stepped inside. The person was so noticeably different to the usual clientele that men at all levels of being plastered stopped to gape.

The figure was small, a woman, with defined curves that fit into a pair of black slacks and a Chinese rickshaw's red silk shirt buttoned up to the collar, but it wasn't the clothes that caught attention of the men in the bar. There were many religious radicals wandering around Seattle who came into bars late at night. It was the woman herself that made their eyes bulge – because of her green tinged skin and shaven head that proudly showed off several maroon snake tattoos over it's bareness. Even her lips were the same pigment as her face and it surprised a few people who weren't near her when she started talking because they couldn't tell where the sound was coming from.

"Go back to your drinks gentlemen, what I'm here for is none of your concern." Her voice was forceful, but still feminine with a slight touch of a foreign accent that couldn't be directly traced to any country; but it sounded British with a touch of Arabic flare.

The men still stared at her as she walked past because even though she had just given them a direct order to fark off none of them could contain their curiosity. She continued walking until she reached the crudely fashioned bar made out of pinewood planks and sat down in an empty stool. She turned her brown-red eyes over to the barkeep who, like the others was gawking at her like she was a mutant that had crawled out of the sewer.

"Bloody Mary," The woman ordered her drink in the same commanding tone. "And if you can't figure out what to do with your eyes I will take them from you."

"I see you haven't lost your touch."

The woman turned to the sound of the male voice but she wasn't alarmed at what she saw sitting across from her dressed in a black business suit because she expected him to be there. "You're early."

"That's not a problem I trust?" The man was sitting erect in the stool beside her, popping peanuts from a wooden bowl on the bar like he had a fix for them. He was white, with a corporate-meets- military haircut and wore handsomeness like it was an accessory to his expensive Armani suit. His eyes were brown, but in the poor lighting they were almost black as he looked upon the visitor who had sat next to him.

"Why don't you stop the charade Ames?" The woman asked looking him full in the eyes and then began to speak another language entirely. "E'nos'tol N'ika me'ak ki'sa slaw'a ik'nita m'oah reah upinos iha'as." ("I would have liked to meet someplace more private then a drunken man's fantasy.") The sounds that came from her mouth was pronounced very much like the ancient language of Egyptians, articulated almost exactly like it with a few grammatical exceptions in the soundings of the words.

"P'ias'ka." ("Relax.") Ames White reassured, sticking another salted nut in between his teeth, speaking in the same mysterious language as her. "I'snos i'ta m'os no'sta rihika t'notras h'oh'ias uha'a t'ywha n'soba." ("It's not like these idiots can understand what we're saying anyway.")

The barkeep set down the Bloody Mary in front of the woman on top of a white paper napkin.

"Y'nosata l'kita cost'nata u'a bos'tik." ("You forgot the celery stick bitch.") Ames informed to the bartender coldly.

The man had no idea what the hell he was saying, so he said the only think he could think off, putting on a flimsy smile. "You're welcome. Enjoy your drinks."

"S'ua?" ("See?") Ames stated once the barkeep went to fill a tipsy man's last drink before he kicked him out. "I'kias h'uas h'kana n'ah wi'sata mo'ska'ia e'ha hi'e rhin'as isnosta lim'kasis hu'sat opis mo'rin hiu's." ("I could tell him he enjoys fucking his mother at night and he'd still give me that stupid smile.")

"P'losta hij'kata Enotsta." ("You've made your point Ames.") She took a healthy swig from her Bloody Mary, the tattoos on her neck and jugular moving at the drink going down her throat. Once she was done she licked some residue off of her lips revealing three pinhead sized stud piercings forming a vertical line down the center of her tongue. "K'sasta ipis'ona k'loa?" ("Has there been any progress?")

"J'ksas." ("Some.")"B'sika ma'taa enost'ah toak' sh'sa dn'sna" ("But he is a very hard man to track down.") "Ma'taa tn'iaka un'sa Ul'sta Ri'osna; ma'anas cn'as up'sa l'snas ("He was trained as an Army Ranger; he knows how to stay lost.")

"Ma'taa i'sa t'criksas k'snas is'nls 'iskna s'ksa Man'stankia si'bkin'da j'ka o'stada. ("He is a crucial key in finding the Manticore prototypes that have offspringed.")" W'nesa th'sas i'fa hu's P'stakia i'sa o'st u'nsika. Th'st d'staks co'slta is'tka co'sta." ("We need their DNA if the Project is to succeed.") "E'staka su'st col'inst'aa moaaki's. I'ta clo'kia f'oa en'stan." ("All the data has been gathered. It is now time to engage.")

"Su'ah hi'stol fi'dnos'ik ay'ua P'nosta." ("I will track him down Priestess.") Ames said matter-of-factly.

The woman finished off her drink and turned to Ames, a disbelieving look still on her face. "S'nos t'kia y'u d'sah." ("See that you do.") She paid for her drink and left the bar, the patrons parting to allow her to pass.

Once she was out of sight they whistled in disbelief. "Man was that some butt ugly broad or what? She looked like a dried up Guava melon." The man standing next to a pool table laughed at his own words.

"I know man," one of his friends agreed. "Did you see all those snake tattoos? Whoo weee! If I _ever_ date a woman like that there better be something else major going down to knock me out of bein' insane."

"Don't worry gentlemen." White broke into their conversation as he made his way out of the bar. "There will be." All the men stopped talking and stared at him, not because he was an oddity like the Priestess, but because he had a certain way about him that they didn't want to mess with.

Before any of them could decipher what White meant by his remark he had pushed his way out of the door into the Seattle night. Once he was back on the street he pulled out a silver cell phone walking with slow steps back to his tan Lexus LSI. "Have you found anything?"

"Not yet Sir," came the response on the other end. "So far all of our leads have been dead-ends," a pause. "This isn't some kid off the street we're looking for Ames."

"I already know that." White grumbled angrily. "I don't want any more excuses. The only thing I want is Colonel Lydecker in restraints back at HQ, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Sir."

"Then make it happen." White disconnected the call.

XXXXXXXX

CRASH - 9:00 PM

"Hey Maxie!" Zane jumped down the rest of the stairs that led to the back room of Crash. "My all, my partner in crime!" He hugged Max before she had the chance to object.

"How much have you been drinkin'?" Max asked after the hugged ended.

"_Nothing."_ Zane insisted. "What? I can't show affection to my sister without being wasted? You wound me Max, you really do."

"Yeah, and I'm about to wound you next if you don't shut up." Jondy warned. She was still sitting at a table drinking her beer, because she didn't think Zane's arrival was important enough to warrant the fanfare of standing up.

"Jondy, give us a hug!" Zane dropped down on her and hugged her from behind.

"Boy, get yourself and your multiple personalities off me!" Jondy pushed Zane away.

Zane feigned a wounded look, slapping his hand to his collarbone for drama. "I feel so unloved."

"Aww baby," Krit threw his arms around Zane. "Don't worry, I'll love you."

"God man that's sick-" Zane complained yanking Krit's arms from around him. "Go hump a lamp post if you're that anxious."

"Looks like I missed the start of the party." Syl's voice reached their ears as she came down the stairs holding a bag filled with two cases of Malt liquor.

"Syl!" Zane exclaimed hurrying over to her like a child to his toys on Christmas morning.

"Don't even think about giving me any of your over zealous lovin' Zane." Syl cautioned, carefully making her way down the stairs. "I hauled this stuff all the way from Sector One and if you make me drop it I'm gonna drop you understand?" She reached the bottom of the stairs and set the brown paper bag on the first empty table that she could find.

"You bring the booze?" Zack asked from his standing position beside Max.

"No Commander." Syl said, starting to open one of the bags. "This is just a really big pregnancy test."

"Either way let's get started with this X5 reunion." Krit said with a smirk on his face.

"Keep it down," Jondy hissed, glaring at her brother. "I'd appreciate it if your big mouth didn't advertise who we are so anyone can exploit us."

"Girl relax," Zane insisted. "I doubt we're arousing anyone's suspicion. Hell no one here's even _heard_ of X5's-"

"Shh," Jondy cut in waving her arms in to get him to shut up.

Zane looked around at the groups hanging out by the pool table and the flocks of guys at the bar trying to attract attention from any female that walked within three feet of them. None of them made any moves to Zane's earlier statement, because none of them really cared about anyone's business but their own. "Oh no Jondy! We're fucked. Here comes Lydecker, here come the foot soldiers," he laughed a bit at his own sarcasm. Illegal activity went on at Crash all the time. No one would seriously consider ratting out anyone else for fear of retribution. Basically they all lived under the 'don't ask don't tell" policy. "You think there's a recon squad ready to make a bust on this place on the off chance we might be stopping by? Seriously little sister; why can't you just let loose and be a drunk party girl, like Syl."

Syl pitched the paper bag at Zane's head. "Who else brought stuff Crash can't supply?"

"Mine's already tapped." Zane pointed to the floor beside his chair where a metal keg sat, filled with whiskey he had fermented himself.

"Sorry girl," Max apologized to Syl. "I'm only good for the watered down rounds here. I haven't bought alcohol in months since Lucy was born."

"Maxie shut up and let's see it," Syl ordered not believing her.

Max reached down next to Jondy and held up a corked wine bottle that Syl took from her.

"1985 Chateaux Zinfandel." Syl read the label, very pleased at what it was. "God bless that rich husband of yours for bein' so liquor conscious." She uncorked the bottle and it made a loud popping sound. "I think we should have our first hit from this."

"This calls for a toast." Krit began giving a speech, "Not only just for our X5 get together, but for Maxie who just had _another_ baby." Krit turned to Max. "To you little sister I say congratulations, and get your tubes tied, and let me do it." He wagged his eyebrows at her.

Max knocked him upside the head a second later. "Sorry, my hand tends to slip when my brother wants to stick his hand up my female anatomy."

"Geez try to congratulate a girl and this is what you get." Krit complained, rubbing the sore area around his eye where Max had hit him. "I _am_ glad for you though Maxie. You make a great mom."

"Thanks," Max responded with a small smile.

"Just don't let Zack deliver the next one, 'cause there are plenty of other ways to warp a kid."

"Keep it up Krit and I'll show you my way to warp an adult." Zack threatened, taking the wine bottle from Syl and taking a healthy swig from it.

"Well now that the ceremony's over lets gets down to business." Zane said, pouring glasses of whiskey from his keg. He handed one of the drinks to Tinga, who was leaning up against the end of a table in her maroon leather jacket and a pair of black jeans.

"This didn't fall off the back of a truck did it?" Tinga asked, tilting the glass in her hand so she could see the whisky from every angle.

"No," Zane reassured. "What I present to you is premium quality alcohol fermented right in my bathtub."

"Great, that makes me feel so at ease." Tinga sniffed the whiskey, trying to decide whether or not it would poison her. When she finally came to the conclusion that she couldn't _tell_ if she would die from it, she took a tentative sip from the glass. "Damn." She coughed at the strength of the alcohol. "You could smell colors with this shit."

"Isn't it awesome?" Zane smirked. "I got the yeast from this run down bakery. It was already starting to ferment so that gave this batch a little extra kick."

"Keep it moving," Krit ordered. "Some of the rest of us want to kill brain cells too." He took an almost full glass Tinga offered him and glared at Zack half a second later. "Don't even start with the idiot jokes with me Zack, I'm not a nice drunk." He downed half of the booze hissing like a snake at the taste.

"Okay Krit's still alive guys," Zane explained. "So let's stop being so bashful." He held up a glass in front of Max. "Bottoms up baby sister."

"Sorry Zane my taste for alcohol has grown more sophisticated then the mildewy bathtub fermented variety," Max apologized, pushing the noxious smelling liquid away from her. She didn't know how many nights it had stayed in Zane's scummy bathtub and she didn't want to know either.

"Of course it has Maxie," Syl agreed. "You only appreciate the kind of alcohol that is left on Logan's breath when you two hit it."

There was a round of laughter from the X5's, and Max looked at them sheepishly but not embarrassed. "Hey don't get mad at me cause I can find satisfaction and some of you are still usin' your hands."

"Hey I always use my hands Maxie," Jondy defended. "How else can you jerk a guy's chain without one?"

"So seriously Jondy how big is your chain, I mean do you have to use both hands?" Krit threw out. He wasn't drunk; he was just messing with her and knew he was about to get it for that one.

"We all can't just save our little finger for our stroking like you Krit." Jondy snapped back with a huge grin on her face, watching Krit grimace at the direct blow to his manhood.

"C'mon Jondy over inflate him a little," Zane stated. "He might want to procreate someday."

"I don't see women lining up in the streets for that." Zack corrected, taking a hit from a beer mug he just picked up.

"That's because they're all waiting for you when Asha's not around." Krit laughed, but realized he had gone too far when Zack set his mug down and looked like he was about to attack him.

"Guys knock it off!" Syl stepped in-between her brothers before they could come to blows. "As far as I'm concerned Maxie and Tinga are the only ones in this group that can have anything to say about gettin' procreation right okay?"

"Yeah c'mon ladies go back to your drinks and leave the blows till after I'm outta range of oncoming blood." Jondy added, sliding back into her seat and propping her feet up on the chair in front of her. "Honestly, X5 males. Can't live with them, can't shoot them without exposure."

"Speaking of X5 males," Jondy looked over her shoulder to see the rugishly handsome form of Alec coming down the steps in a tan flight jacket and black biker pants. She didn't hide the pleasing roam over the way he fit so well into his clothes. "He's related to us right?"

"He's X5 girl," Syl answered. "So yeah."

"Damn," Jondy cursed, not hiding her dissatisfaction. "Stupid chromosomes." She watched Alec come all the way down the stairs and right up to where they were sitting.

"Thanks for saving my seat for me." Alec stated in his casual voice, like they were old friends.

"Well all the boys with style were out so I decided what the hell?" Jondy said without a hint of a smile. Even though she was attracted to Alec she wasn't going to admit it straight out.

"Would you mind moving your feet?" Alec asked in more of an order then a question. "Unless you get kinky this way."

"Eww no boy," Jondy snapped disgusted. "Those are my Anna Klein kicks you're talkin' about." She pulled her legs off of the chair, giving up her footstool to Alec, who slid into the seat a moment later.

"What the hell are you doing here anyway?" Zack growled. He never liked Alec. "This is a private party."

"This is an X5 reunion right?" Alec asked over his shoulder, not waiting for Zack to answer, and not expecting him to either. "And the last time I checked, slick, I was an X5."

Zack's anger went up one more notch. "You're in the wrong unit little soldier."

"And you're talking to the wrong soldier with your little unit-" Alec snapped.

Zack was about to make a move but Syl grabbed his shoulder with a firm lock of her hand. "I came in here to drink not see Foxy Boxing. You boys just need to chill." She released her grip on Zack and grabbed her beer mug from the table gulping from it like she was in a fraternity contest.

"The X5 womenfolk have spoken gentleman. I suggest you heed the order while you still have a good hold on your nuts." Zane laid this bit of advice on Alec and Zack while taking a big gamble in his own ability to make whiskey by drinking an almost full glass in one shot. He coughed a second later, but a slow smile came to his face. "Seriously kids, go find yourselves a good lay and give her a shot of this. She'll be too lightheaded to refuse anything."

Alec glanced over to Max with a smug smile on his face. "Wanna give the potent potable a spin Maxie? You might just get lucky."

"You're outta luck Alec," Max stated not turned on by his eyebrow wagging gaze. "Zane's right. You need get laid, but make sure it's a woman you can make it with in _this _post Pulse world."

"Ouch, still hitting dips in your hormone levels Max?" Alec quipped.

"You want me to hit a dip in _your_ hormone level stud?" Jondy retorted looking squarely at Alec's nuts, not staring at it like she wanted to blow him, but more like she wanted to rip him out bare handed and roast it on a spit for his sexist remark against her sister.

"Your place or mine Jondy?" Alec responded, gracing her with the grin he had just given Max.

Jondy sighed, but didn't look uninterested. "I don't have a place here boy. So I'd go for yours, unless you don't have a problem with doing it behind a dumpster." She smiled slow and pleasing, letting her closed lips finish the rest of the remark.

"Hey I have no qualms with being dirty," Alec informed.

"Jondy-" Tinga called her sister trying to get her out of what she considered a sick situation.

"I'm workin' Tinga!" Jondy snapped back, leaning back into to her chair with a smile that would make even the most uptight prude want her.

"If you work any harder little sister you're gonna have illegitimate offspring to deal with." Zack told her.

Jondy shot him a look, but shut up on her moves with Alec, turning to face her drink like it was something wonderful to behold. "Since you all have a thing for crappin' on my fun I'm gonna settle on getting drunk and handing out lap dances."

"Good thing I brought singles," Krit commented.

Zane laughed, even though he looked disgusted. "We need to find Krit some action with a nice call girl before he inbreeds."

"Hey I'm all about keeping me from contaminating the DNA." Krit agreed, drinking from his mug again with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, but it was killed a second later when he spotted a woman walking into the bar from the pool room at Crash. She was of Hispanic origin with long brown hair that hung way past the collar of a camel colored suede jacket, and she had a face that gave Krit an overwhelming feeling that he's seen her before.

The woman was silent as she walked in, but as soon as she made it over to the tables she started speaking in a calm casual tone to them like she had known the X5's all her life. "I see you guys started the party without me."

It took Max all of three seconds to realize who the woman was and while the others were busy multitasking on the identification of the visitor, she stepped forward with a smile that could only be brought on when spotting one of her siblings. "Jace-"

All the other X5's stared at Jace in stunned silence when the X5 approached Max. "I'm glad to see you Max," Jace hugged the other woman. "I had a hell of a time tracking you down and I almost thought I'd gotten the wrong place until I saw your face down here." She pulled away from Max to look at the faces of people she hadn't seen since she was a kid, not knowing what to say to them after all this time. "C'mon guys, say something. I'll even take threats."

"When did they let you out of Manticore?" Zack broke the silence, observing Jace like she was an enemy. She had stayed behind during the escape and any child who grew to adult status at Manticore was tainted with their military ideology.

"They didn't let me out," Jace corrected. "I got deployed for a mission but Max helped me escape before I had to go back for debriefing."

"Since when does one soldier help a traitor escape into the world?" Zack's words were harsh, angry and directed both at Max and at Jace. "You just expect us to believe you left base command after you didn't have the balls to do it the first time?"

"This time was different," Jace defended quickly. She hadn't come here to be interrogated.

"How?" Zack spat. "You suddenly got tired of betraying your family?" He stepped over to Jace and glared at her as if she wasn't fit to be standing right in front of him. "What? You decided that cozying up to us before you report back to base is 'different' enough to get you back in the club?"

"Things _are _different," Jace defended hostilely. "You may wanna throw me out, but if you just shut up for five seconds I'll show you the difference I'm talking about." She walked around the tables and back the room where the pool tables sat, ducking behind a wall. After a few seconds she emerged only this time she wasn't alone – in her arms was a small dark haired little boy about five-years-old.

Jace stopped in front of them with the child in her arms who was clinging to her upper body tightly. "This is Max." She stroked his hair, which was the same color as hers. "He's my son. He's the reason I had to leave Manticore."

Max stared at the child who was her namesake; the kid Jace had promised would be named after her. "You had a little boy," The boy was looking at her through large brown eyes that were almost black, matching his dark black shirt and blue overalls.

"In a small birthing center in Mexico," Jace told her, going for the facts of her son's birth. "I wanted to get back up here for years to show him to you, but things got kinda hairy when the border police of the country wouldn't let anyone out because of the riots and I didn't want to risk public exposure-"

"He's beautiful." Max cut in, reaching out her hand to touch the boy's head.

"Thanks," Jace took the compliment with a small smile as she looked at her son. "This is your Aunt Max kiddo. She's where I got your name from."

"You've passed initiation Jace," Zane insisted from his seat. "We all may be paranoid as hell but no X5 mother would gun it all the way up here from Mexico with her child if she was on the take. My advice would be for you to take a seat and get smashed with the rest of us."

"You'd _have_ to be Zane," Jace told him walking over to the man. "No one else could pull off that kind of drunken insistence."

"I missed you too Jace," Zane said standing up to hug her.

The tension was broken by Zane's hug, and all the other X5's began coming forward to offer their love.

"Hey little sister," Tinga approached her.

Jace fell into the hug. "Tinga," She pulled back after a minute to stare at the older woman. "You look great."

Tinga smiled for a moment, "You look pretty hot yourself girl."

"Save some of the smokin' lovin' for my lonely arms." Krit insisted pushing his way in front of Tinga to hug Jace before she got the chance to say anything.

"Krit," Jace fell into the hug, piecing together who it was instantly. "You haven't changed at all."

"But you have my sister and that's the problem-"

"Krit I can smack you from this range," Jace warned then stole a glance at her son. "Max here wouldn't mind mommy showing him some useful moves, would ya baby?"

"Block with your left mommy," Max told his mother in a high little boy voice that was coated with a slight Spanish accent from living in Mexico his whole life.

"I see you've taught him the skills early," Zack said in muted anger. He had yet to come and hug Jace. He wasn't a believer that someone could just change after willingly staying in Manticore after the opportunity to escape had been presented.

Jace looked up into his blue eyes. "You must be Zack," She scanned his body up and down and not like a sister – but like a woman who was checking him out. "I always knew you'd grow up to be that sexy. Too bad you'd never let a woman get close enough to tell you that."

"Get your swerve on somewhere else Jace," Zack warned.

"I was making an observation, not an offer Zack," Jace defended aggressively. "You can hate me and call me an incesting slut all you want but bottom line is you couldn't _handle_ what I throw down." She cut into silence and looked to her son. "You wanna go get something to drink handsome?"

Max nodded his head becoming shy for a moment but then came out of it. "Can I have ice?"

"Sure kiddo if we can find some," Jace reassured.

"I'll get it," Max told her. "You take a load off and get reacquainted." She looked down to her namesake. "You wanna come with me sweetie?"

The boy smiled. "To get ice right?"

Max returned his smile; he was so cute to her with large brown eyes and an X5's way with words. "If that's what you want." She took him from Jace who gave him up without reluctance.

"If he talks your ear off just shove some ice down his throat," Jace teased.

"I don't think that'll be a problem," Max reassured smiling at her nephew. "I like the chatter of a handsome man." She carried him through the crowd to the bar where the bartender was busy rinsing out a pitcher and glasses from his last customers.

"There's a lot of bottles back there," the boy proclaimed to Max.

"Yeah there are," she agreed pointing them out to him. "And they're pretty too."

"Hey Day Care Max," the bartender called out to her. "What can I get you?"

"Just a pitcher of ice water Jayson. It's the only thing in here besides the coffee that doesn't have alcohol."

"Commin' up," Jayson said with a smile. He had been working at Crash for years and Max was a regular he always enjoyed seeing. He had hit on her a few times, but her friend Original Cindy always ended it because she insisted Max had someone even though Jayson didn't see anyone with her. But a few months after that Max would come into Crash with this guy and it became evident that they were involved when Max began sporting a wedding band at the bar. He still found her so hot and alluring that he wanted her but he decided he was better off being her friend then fantasying about a relationship he would never have.

"Thought I heard your voice boo," Original Cindy crossed the hardwood floor that was laid out a good twenty feet in front of the bar. She was dressed in a brown suede halter-top and a pair of leather pants. "Figured you'd be too busy catching up on the latest news with your family to come out and play with your girl."

"I'm a multitasking kind of girl," Max informed. "And it's not like you're not part of my family too."

Cindy smiled at the compliment because she felt the same way. She looked at the child her girl was holding. "You and Logan didn't slip a kid under the radar did you?"

"This is Max," Max said proudly glancing at the boy she was holding. "He's Jace's son."

"Your girl that lives down in El Mexico?" Cindy asked watching Max's eyes give away the answer. She looked at the child her boo was holding. "He's a straight up cutie that's for sure."

"I know," Max agreed. "If we weren't already related I'd marry him in a second." She kissed the side of her nephew's head.

"You might have some competition on that," Cindy informed as Max grabbed the pitcher of water after Jayson set it in front of her.

"You're welcome to hang with us if ya want," Max insisted.

"No boo. It's a family thing. I'd just be in the way."

"No ya wouldn't," Max disagreed. "I already told you you're my family as much as they are. Besides, I need you to make sure Alec doesn't try to put the moves on someone he's genetically linked too."

"Kay I'm in," Cindy agreed after hearing that. "I mean somebody's gotta keep that boy in line. I was hangin' with Sketchy but he bolted to go talk to this honey he saw camped out at the bar."

Max sighed. "And _why_ hasn't Natalie left him yet?" Sketchy's girlfriend had put up with him through a broken engagement, and several flings with other women. The boy even went so far as to hit on a girl at Crash last month with Natalie only a few feet away. Max loved Sketchy but he really needed to learn to keep all his nuts in one basket.

"Sugah I don't even wanna speculate," Cindy notified. "Some sistah's just love their man too much to try and leave him even if he is a no good cheatin' dog."

"Dogs belong in the pound," little Max spoke up in his boyish voice that would appeal to the emotions of any softhearted person.

"Definitely," Max agreed. "We need more men like you hun," She gave the boy another quick kiss, this time on his forehead. "Let's go find mommy before she starts sending out a recon unit for ya."

Max and Cindy headed back over to the tables where all the X5's were lounged all over. Zane immediately stood up upon seeing Original Cindy. Max's siblings and Cindy had become friends over the years and they considered her one of their own. "Hey, my best girl is joining the party."

"Zane I thought I was your best girl," Syl complained.

"You keep that thought Syl – 'ow'" Zane rubbed the back of his head where Syl had knocked him on the head with her hand. "No violence dear sister unless of course you and Max want to go off on each other. I could totally get into that."

"Shut up idiot," Syl ordered kicking his chair. After she was done she looked up to Original Cindy. "Pull up a chair girl; just don't indulge the animals."

"I say he's indulged himself enough," Cindy stated sliding into a vacant chair next to Alec.

"Wow does this mean I get your phone number now?" Alec said to Cindy with a wagged eyebrow look after she sat beside him.

"Fool get up off me before I put you in a world of hurt," Cindy shoved at Alec's shoulder with her hand that caused Alec to just laugh quietly because he knew Cindy was just messing around.

"All right woman, relax. Consider it a compliment that the gender group you don't find appealing thinks you're hot." Alec said.

"Just past the beer Romeo, before I smack that smile off your face," Cindy ordered holding out her hand to receive her drink.

Alec slid it into her hand a few seconds later. "Anything to please my lady." He looked up from his beer a second later to scope out a well proportioned blonde – in sand blasted jeans and a double layer red and white button up long sleeved shirt – walking across the bar. "Speaking of pleasing a lady-"

Asha descended on the group a few seconds later feeling Alec's eyes on her. "Is there something you wanted Alec or am I just for show?"

"No Asha you're _definitely_ not for show," Krit announced. "And there's plenty of things we want from you," he broke off when he saw the glare Zack was shooting him. "Relax Zack I'm messing around-" Krit laughed briefly. "Look at him he thinks I'm serious. God Zack you're such a trip."

"Want to take a trip into the wall Krit?" Zack growled.

"Would you two just _shut up_?" Max ordered, handing off her nephew to Jace. She glanced over to Jondy. "What was it you were saying earlier?"

"Shooting X5 males can lead to exposure, blah blah. Some kind of shit like that." Jondy replied.

"How about we take the risk?" Max asked.

"I'm game," Jondy agreed.

The ring of a cell phone cut through the air.

"Guess who?" Zane said as Max went to answer her phone. "He's probably checking up to make sure we're all still only brothers and sisters."

"Zane?" Max said.

"Yes Maxie?" Zane responded.

"If you want to still be my brother and not my sister shut it," She answered the call. "Hey, what's up?"

"_Nothing_ _really," _Logan's voice responded. _"I mean nothing that I can do with you over the phone."_

A ripple of desire went through Max's body. After enduring six weeks of forced celibacy Max was aching so bad to be with him that she had to splash cold water on herself when it got bad. She wasn't a horny slut, but when her doctor gave her the okay to act on her desires she wanted to dead bolt Logan into their bedroom and not come out for a week. But that was five days ago and they still hadn't found an opportune time to be together. Between the kids, Max's job, Eyes Only broadcasts and the daily watch out for black helicopter men, they could never find sufficient time to do everything they wanted. This X5 reunion was important to Max but she also wanted it to be over soon so she could do something else that was also important to her.

"You'd be surprised what I can do over the phone," Max said in quiet insistence.

"Spank it baby!" Zane hooted saluting her with his beer bottle.

Logan heard the commotion from his end. _"Be honest with me. How drunk are they?"_

"We don't do 'drunk' Logan."

"_Okay then, can you give an estimated ranking on how far they've progressed to the phase where they would mistake a potted plant for a make-out partner?"_

"I'll have get back to you on that," Max returned a smile playing on her lips. "See you at home."

"_That's not what I had in mind, but yeah. I can see you first if you want."_

Max bit back on the whimper that tried to escape her lips and ended the call.

"Max-"

Her name being called caused Max glance up confused because the voice didn't belong in the crowd that she was with. At first she thought she it was a missight on her part, but then she realized that that was idiotic cause she had excellent vision. Then she was just left with trying to comprehend _why_ she was seeing whom she saw.

Jondy turned her head to the sound of the boy calling her sister's name. "Who's the stick?" The man was incredibly thin and had a sloppily done Pageboy like haircut that stuck to his square white face above thin blue eyes.

"You don't wanna know," Max managed to get out before the guy made his way over to her. "Eric."

Eric – a conquest boy during one of Max's heat cycles – was now staring at the woman he hadn't seen since he had taken upon himself to break off their non-existent relationship. "Wow, it's great to see you again."

"Yeah, you too," Max agreed forcing down a grimace. Eric wasn't a bad guy, not like Darren. He was just one confused man that Max wanted to hit it with in a fit of Heat induced passion. She could understand his getting his signals crossed since she never told him that he fell asleep on her bed _before_ anything went down. But she thought the issue had been dropped years ago. Eric had 'broken up' with her and she had gotten serious with Logan – that was that. She never thought she would actually meet up with the guy again.

"You've been busy?" Eric asked. He obviously still harbored some desires towards her by the way he talked. She was the greatest woman he had ever been with and he didn't just stop thinking about her after it was over.

"She's been busy bein' _married_ boy if that's what you're askin'" Original Cindy chimed in, matter-of-fact.

"And let's not forget about the seeds," Zane insisted, staring down this 'Eric' that was talking to his sister. A weak specimen in his book. "So yeah I'd say she's been _real_ busy _Eric_,"

Max cut Zane a low menacing glare.

"Allow me," Jondy stated, leaning over the table to slap Zane upside the head.

"Wow Max-" Eric was becoming tongue tied at the new information. "I mean that's great. Married. Kids. The whole deal. How many, I mean if I'm not out of line asking?"

"Three," Max told him.

Eric cringed like Max had just insulted the size of his package before ramming her foot into it. "Ouch. I guess I really missed my chance."

"Yeah sorry about that boy," Jondy stated. "But life goes on turn, turn, turn. I've been made an aunt four times, no wait, make that five. You learn to roll with the changes."

"Your sister-" Eric directed the question at Max but Zane responded.

"You're quick," Zane informed. "But I guess you've heard that before."

Max glared over her shoulder. "Boy call off you dogs, kay?" she looked back to Eric. "Sorry - my brother. His ass and his mouth wires get crossed sometimes."

"Hey I understand," Eric said somewhat dejectedly. He was feeling guilty for letting Max go when he did. Things might have worked out differently. He glanced around the people in the room who were staring at him like he had just wandered in to rob them.

"It really was great seein' you again," Max tried to boost Eric's sprits up. He was a mistake to hook up with during heat but she didn't want to smash his sense of self completely. "Who knows, if you hadn't dumped me maybe it would've been different."

"Yeah maybe," Eric agreed his voice lowering to the tone of a man defeated. "I moved to Portland but I'm here visiting a friend-"there was a hint of authority in his weak sounding voice. "Maybe I could meet your husband. See if he's up to standards – for you I mean. You're too special to be with just anyone Max."

Max had to smile at Eric's crack at chivalry. "I'll get back to you on that."

Eric seemed relieved. "Great, well I won't hold you up anymore." He looked over to Zane. "Your family's – interesting."

As he walked away Jondy's eyes were on him the whole time. "Not half as interesting as you are Giligan." She looked back to Max with an expression that demanded answers. "Why did you just extend an invite for that bean pole to hang with you and Logan? It's not like you owe him a favor or slept with him or anything-" Max's expression just about made Jondy tip over in her chair. "You _slept _with him? What the hell for? What's there to bang on that skinny ass?"

"We didn't hit it okay," Max defended. "I was in heat and picked him up. But he fell asleep before anything happened."

"He must've been tuckered, the little scamp," Alec quipped.

"I was in heat – _heat_ guys," Max clarified. "It's not like I had a choice in what I did."

"See that's the part I don't get," Syl stated. "We have feline DNA which makes us go into heat. But the purpose of heat is to find a suitable pair of Y-chromosomes to procreate with. And that usually narrows the field down to the males with the most attractive and virile outside appearance cause that's an indication that they have the best genes to produce strong offspring. So _why_ then would you go after something like _that_?"

"_Nothing_ happened," Max reiterated. "And just because he isn't some drop dead stud doesn't mean he can't be attractive to the female sex. Looks aren't everything remember?"

"Tell that to my eyes," Syl complained. "Honestly Max, I'm sorry. He may be a sweetheart but heat wants the same thing as one night stands wants. Hot, deep and ripped."

"I can't argue with you on that," Asha added on, stealing a glance at Zack. "I mean not that I had any one night stands _recently_."

"Do I look like I care?" Zack returned.

"Okay fine-" Asha returned. "Krit strip down and let's go."

"All right, spite sex I'm in!" Krit jumped up when Asha started to leave but she didn't go very far because Zack yanked her back.

"Shut up."

"Why Zack and here I thought you didn't care," Asha remarked. Zack was about to say something else but she effectively shut him up with a kiss that kept his mouth from opening.

"Damnit must you foil all my fantasies Zack?" Krit grumbled. "Where is _my_ hottie?"

"Deflated under your bed," Zane reminded.

"Zane don't be stupid you can't _fit_ under my bed," Krit reminded sarcastically.

"Now I remember why I missed this," Jace informed holding back a full-fledged laugh by sheer will power. X5's weren't suppose to laugh, they were serious, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.

"I missed you too my little Mexican salsa platter," Krit wagged his eyebrows at Jace before she punched him and sent him flying backwards on the floor.

Jace didn't hit him hard, but Krit still fell because he had been sitting tilted on the back of his chair and gravity won out. "Sorry Chico, but this Mexican salsa platter packs one hell of a punch."

XXXXXXXXX

The small noodle stand blended almost invisibly into Southside Market's vast line of stalls, which sold everything from food to hocked Rolexes to human placenta. The streets were still packed even so close to curfew. The people would clear out only when a Sector Cop's warning shot fired above their heads.

The noodle shack was nothing special – planks serving as a counter and all the cooking being done on a two eye hot plate by a weather worn Chinese woman dressed in multiple blankets to ward off the cold. Her single customer sat fishing out the remainder of his egg noodles with a pair of cheap wooden chopsticks. He was a middle-aged man with graying hair and narrow eyes. These features were set into a face with a firm jaw and stone-faced brow that exuded a powerful authorativness and a muted but fully recognizable handsomeness.

"Sir! Colonel Lydecker!"

The sound of someone calling Deck's name made him look up from the remains of his dinner. He took time to meticulously wipe his mouth with a white silk handkerchief while he watched a twenty something man in a power suit run towards him like he had just gotten off the train after World War II. "Do I know you?"

The man broke his run and stood directly in front of Lydecker. "You are Colonel Lydecker right Sir?"

Deck folded up his handkerchief and tucked it back into the pocket of his black leather flight jacket. He stood up from the plastic stool he had been sitting at and although the other man was several inches taller then him, it was clear that Deck was more intimidating. "Why don't you skip the formalities?" Deck placed a five-dollar bill on the counter to pay for the noodles. "If you didn't know who I was you wouldn't be so excited to have found me." Deck's eyes bore right into the younger man's. "Now why don't you just tell me what you want?"

The man pulled out a concealed weapon from his jacket pocket. "You're going to have to come with me Sir."

Deck stared at the gun for an instant, but he wasn't intimidated by it. "Is that all that's ordering me to go with you?" He slid his hand into his jacket to reach for his own Beretta.

"I wouldn't advise that," the man spoke out hearing the sounds of footsteps behind him as more men in suits emerged from the crowed and all locked handguns on Lydecker. "Now Sir, I'm asking you again, please come with us before something drastic has to be done."

All of the men's guns were small arms, Sig Sauers, Glocks, nothing extremely advanced, but the fact that there were a lot of men with loaded guns aimed at Lydecker made him realize that he was screwed – at least for the time being. "Well since you asked so politely how can I refuse?"

"We don't have time for this Sir," the man was losing his short amount of patience. His gun was aimed lower, pointing directly at Deck's member beneath his pants, trying to induce fear in the older man so he would quit acting like being held at gun point didn't bother him.

But Deck was equal to this. He placed his hand on the muzzle of the gun and slowly lifted it back up to chest level. "I'm not in a position to resist your direct order son, but I suggest you save your blow job for another night." He pushed ahead of the man, eyeing the others who had their weapons locked on his chest. "If you're running the show gentlemen you'd better get started before daylight hits."

The first man broke out of his trance and placed his gun between Deck's shoulder blades. "Let's go Sir." He shoved the Colonel forward and towards a waiting black van that was hidden in the shadows.

XXXXXXX

CRASH - 10:00 PM

The partygoers all started shuffling out of the bar, having been forced out by the owner who was getting a hard rap from the Sector Police by keeping the place open after curfew.

Jace stretched her arms above her head and cracked her neck letting out a low guttural moan as her movement worked out the kink in her muscles.

"That's what I like to hear," Krit called out several feet away on the sidewalk on the way to his bike. "Women enjoying themselves."

"Boy you're about three seconds away from manual castration," Jace warned, but she had mirth in her voice. It had been a typical X5 get together, complete with drinking, lewd jokes and suggestions of incest. But Jace loved every second of it, cause it was home for her. "But I'll spare your nuts if you let me and Max crash with you tonight."

"Sorry," Krit apologized. "Not that I don't have my fantasies but when I'm on the road I live wherever I can cram my bike, tonight it's lookin' like an alleyway behind a lap dance theatre."

"Why doesn't surprise me?" Jace shook her head in disgust. "Zane, how about you? Put a girl up for the night?"

"No can do my sistah," Zane informed stepping out onto the curb. "My home is back in LA and I like to leave my rented bed freed up in case I get lucky with a fine lady."

"Hey I'm a fine lady," Jace argued.

"I agree baby, but it can't be done." Zane corrected. "I have no food that isn't expired or chunky, that kid of yours would starve before sunup."

"Tinga?" Jace turned to her sister.

"Sorry hun, if I get home early enough I'll _definitely_ get lucky." Tinga responded.

"You guys suck!" Jace complained picking up her son who had started to wobble from being sleepy. "If I'm emaciated and sleep deprived in the morning I'm holding all of you responsible."

"You can crash with me," Max suggested fishing out the keys to her Ninja.

"Yeah Maxie like you _don't_ want to get lucky tonight!" Zane insisted. "You need it the most out of all of us. Six weeks is a death sentence."

"No Zane coming in contact with my fist is a death sentence." Max argued raising her arm in a display of hostility.

"Meow," Krit hissed retracting fake claws.

Max ignored him and turned to Jace. "Your ride close buy?"

Jace nodded. "It's parked behind the alleyway. I covered it cause chop shop dealers always eye it for parts."

"How cherry are we talkin' here?" Zane asked. Cars were his first love; women and everyone else came second.

"2019 Mitsubishi Spider. Chrome. Turbo thrust. 235 mph maximum." Jace answered. Her car was as important to her as Max's motorcycle.

"Dayum," Zane acknowledged. "On second thought maybe you _should_ come with me. I could make it home in five minutes with those kind of wheels."

"Sorry Zane she got the luck of the draw," Max admonished. "But if you're real nice I'm sure Jace will let you touch it one day."

Jace's smile was illuminated by the orange streetlamp that cast a muted diagonal glow across her face. "Thanks." She was talking to Max this time. "Are you sure your husband won't mind?"

"He's use to unexpected guests," Max reassured. "And you're family. I won't let him say no."

XXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

"So this is your version of asking _'honey can I invite my sister and her son over for the night?'_ Logan asked. He was standing with Max in the kitchen watching her poor milk in a glass for her nephew. Lucy was tucked up against his shoulder having been awaken from her sleep in need of a diaper change and a bottle.

"You plannin' on kickin' her out?" Max asked placing the plastic milk jug back in the refrigerator.

"Of course not," Logan insisted. "She's your sister after all and Max is your nephew."

"Okay then," Max stated. "And for the record he's _your_ nephew too."

"Yes Auntie Max," Logan returned teasingly.

"Not that I don't appreciate the sentiment baby, but Uncle Logan better shut his mouth if he doesn't want Auntie Max to smack it lopsided." She walked out of the kitchen and left him to follow her to the living room where –in front of the leather couch – little Max was busy playing with Jessie and his racecars.

"You in the mood for a pit stop sweetie?" Max offered the glass to her nephew.

The boy didn't even look up from his playing when he accepted the milk. He drank so fast that he spilt some down his shirt.

"Ease up baby okay?" Jace warned gently. "I just washed that shirt and you only have one other one."

Max slid into the vacant spot beside her sister. "The accommodations okay?"

Jace blew off the question. "I'm sitting in a high rise penthouse over looking the Steklar Tower. This is a thousand levels above what I'm use to." She watched her son play with Jessie, smiling at the way they crashed the toy cars together in pretend head on collisions. "I'm not the only one with a beautiful son," she looked up to Lucy and then down to Lexi who was crouched by the couch watching her brother and her cousin play. "-and daughters. Makes me kinda jealous."

"You got it just as good as me," Max insisted.

"But you did it right Maxie," Jace returned. "I mean you married the man you love and had children with him," she broke off to take a long look at her son. "But Victor's gonna live out the rest of his life never knowin' he's got a son."

Max's eyes softened. She had promised Jace she would get in touch with her boy, but after Manticore was destroyed all off the personnel were scattered throughout the United States. Many later made the news for 'accidental deaths'. Max had looked, but had no luck. Victor might have changed his name to severe all ties with Manticore. "I tried to find him-"

Jace shook her head to silence her. "He was a part of Manticore's infrastructure. When the base dismantled they sent every one of their techs through re-education. The only thing that would've saved him is if he managed to escape immediately after the attack when it was still chaotic."

"Maybe he did," Max agreed. "He sounds like a smart man."

Jace's lips parted to form a word but she soon changed her mind so nothing but air came out. "My little man needs to turn in for the night," She watched Max intently as he scooted a red toy car across the hardwood floor. After escaping Manticore she was fiercely protective of him even before he was born. The women at the birthing center had been kind enough but Jace left an hour after giving birth. She saved most of the money she had gotten from Logan and managed to buy a one-room apartment in an old but still livable neighborhood ten miles outside of Mexico City. She had barely enough money to feed her and her son, having to rely on stealing when the funds ran dry. Her ride was won in a poker game, Royal Flush over a Pair and the owner was plenty pissed to give it up. But when she threw him against a lead pipe he relinquished the keys to her. There were two things that Jace protected, that car and her son.

"He can sleep in Jess's room," Max said watching her nephew scoot closer to her making _vroom_ noises to mimic the car's engine. "He's got a large bed."

"You sure he won't mind?" Jace asked, observing the nephew she didn't even know she had. He looked just like Max. He had her eyes, her way of moving.

"He shares a room with his sister," Max told her. "I'm sure he won't mind havin' an extra playmate around who isn't a girl."

"That'll last for only twelve years Maxie, you know that right?" Jace insisted with a sly smile. "He'll see the value of women soon enough and then you might have to pull him off a few late night dates."

"Uck," Max complained. "Let's talk about that scenario when we reach it. So far he thinks girls are tolerable and that's the way I wanna keep it for a while."

"Hey if you want to live in a fantasy world you have my blessing," Jace said. She stood up from the couch and walked over to where Logan was sitting in the matching black chair. He was a good catch in Jace's opinion. A sweet, hot, non-X5 guy that wouldn't drive you crazy. If Max hadn't married him first Jace was sure she would've taken a run at him. But at that moment the seven-week-old baby he was holding was the focus of her attention. She had stopped fussing a few minutes ago and Jace was finding it hard not to fall in love with her, possibly even stealing her for a few nights. "Can I take her back to her room?" she asked her brother-in-law.

Logan didn't say anything but he carefully slid Lucy –who was now asleep – up so Jace to take her and place her up on her shoulder. "Max will show you where it is."

Jace rubbed Lucy's shoulder with a free hand and shot a look at Logan. "You planin' on doin' some dirty skanky stuff while we're gone?"

"Actually you're right Jace," Logan replied. "I have to return a call from my overly sophisticated Aunt Margo. That's about as dirty as it comes."

Jace bit back a full laugh settling on a small smile. "Are you sure you're a rich liberal white guy?"

"That's what my family keeps trying to remind me of," Logan responded. "But I think I'll stick to my choice as a black sheep bohemian cyber journalist."

"Whatever satisfies you boy," Jace said finally walking towards the hallway she presumed the bedrooms were in. She checked out the various frameless paintings hanging above her on the cherry wood walls. She really had no idea where she was going. But by observing these paintings she could pretend she was just interested in good art rather then admitting that she – a well-trained-X5 officer – was lost.

Max came up behind Jace, noting how she was pretending that she wasn't lost. Jace turned to her. "You picked a good one Maxie. He's rich, sweet, plus he has got one helluva nice ass."

"I'll consider that a compliment and move one with the warning you to keep your hands to yourself."

"Hey I'm not one to hit on married men. Now scoping them out, I got no issues with."

"Do you want me to show you where to put her down, or do you and my husband want to be alone?" Max returned, watching her daughter's eyes close.

"Decisions, decisions," Jace joked laughing under her breath when Max pushed her in the direction of the nursery.

XXXXXXX

UNKNOWN LOCATION

Deck sat waiting patiently, handcuffed to a chair. He was only bound by his hands, and wore no blindfold. He used this planned or missighted opportunity to examine the room he was in. It was bare, solid gray concrete with one long blacked out window that he knew was double sided. The suits that had brought him there had vanished after locking him to the wooden chair with handcuffs. They weren't very well trained in the art of hostage taking, but they more then made up for it with threatening to blow Deck's brains out if he tried to take advantage of a weak part in their plan.

A long bare metal table was in front of him at mid chest level. There was one plain black and white wall clock hanging above the window and Lydecker watched the thin red minute hand scroll over the seconds. Thirty minutes had gone by since he was placed in the room. Thirty minutes with nothing to do but look at the walls and listen to himself breathe. He knew what they were doing though. He wasn't a stupid man. Isolating the prisoner and keeping him waiting was a standard tactic used by many during an interrogation. He had undergone it twice during the Persian Gulf War by an Arab warlord, and he had used it at Manticore many times when interrogating any escapees.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lydecker's eyes scanning the room did not go unnoticed. Through the double-sided mirror that gave a complete view of the captive a cloaked figure stood watching the Army Colonel. Her bald head cast no shine from the lights because of her leather-like skin. Her arms were crossed in front of her body in an almost ceremonial stance. The man she was watching made no indication that he knew she was there, but she wasn't so naive to suspect that he had no knowledge that he was being watched.

Beside her the well-dressed form of Ames White stood as close to the glass as he could get without acutally touching it. He stared at Deck for a few silent seconds, as if he were people watching on a park bench, noting the manner at which the older man composed himself. He seemed ready for a battle should the need arise.

"K'nika su'nos h'ija m'tr'iska. w'ishi'a d'nos h'ka?" ("You found your martyr. Now what do you have planned for him?") The priestess spoke in the ancient language to White, never taking her eyes off of Lydecker's form.

Ames turned a slow head to stare at her, keeping an invisible watch on the prisoner out of the corner of his eye. "I'ka w'ha toa h'ija u'nis u'nosta h'ia w'niksos i'sa r'jisha t'oma ("I won't know what to do until he reveals his weakness to me.")

"B'kisa sh'sta." ("Bullshit.") The Priestess' eyes glazed over with an angered passion. "A'mas w'niksos i'san r'jisha b'is hi'jka bu'as 'h'ia pu'sika." ("A man's weakness isn't revealed by him, but by his punishers.") She gazed at Ames a second longer before slowing shifting her attention back to Lydecker, observing him as one might expect a cat would observe a mouse it was about to disembowel. "Su'a h'ia pu'sika Enosta." ("You are his punisher Ames.")

Ames absorbed the meaning of her words, already knowing that he had been chosen to make the Army Colonel talk. He could already see an angry quiet resistance in Lydecker's eyes. The Colonel did not know what kind of situation he was about to find himself in and yet he was ready to fight whatever it was. And that was the kind of men Ames White liked to prey on.

"T'kia I's n'os d'jinka'ste y'u." ("Then I will not disappoint you.") He turned with small but forceful steps and walked out a black door that had been painted to match the walls of the concrete room. The door opened silently as Ames stepped through it, as steady as a doctor feeling superiority over the naive patient he was about to examine.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This was his first real encounter with Donald Lydecker and before the verbal interrogation even began a silent interrogation took place. Ames noted the age of his captive. 'Over the hill' was the coined phrase. The Colonel had narrow eyes and a stature that was embarrassingly short in respect to the company he kept. He walked slowly to the man bound in the chair, wanting Lydecker to see the full extent of what he was up against.

"I didn't get dragged here by armed men to watch a silent movie son," Deck broke the silence in his low dead panned voice. The man circling him was low on Deck's intimidation level. Young, powerful yes, but lacking knowledge of something that one had to experience to earn credibility in it. But though Ames White was young there was a deadly ancient wisdom behind his eyes that demanded respect – something that Lydecker was not willing to give.

Ames smiled an almost non-existent smile at being called 'son'. His captive was grandfatherly in a way that was completely non-caring and very sarcastic. "You're a hard man to track down Colonel Lydecker."

"Now where would I be if I was someone that was easy to bring in?" Deck asked a loaded question.

Ames studied it briefly before coming back with a response. "That's a question you must ask yourself daily Sir." He paused, not out of politeness but rather for a grand way to begin his interrogation. "But I didn't come here for pleasantries so I'll get right to the point. I need something from you. Something that I have found out through embarrassing trial and error that you seem to have sole knowledge of." He lowered his eyes for a moment, as if observing an invisible file in his empty hands. "It would be a fair assumption that 2009 was a unfortunate year for you. As the head of a genetically engineered project you were forced to watch as 12 of those covert prototypes you helped manufacture jump the fence. And you've spent the rest of your time chasing down a bunch of lab spliced escapees that tried to make it in a world that their pathetic minds weren't even programmed for."

"My kids might have escaped in 2009," Deck's voice was low, but an underlying anger was evident in it. "But it is a dangerous assumption to even suspect that their minds aren't in high tune to their physical stamina."

"Spare me the sentimental piety-" Ames cut him off returning his gaze to Lydecker like a drill sergeant to his blathering new recruit. "I've seen the physical stamina your 'kids' are capable and frankly it's an embarrassment to everything that a soldier is trained for. You yourself call them kids. Why? You probably consider it some kind of affectionate pet name you gave them back after you put a gun in their hands as soon as they knew how to sit up. But to me it constitutes weakness in your so-called 'perfectly engineered soldier.' And the embarrassment of a class of soldiers can only be traced back to their superior officer – that is the way of things that I'm aware of."

"You overestimate your awareness of things," Deck retorted asserting himself even though it was he who was tied to a chair. "You think that just because you throw around some confiscated knowledge about my operation that I'm going to tell you everything there is to know about them? In all of Manticore I was the only person who had all access to these kids. And I'm not about to reveal information just because some suit is breathing down my neck."

"Are you even aware of where they are yourself?" Ames insisted mockingly. "Or was it your plan to have millions of dollars worth of genetic information elude you for over eleven years?"

"Eluding is the wrong word," Lydecker insisted, his narrow eyes contouring in a silent rage at White. He was never one to keep his cool under interrogation. He hadn't become a Colonel to take reprimanding from someone else. "On many instances I have located my kids, even harshly propositioned them to return. But I never expected them to willingly give themselves back over to the project. If they did it would have been the biggest disappointment to all my training."

Ames was loosing his patience and it was showing by a deep crease in his forehead and the way his square jaw was clenched. But for now he kept his anger in check – for now at least, because Lydecker still harbored information that he wanted. "Do you do this kind of thing all the time?

Is it some kind of training you taught yourself to make remarks that are so vague that they are completely useless?"

"What kind of business do you think I'm in son?" Lydecker's voice was still low but it had gone up one more notch. "You think if you just squeeze my head hard enough I'll crack?"

"There's only one way to find out," White stared at Lydecker with all the love of a corrupt warrant officer to his prisoner. His hard expression chiseled away slightly replaced by a hint of sardonic mirth. "Renfro's references were right about you. Even though I'm not in the woman's fan club the files she has on you are dead on." Ames produced a file that he had folded in the pocket of his black trench coat. He flipped the file open to a color-tabbed page and read the last paragraph written in blue ball point pen by Renfro's own hand:

"_Donald Lydecker is an embarrassment to this institution. His year of military training and status as a decorated officer does not make up for his erratic and error-ridden track record at Manticore. He is a threat to the existence of the project and action must be taken towards his immediate removal before irrevocable damage is done."_

"I will not deny that Anna Renfro and I suffered no love loss," Deck cut in as soon as White finished reading the file. "But if the standing Director of Manticore failed in all her attempts for my 'immediate removal' and was killed after being caught in an act of her own gross negligence to the project then maybe there is something to learn from that."

"Is that what you taught those kids of yours?" White snapped the file closed and threw it down on the table, not caring of Lydecker saw it. "You say you've been in contact with them since the escape," White laughed, a dry humorless spurt of a laugh. "In contact with your well trained, super soldiers; who, instead of honing their battle ready fighting skills have spent their years of escape fucking out the seeds of procreation like they were just some loser on the street." White stopped for a second to remove a file that had been sitting in a brown leather attaché case underneath the table. He flipped the file open to a reveal three sets of black and white computer photo printouts. The images on the paper were that of barcodes, five of them in all, each baring a Manticore insignia hologram over them to prevent duplication.

They weren't the normal 12-digit barcode numbers of Manticore soldiers; rather they were 14- digits long and categorized each image into one of three groups:

_33270113979801_

_33145007465601_

_33296007345201_

_33296007345202_

_33296007345203_

"My own opinion of you notwithstanding, I'm going to skip the explanation of what these barcode strings mean and just skip to the part where your miserable self is needed."

Lydecker stared at the barcode images before him, already knowing that the first twelve digits could be traced back to three X5 Class Alpha Females – specifically Max, Tinga, and Jace. Each categorized because of their female genetics. Manticore DNA that had intermingled with human genetics – the unclassified group of Manticore/human hybrids they called their children.

"Just what do you want me to tell you son?" Deck looked back up to White, leaning back into his chair as if the handcuffs no longer bothered him and he was just there to hang around. "If you can't understand what happened then you should have issues with your father's Sex Ed talk, not me."

White was waiting for Lydecker to call him 'son' one more time before he puffed up his narrow beady eyes. When he didn't he went on. "I didn't make these-" He pointed a finger at the barcode images. "The lab technician who was cataloging them did a real nice job of up loading them to me before I shot him but this is all Manticore technology." White backed up from the table and began to slowly pace in front of it like a prosecuting attorney to the defense's key witness. "You obviously thought at some point that these soldiers you engineered might one day run into a good human screw that would make them the parents of a mongrel. So you retrofitted their DNA with a marker that would be passed along to any offspring they might procreate in order to keep tabs on any unauthorized breeding on their part."

"That marker was designed as a security project," Lydecker identified. "No one in the department ever really believed that any of them would escape into the world and pump out hybrid trash. But the world doesn't go on what someone _believes._ I say those few extra hours of genetic tweaking earned their place after the escape. Not one of my kids has had a baby that I don't know about."

"Well that's all very touching. Unfortunately for you your security system has presented me with a unique opportunity." White stopped his pacing and leaned over the table – arms fanned out in an upside down 'V' formation – to glare into Deck's eyes.

"And what opportunity would that be?" Deck questioned, not hiding the creeping anger and underlying sarcasm in his voice. "Their genetic makeup is failsafe to outside manipulation."

"No organism is failsafe to outside manipulation Colonel," White insisted. "Not so long as female ova can be inseminated." He smiled in quiet cynicism. "An egg will yield its whole interior to the foreign chromosomes of another organism."

"You're planning on using my kids ova to create a clone of a child that would be no more advanced then the one already exists?" Deck did not comprehend why this stupid boy ass suit would want to inseminate the ova of his soldiers with the DNA of their own children. Other then the fact that it would produce more Manticore soldiers, but there would be no advancing merit in the project. It would be like trying to advance cancer treatments by using the same treatment methods year after year.

"Who said anything about a clone?" White returned. He pulled up from the table and a second later sat on its surface. "Like you said Sir the DNA of your 'kids' is designed to prevent any tampering, aside from the occasional female ova zygote formation By realigning those yielding Manticore/human hybrid's DNA with the chromosomes of an ancient race and fool proofing it by inseminating it into an X5 ova I will have achieved what Manticore has failed to create – the perfect soldier."

The clicking sound of the only door that provided escape from the steel room opened as the Priestess – now cloaked in a heavy black cloth robe lined with blood red velvet – stepped through into the bare room. Her eyes settled on the form of Don Lydecker as she walked to the table, the robe swishing under her footfalls as she drew nearer to his bound form.

A crooked, crack of a smile pulled at her mouth as she summed up the short statured man in front of her. He didn't look like the Commanding Officer to an elite group of soldiers. "H'stika u'nos o'nis b'niksa k'sta?" ("Has he given what was needed of him?")

"N'a y'kia'h," ("Not yet,") White responded back in the ancient language. "H'ia l'ks t'a d'insa h's n'ie'sta supe'or'istka ("He likes to dance around his non-existent superiority.")

"Pi'etis,"("Pity,") The Priestess taunted turning her bare green neck to look Deck full in the face. "Mr. Lydecker," she spoke to him in English, punctuating each word with British accented preciseness. "You posses quite remarkable chimeras. You produced many fine specimens that we can fully utilize, strip them if you will of all their genetic defects and replace them with the strongest attribute of our ancient line." She leaned in closer, and the dim lighting highlighted the snake tattoos winding down her neck. "I cannot tell you how vital your 'kids' are to my Project."

"And what project would that be you tattooed circus freak?" Deck growled at the Priestess, watching as her eyes changed color from a watery blood red to a cat's eye yellow. "You think that this is some kind of game? My kids are just some prizes you can win at auction?"

The Priestess smiled again, amused at his attempt at angry wordplay. She pulled back from Deck, but never took her chameleon-like eyes off of him. "To fix where you and your superiors have failed miserably at is hardly a game Mr. Lydecker. No, it is a calling, a grand destiny."

"Destiny towards what ends?" Deck asked coldly.

The Priestess remained silent for a beat before answering: "To reinstate Manticore."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lydecker waited patiently for three hours after Agent White dismissed himself and the Priestess for the night. Two men had been placed on guard duty outside his holding room. They were big burly men but they seemed to lack good coordination because of their huge amounts of muscle on their bodies. They were body builders who drank protein shakes to get their bodies, not by working on their dexterity.

The room was now almost pitch black except for a tiny white light recessed into the wall. It gave no real help to lighten the room to Deck, but he could at least see enough to know what he was doing.

He worked his hands up his jacket pocket and pulled out a thin silver bobby pin. It had fallen out of the updo of a hooker at Southside Market who was trying to attract his attention. He tweaked the pin into the locks on the handcuffs and they came open and clattered to the floor. Deck pocketed the cuffs – in case an opportunity arose to use them again – and made his way out of the door. He had expected the guards to be standing right outside the room. But luckily for him the two men were stupid enough to position themselves down a dimly lit hallway strapped with only a Derringer size hand held pistol and a Beretta that Lydecker recognized to be his.

Deck fell into old Army training and crept slowly down the hall until he was right at the back of one of the men who didn't notice him until the very last second.

"I'm going to be needing that back son," Deck squeezed his thumb into the back of guard's neck at the base of the skull; a maneuver he knew from experience would knock the man out. The guard dropped to the ground hard and Lydecker reached down and picked up his gun as the second guard aimed his pistol at him.

"I'm going to have to ask you to drop the weapon Sir," the man's voice was hard, but young. Not at all commanding like Ames White. He was not a Famulair, just a loyalist to White.

"Ask me then," Deck returned keeping his gun aimed steadily on the man's chest.

"I can't just let you walk out of here Sir," the guard insisted.

"You can and you will son," Deck insisted with indifference watching the man's hand apply pressure to the trigger. Deck ducked on instinct but still managed to get clipped on top of the shoulder. He pretended to fall from the bullet and as the guard went for his gun he kicked him in the chest so hard that he dropped his weapon.

Deck quickly snatched the gun and aimed it at the guard. "This is me walking out of here." Before the guard could object or try and regain his stolen weapon Lydecker disappeared down the hallway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS - 11:15 PM

"Seriously Logan how can you _not_ have something battle worthy in your music collection?" Jace complained from her current position scanning Logan's bookshelves that housed his CD's next to a Bose Acoustic stereo. Her eyes scanned over a complete collection of Brahmas, Stravinsky and some lost works of Beethoven. After a few minutes she found a CD she seemed to find worthy of looking at and pulled it out. "What's this doing in your pristine collection?"

Logan looked at the Seether CD that Jace was holding up for his inspection. "That one is Max's."

Jace gave a smile of approval. "Music taste is in the genes Logan." She removed the disc and inserted it into the stereo.

"I thought X5's could appreciate classical music," Logan insisted. "It's not like you lack the intelligence to understand the meanings behind them."

"Oh I understand their meanings alright brother-in-law," Jace agreed, playing the track "Broken" – a song which featured Evanescence's leading lady Amy Lee. "It's just when you've had that kind of music beaten into your head during your entire childhood you wanna get as far away from it as possible." Jace stood back up to her full height, popping her back on the way up.

She locked eyes with Logan while readjusting a lock of hair behind her ears. "Now that I got you all alone how about we instigate something?"

"It would hardly be appropriate with Max just down the hall with our daughter," Logan reminded, knowing that Max could easily hear every word in Lucy's room where she was currently giving her a late night feeding.

"I'm just messin' with ya boy," Jace corrected, satisfied at his answer. "If you're permanently hooked up with Maxie I need to make sure you don't like running around the block behind her back." Her joking tone faded from her expression a second later like a bubble fizzing out in a champagne glass. "Look Logan, I've never been great at sentiment, but I just wanted to thank you, one-on-one for what you did for me and Max." Her words were very genuine. "I don't know how I would've made it without your help."

Logan took her words to heart, understanding what it took for this hard, independent X5 woman to say them. "I'm just glad that it all turned out so well for you and your son."

Jace's lips tugged in a hint of a smile at the mention of her Max. "He's my baby. He's got a lot of my features but his eyes are all Victor's. Guess you could say he's my link to him." She paused for a second to reflect on something. "It's funny how things work out. Five years ago I would never dreamed about having a kid – it wasn't the life of a soldier. But after meeting Victor and getting out here in the real world with my son – it's like suddenly my priorities changed."

"I can understand that feeling," Logan agreed. "My work was my whole world before I met Max. Now the work is still there, I'm still the same man I was before but there's a shift in what's important to me. My wife, my kids-"

Jace nodded in silent agreement. "I wonder how come Manticore never figured things like this would get in the way of our missions."

"I think they just never wanted to believe it would," Logan informed. "They never wanted to admit that their solitary fighting machines could become attached to something other then the mission objective."

"Guess that's what Max meant when she told me Manticore had it all backwards." She smiled at Logan again, but this time her smile was larger and warmer. Not over done like a bubbly teenager, but gracious, and laced with a bit of an attitude.

Logan felt like he was being scrutinized. "What is it?"

"I use to think Victor was the only civilian guy I could get into. But you are seriously changin' my mind."

A knocking on the front door sounded before Logan could even remark on Jace's compliment. He went to go answer the call all the while feeling Jace's eyes on him the whole time. _Yep, she's one of Max's sisters all right._

He expected a caller at this hour to be Bling, or Lucia, or possibly Kendra. But when he opened the door he was faced with someone he had never seen before. A skinny guy, with floppy hair and ghost pale skin.

"Can I help you?" Logan wasn't into letting strange men into his house. Especially ones that looked like a pizza delivery boy.

"I'm Eric," the mystery man finally revealed his name. "I'm looking for Max."

'Eric's' clarification on who he was didn't make Logan feel any better. _Eric who? I didn't know Max had a friend named Eric – wait didn't she have an ex named Eric? But that was just a heat thing, why would he come back? I can't have THAT kind of bad luck._

"Yo dude," Eric broke Logan out of his thoughts. "It's kinda impersonal to be standing out here like this, especially after I just drove all this way to get here."

"Sorry," Logan apologized quickly, not really meaning he felt bad for letting this kid hang out in the hallway. After all this was _his_ house. He did have the right to decide who came into it. "Come in."

"Thanks dude," Eric stepped inside the penthouse wearing a navy blue hoody whose pockets his hands were currently stuffed into.

"You're welcome," Logan closed the door and followed Eric in his wandering steps to the living room. "And for the record my name's _Logan."_

"Well it's a nice pad you got here Logan," Eric said checking out the furniture in the living room, silently admiring the black leather couches and Asian rugs over the hardwood floors. His eyes finally settled on Jace who was observing him with crossed arms from next to the leather barstools that sat beside the kitchen counter. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had another guest."

"I'm Jace," Jace said flatly. "Max's sister." She examined Eric with the same scrutiny as Zane – there was just something wrong with the boy hanging around Max. "Are you into stalking all your old flames or is Max just the acceptation?"

"Ah-" Eric cleared his throat, trying to salvage the reputation that Jace had just torn to shreds. "Max and I used to go out, which I'm sure she told you. And I was in town so I just thought I'd see her-"

"So look at a picture," Jace insisted, glancing sideways at Logan. "Cause as you can plainly see Maxie already has a nice piece or wear and she doesn't need some half bit ex-whatever thinking he can score with her again." She looked about three seconds away from physically removing Eric from the room but thankfully fate intervened in the form of Max reemerging from Lucy's nursery.

"Baby don't tell me that that was the last clean diaper I just put on Lucy. I don't think she can survive two more days of wearin' it until they ration out more at the market-" her voice halted in her conversation with Logan when she realized that there was another man in the room.

"Eric?" Max's brows knitted in confusion. She had never actually thought he would make good on his offer and come to her house, let alone that he knew where her house _was._

"He seems to think he can get a free meal here," Jace's retort sounded off in Eric's ears and he tried not to cringe. He had no idea seeing a girl he was so crazy about would be so hard.

"Bennett and Maryanne have a stockpile of them from Margo," Logan cut in, talking about diapers instead of the situation in front of him. "I'm sure they won't mind giving up a few for a needy cause." He paused for a moment, finding it incredibly awkward how to strike up a conversation about the guy his sister-in-law had already marked for disembowelment. "Max you remember Eric."

Max nodded in silent agreement at Logan's statement. "We already met up at Crash tonight."

"Well this has been an interesting chain of events," Jace cut in. "But I have a son to check on," Jace turned to walk down the hall towards Jessie and Lexi's room leaving the three alone.

"Eric what are you doing here?" Max asked after Jace left.

_Thank you_. Logan was glad to hear Max voice confusion about Eric's arrival. He would hate to think that he was being rude to someone she had invited.

"You gave the okay to stop by one night," Eric insisted. "And this seems a good a night as any." He offered her his lopsided smile, which set above his narrow eyes made it appear too large for his face.

Max went quiet for a moment, dealing with the ramifications of having her own words come back to bite her in the ass. "Then lay it back I guess," she didn't know how to play doting hostess. That was something reserved for Logan's Aunt Margo and the Queen of England.

"Thanks," Eric slid into an empty barstool on the counter thankful that Max had finally voiced him wanting to stay. He could feel Logan's eyes boring in his head and he also took this opportunity to size the man up that had gotten sole custody of Max. He was older then Eric had expected, but some girls were into that whole older man thing. "So – Logan, where'd you make all your cheddar? I mean a guy your age has to have worked his tail off to get this much."

"Eric I'm 37," Logan clarified, but not without a bit of annoyance for the 'guy your age' remark. "That hardly qualifies me to be in the same category as your grandfather. But more to the point if you came here to visit with my wife I suggest you _actually_ try visiting with her instead of asking pointless questions."

"I think I'm about ready for a drink," Max cut in on the two men. She headed into the kitchen and reached under the counter where the alcohol was kept. "You want anything baby?" she was heard to say while she rummaged through the alcohol.

"We still have that hard scotch under there?" Logan answered back, suddenly feeling the need for a lot of liquor.

Max re emerged with a bottle in her hand filled halfway with yellowish-colored wine. "We have Chardonnay which is about as hard as you're gonna get." She started to pour the wine into the crystal stemware she was pulling down from the cabinets above the counter.

Logan watched her pour out three glasses. "Didn't you already have a fair amount when you were hanging out with your siblings?"

"Okay then I'll stand here and watch you drink it," Max met the challenge and handed him a full wine glass, sliding the other one to Eric.

"This is nice," Eric commented downing half the Chardonnay. "It has a good after taste, nice bouquet." He watched Logan and Max shoot him confused looks at his knowledge of wine. "My uncle has a vineyard out in Napa Valley. I use to take trips there every summer."

"You must be well cultured then," Logan stated, shooting Max an _'I'm trying'_ gaze to the glare she was giving him.

"Nah," Eric brushed off Logan's compliment taking a smaller, less indulging hit from his glass. "All that culture so hoity toity and stuck up. I could never get use to it."

"I can't argue with you on that," Max repeated, the first smile finally coming to her face since Eric had arrived. He really wasn't a bad guy, and she still felt bad for lying about their 'hot and steamy night'. "So did Eric ever attach his last name to someone?"

"No way Max," Eric returned, setting down his wine glass with such careful movements Logan felt like he could've have attended finishing school like his sister did when she was nine. "The dating game just wasn't the same after you left it." He smiled at her again, the full on lopsided one that he gave when he was remembering something pleasurful. "We sure had something great huh?"

"Great doesn't describe it Eric," Max agreed, still playing along. As far as she was concerned he deserved some 'you're the man' puffing up after he helped her get out of Sedro Island.

Logan took such a large drink from his wine glass it would have impressed his Uncle Jonas. It was going to be a long night, he could already tell.

XXXXXXXXX

11:25 PM

Lydecker had walked a considerable distance after escaping the Familars Seattle base command. His Jeep had been chopped up by men who were more then happy to lay waste to his ride. So he resigned himself to walking out of the compound, cursing under his breath about the Snake Goddess freak and her idiotic minions. After about a mile he decided that it had been too long since boot camp and had stopped a kid in a rusty El Camino at gunpoint for his car.

He was cruising as fast as the piece of scrap metal would go, about 85 mph, though the engine sounded like it would roll over on him at any minute. The flashing lights of a Sector stop greeted him as the two-armed cops slowed him down for their nightly check of passes and instigating shakedowns.

"Let's see the pass," a middle-aged cop with graying hair around the outer edges of his mostly bald head stuck his head right in the window of the Camino.

Deck handed him the slip of laminated paper from his leather jacket pocket waiting impatiently while the man scrutinized its authenticity. He shined his flashlight at Deck's face. "Buddy this pass expired last month."

"I'm not your buddy Officer," Deck snapped, not at all in the mood for Rent-A-Cop ideology bullshit.

"Whatever man," the Sector Cop responded, not at all fazed by Lydecker's snappish tone. He was use to all sorts of insults with the line of work he was in. "I can't let you through with an expired pass. You'll have to pull over to be evaluated."

"I don't have time for your second rate evaluations son," Deck hissed, waving his military identification in the Sector Cop's face. "So I suggest you shut your trap and respect the chain of command."

The Sector Cop immediately lost his tough ass attitude and down graded to a humble ass kisser faster then a magician could pull a rabbit out of his hat. "I'm sorry you can go right on ahead – Sir."

"Thank you," Deck returned snatching his expired Sector Pass from the Cop's fumbling hands. _Whose bright idea was it anyway to put these morons out on sentry duty?_ "I trust I don't have to call this in to anyone?"

"No Sir," the Sector cop back pedaled, almost standing at attention and was just two seconds away from kissing any jewelry on Deck's hand. "You're clear Sir."

Deck didn't respond and drove through the checkpoint and into Sector Nine.

XXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS - SECTOR NINE

Max checked her watch again, sighing under her breath at the glowing _12:30_ on the digital readout. She was perched on the edge of the black leather chair watching Eric take his fourth drink of the night. He was supposed to have left thirty minutes ago, but somehow he never got around to making any gestures of getting out.

Jace had come out of the guest room once to get some more milk for Max – it helped him sleep - screwing up her face when she saw that Eric was still hanging around. She didn't say anything but kept shooting him sideways looks all the way back to the bedroom.

Eric was oblivious to the signals Max was silently sending him that maybe he should pack it up for the night. He played with the rim of the wine glass, trying to make a resonating pitch by rotating a wet finger around its circumference.

Logan drummed his fingers on the end table by the couch. He had given up drinking after the first glass of wine and had spent the better part of the night listening to Eric regale them with stories of his childhood years spent with his mother and stepfather. Then he moved on to his preteen years – something Logan was sure he had just come out of a few years ago – explaining how he worked at a Surf Shop in California for his uncle before the Pulse hit, but after it "boards" weren't selling anymore so he had to get a real job at an auto parts store at 16. Logan was about ready to slip a tranquilizer in Eric's glass of wine to shut him up. He had been nice, he had been hospitable, but midnight was after hours in the house of Cale. There were_ so _many things he could be doing besides listening to Eric prattle on and on.

One of those "things" was Max. Her less then elusive hinting on the phone had gotten him riled for a bit of contact with her. They had finally passed their doctor prescribed celibacy period for Lucy's birth, but Logan had never seemed to find time to be alone with his wife. Max's X5 reunion he'd known about since yesterday (they couldn't divulge their whereabouts to anyone, not even a brother-in-law) and Jace's and his nephew's arrival he'd swung with. But he _really_ wanted to be with Max and do something they hadn't been able to do in six weeks. And Eric, with that smug baby faced smile on his face was putting a damper on things.

_Respect the rights of Chivalry for god sakes kid! Go HOME!_ "I hate to ruin a good evening," Logan stood up from the couch, playing a move his father had often done to get people to leave without being completely in their face about it. "But I had to get up early this morning for work and I'm about ready to fall over." That was a lie. He ran an underground Informant Net from his own home. The last time he had an 'early hour job' was back in his college at the campus bookstore.

Max knew he was lying because since when did he use the expression 'get up early for work'? But she wasn't irritated with him. Eric had overstayed his welcome a while ago and if Logan hadn't said anything about it she was going to.

Logan's move worked. Eric checked his watch like he had just now realized how late it was. "Geez, I didn't realize what time it was." He gave them a sheepish smile that looked like it was about to fall off his face. "You guys probably want to hit your bed now huh?"

"You have no idea," Logan returned leaving his remark to the suggestions that it implied.

Though his out right sexual suggestions was uncharacteristic of him Max wasn't about to complain.

"Thanks for the lay over," Max directed the remark at Eric as he went to reclaim his camel hair T-shirt coat from where he had laid it on a dining room chair.

Eric slipped on the thin coat and gave Max such a sincere look that she almost felt sorry for making him leave. "It was really great seeing you again," he wanted to give her a kiss, preferably somewhere else besides her forehead or cheek. But he wasn't European or one of those other guys who could get away with something like that. That Logan character looked docile enough but Eric kept getting vibes off of him that let him know he _would_ set him straight if he decided to play something extra on the side.

Eric left his remark at that, adding on a quick "bye" before walking out the door. He walked the short distance to the elevator. He pressed the button for the car and was surprised when the metal doors opened a few seconds later. The car had been almost to the penthouse floor when Eric called it, and he waited for a second while a middle-aged man with graying hair stepped off before he stepped inside himself.

"Long night huh?" Eric commented, observing the rumpled pants the man was wearing, hems were caked in mud and bits of rat turd.

"Good night son," Lydecker deadpanned narrowing his eyes at Eric who lost his smile at the glare. The elevator doors closed and Deck turned down the hallway to make his way to the penthouse.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Logan sighed, lifting his head up from where it lay in his hands. "I was beginning to think he'd grown to the furniture." He stood up from the front door he was leaning against to stretch his arms over his head.

"You're the one who kept hitting him up with the drinks," Max reminded standing a few feet away from him in the foyer.

"I was raised to be courteous Max," Logan returned taking a few steps towards her. "You on the other hand should've smelled blood in the water a while ago and told your little lover boy to go home."

"Is that jealously I detect in the voice of my husband?" Max asked, smiling brazenly. "Afraid your manly prowess might be threatened by a little competition?"

"Hardly," Logan returned, blowing off the remark. "He's just a kid."

"I was too when you first met me," Max insisted.

"Nineteen is hardly a kid sweetheart," Logan returned. "And it was different with you. You were a woman, beautiful, intelligent, curves all over the place." He didn't hide the fact that his eyes were now resting right on her curves slowly traveling up to her face.

"I'm still a woman now," Max smiled seductively, playing into his game of scoping her out by angling her body to give him a better view. Now that they were finally alone it was doing wonderful things for her libido.

"That's something you don't have to tell me," Logan remarked closing the small gap that still remained between them.

"Logan?" Max remarked after finding his lips on hers before she knew he was going to instigate things.

"Yeah baby?" his voice was horse, like five o'clock stubble was scratching his larynx. And he could tell it was arousing her by how wide her pupils had dilated.

"Bedroom?" She panted out the word, finding it hard to keep herself off him now that she had gotten started.

Logan slid his hands under her shirt feeling for the hooks of her black bra. He cursed silently when he realized she wore a front clasping bra because it was easier to nurse Lucy. And he honestly didn't think he could wait long enough to get to their bedroom in order to take it off of her.

"Couch," Logan answered Max's earlier question. He normally had some reserves about doing it in front of a large picture window because of the way Max's family so blatantly broke in. But he was willing to let that side tonight, pleading lust-induced insanity to anyone who questioned it.

Max wasn't about to argue and grabbed fistfuls of his shirt in her hands, yanking him to the long leather sofa. She pushed him down on it, still attached to his shirt so that they both landed on the cushions at the same moment, her on top straddling his waist.

Her long-sleeved gray cotton shirt went up over her head as Logan pulled out their children's toys that had been jammed into his back. He dangled the plastic play telephone in front of him for a moment. "You ever think about playing with toys?"

Max's face screwed up. "You're sick." He knew perfectly well that she preferred to be aroused by skin on skin contact rather than a vibrating piece of plastic shoved up her body. But her face contoured into a slow creeping smile a minute later, because she knew they didn't need any 'help' in getting each other riled.

She peeled back his black sweater and dropped a line of kissed up the midline of his abs, working up to each peck muscle, watching his eyes get wider and wider as she got to his mouth.

He framed the back of her head with his hands, getting his fingers tangled up in her silky locks. "Talk about a full body massage."

Max laughed very quietly in the back of her throat because smart-ass comments were normally her department. She leaned down to kiss him full on the mouth and was about three seconds into it when she heard a quiet thud of a door closing.

At first she thought it was just one of the kids creeping out of their room for some water, but the sound was louder, heavier, the sound of a front door closing. For a moment she heard nothing but then the sound of a familiar voice made her whip her head around:

"Don't let me interrupt you."

Max pulled herself off of Logan's body and a 'what the hell?' look crossed her face upon seeing Donald Lydecker standing in the middle of her living room. He was observing her topless form too closely for her comfort so she quickly found her discarded shirt and slid it back on her body faster then it had taken her to remove it.

"It's not like I haven't seen what you're covering up before Max," Deck stated calmly watching her pull the last bit of fabric down to conceal her bare skin.

This time Logan shot him a death glare as he stood up from the couch. But before he could act on any of his rage Max beat him to it:

"If you only came here to get some sick thrill out of watching me hang out my foot in your ass is gonna show you the door."

"Relax Max," Deck said in a calming voice, almost fatherly. "I didn't come here to discuss everything Manticore so well endowed you with."

"Then what are you here for?" Logan's voice joined the mixture. He didn't like the way Lydecker was looking at Max. She was young enough to be his daughter and, given their history, it was even more disgusting. "It's been my experience that you don't just drop in for chit chat. So how about you give it up now, save us the time of guessing."

"I never play guessing games son," Deck admonished, staring at the younger man with spiky hair and five o' clock shadow, wondering what the hell there was about him that made him think he was threatening.

"Then just spill it Don," Max said in a low warning voice, not in the mood to listen to Lydecker elaborate. "Scratch your damn itch and tell us what the hell you want."

Deck had to repress a smile. There was the thing that was threatening. That civilian couldn't hold a candle to his X5 wife. "I need your help."

"Sorry my Psychiatrist license expired last year," Max deadpanned, not taking her eyes off Deck not even when the sounds of Lucy's crying came through the baby monitor sitting on the coffee table.

"You need to take that," Deck insisted listening as the baby hit a higher pitch. "She won't stop otherwise."

Max glared at him, not wanting to hear parenting advice from a man who liked to torture children in his spare time. She didn't want to leave, but Lucy's crying was something that couldn't be ignored. She never took her eyes off of Lydecker as she disappeared down the hallway to the nursery. Logan was sure he could see her eyes boring holes in the walls after she was out of sight.

"Do you realize how lucky you are Mr. Cale?" Deck talked to Logan calmly like they were two old acquaintances that had just met up with each other after years of separation. "Manticore tried for years to accomplish what is lying in those rooms back there. If I'd have known that all it took was my top X5 females satisfying themselves with second class civilians I would've run things a little differently."

"What do you want?" Logan had to restrain himself from punching the older man for his snide remark. "You already said you didn't come here to exchange pleasantries so why are you being so elusive?"

"Who said I was being elusive son?" Deck informed falling into his old habit of calling anyone he wanted to assert authority over 'son'. "Elusiveness is an obstacle people use when they having absolutely nothing of merit to say. What I present to you is factual information."

"Factual information of what?" Logan interjected. "That I'm lucky for having children? It didn't take a military Colonel to inform me of that."

Deck gave a small dry smile that mixed into the beginnings of a short laugh. "I can't deny that your sarcasm language skills are impeccable Mr. Cale, if you could call sarcasm a skill. But as you said I'm not here to merely dote upon the offspring of one of my kids."

"Which again brings me back to the question of what the hell you _are_ doing in my house at midnight?" Logan's voice had rose to a medium level of anger. He wasn't ready to throw Deck out on his ass – like it was a feat he could do alone. But he was becoming increasingly irritated at waiting for the Colonel to finish his game of telling stories.

"Hey cool it down in there boy!" Jace's voice echoed down the hallway as she approached the living room. "Sistah girl's tryin' to keep her baby asleep-" her words stalled out like an old car engine when she saw Lydecker standing in the living room. First there was confusion on her face, but then it quickly drained away and was replaced by a blood seeking rage.

"Jace," Deck said softly, actually surprised at seeing her there. He now knew how she had gotten out of the city when she had abandoned her last mission.

Jace launched herself at Lydecker and pinned him so hard against Logan's black lacquer framed full-length mirror that the glass cracked down the center. "Don't you _ever_ talk to me like that again!" She squeezed his neck with her hand, satisfied at the gasping noise he made. "What the hell are you doing here?" the words ground out of her teeth like a pestle crushing stone.

"You're going to have to let him breathe for him to answer you," Logan remarked watching Jace whip her head around like he had just told her that Lydecker was her son's father.

"My plan is for him to never breathe again," Jace's words were coming from years of repressed hate. After escaping from Manticore she suddenly got a shock to her system by having to deal realistically with what Lydecker had done to her.

"He came in here wanting to feed us some information so let's hear what he has to say. You have the upper hand Jace," Logan insisted in his quiet Eyes Only intellectual way. "And he knows it otherwise he wouldn't be letting you do that right now."

Jace could see a point to Logan's statement, and she hated it. But she wanted to know what Deck was doing hanging around Seattle just as much as he did. She released Lydecker's neck so quickly that his head cracked against the mirror.

Deck hunched over and took a few choking breaths as oxygen poured back into his lungs. "You kids are all so angry after the first meeting," he pulled himself back into a dignified position, staring right into Jace's eyes. "But eventually you all come to the same conclusion; that you can be no more angry at me then you could a parent who would slap you around when you mouth off."

"Shut up!" Jace ordered in a low threatening tone. She circled around Lydecker like she was staking out a kill. "I'm only going to ask you this once more – what are you doing here?"

"Momma?" Max padded into the living room in the rumpled black monogrammed 'El Dorado Bull Fighters' T-shirt that he had gone to bed in. He stepped right up to Jace staring up into her face.

"Go back in the bedroom Max," Jace ordered her son, never taking her eyes off Lydecker.

Max turned his gaze away from his mother, shifting his brown eyes over to Lydecker. He silently observed the older man with all the curiosity of a child.

Deck stared fascinated at the boy who eyed him quizzically. "Your name's Max?" the dry smile was back on his face. He turned his gaze upwards to Jace. "I see you carried on your unauthorized medical status." His eyes went back to Max who – unlike his mother – still didn't consider Lydecker a threat.

"That's a strong name you have – Max," Deck spoke softly to the boy. "You're a lucky boy you know that? You have a very special mommy," he took a few steps towards Max.

Jace immediately went on the offensive and pushed her body in front of Max's. "You stay the hell away from my son!"

"Come here baby." Max called out to her nephew from the corner where the living room connected with the hallway. She bent low to pick him up when he willingly accepted her embrace.

"Who's that man?" the boy questioned, his eyes still locked on Lydecker.

"Just a messenger. He'll be gone in a minute," Max responded shooting a very readable angry gaze at Lydecker. She set her nephew down on his feet with a gentle pat on his back. "Get back into bed sweetie, it's late."

He looked reluctant to leave but he obeyed the order and disappeared down the dark hallway.

"You are a very good mother Max," Deck said quietly in a tone between a deadpan and matter-of-fact.

"You know what, enough," Max spat. She rushed Lydecker and pinned him to the wall. "Get it through your head that you're not my father. So how about you just drop your dime on what every information you're sitting on and leave the acting to the movie stars."

"What I'm sitting on could very well save your children's lives," Deck insisted.

"Spare me the after school special Don," Max retorted.

"I'm offering you crucial information on saving the lives of those kids of yours and you'd rather blow it off and find out too late that I was right all along?"

"Right about what?" Logan asked finally raising his voice to full blown rage. "If you think for one second that you're going to do anything to endanger the lives of my children-"

"I'm not the one doing it son," Deck cut in, asserting his authority over the younger man. "You actually think I would do something like that to my kids? Their genetic code is worth millions. It's not in my best self-interest to just destroy it."

"It'll be in your best self-interest to wear a cup if you don't explain who is after my babies," Max growled with the fierceness of a mother and the in-your-face attitude of an X5.

"Your babies are just as genetically valuable as you are Max, maybe more," Deck informed with an air of knowledge that could only come from doing his dirty job for all those years. "You may not have realized it, but when you were knocking it down with a civilian you were creating an entirely new breed of Manticore. A successful X5 human hybrid. Their births erased away any speculation about X5's being able to pass along their genetic traits to their offspring. You think that something this big can just be contained? Their DNA is being sought after by millions on the Black Market."

"What kind of Black Market crack head would want to harvest children?" Jace demanded angrily, assuming that this was Deck's version of giving them the run around.

"After Manticore disbanded information leaked out about its existence." Deck told her. "Over the years there have been several copy-cat attempts to rebuild base command, but none of these so called 'Biosynthe' groups had the technology to get it up off the ground."

"You saying there's someone who's got that kind of knowledge now?" Logan asked in disbelief. He had heard the stories himself but had chalked it up to college graduate conspiracy theorists that didn't get out much. "Biosynthe creations may be hot on the Black Market but most believe it's nothing but a load of conspiracy crap and rule out ever investing in it."

"Idiots," Deck told him flatly, shifting his weight so that he balanced on legs in a stance of parade rest. "The very existence of biosynthes is meant to challenge the testament of belief. But for all these urchins lost in their own delusions there seems to be a quiet uprising group who would like nothing more then to resurrect Manticore to it's full Alpha One status."

Max's eyes shifted in a look of astonishment at Lydecker's words. She stole a glance at Jace and could see that she had the same shocked expression as her. Manticore had been destroyed years ago, disbanded, and now Colonel Donald Lydecker the former CO of the organization informed that it was about to be reborn.

"You honestly expect us to believe that some private politician dropped a truck load of Benjamins to some whacko conspiracy buffs for a decommissioned base without _any_ knowledge of what they were shelling out to?" Max was taken aback by the new information presented to her but she wasn't about to claim it as fact. Skepticism was a weapon she had learned to use to her advantage.

"I expect you to believe Max that private funds could be secured to attain such a goal." Deck stated calmly, not at all affected by her attitude. He had taught them all to be wary of things, and he wouldn't expect her to react any differently.

"I don't think I'm expected to believe anything that comes from your mouth," Max hissed back forcefully. "You've given us the run around a million damn times before this so why should I believe that this time you're preachin' the Gospel?"

"You remember your first child?" Deck said quietly, matter-of-fact watching her expression change swiftly from anger to a pained remembrance. "What did you think I was trying to achieve?" The remark was rhetorical, but it got its desired effect from Max – silence. "You and Zack are the top of the X5 line. By combining your DNA I hopped to create a top of the line soldier, expendable in case of emergency. But we found out too late the genetic matrix was unstable. X5 DNA is identical in many ways except on key strands where there are retrofitting of various genetic cocktails. When the Embryo was born his body couldn't recognize that it was attacking strands of his own DNA. He would've burned out before he was thirteen – if someone hadn't beaten him to it."

Max remained impassive at his speech, but her mind well remembered that day Zack killed the boy they had been forced to create. "This is all fascinating Don, but what does it have to do with here and now?"

"Don't you understand Max?" Deck growled out impatiently, wondering how long it was going to take such superior genetics to wrap her head around what he was telling her. "The method of creation was the only thing that was flawed. The idea was sound. All someone would have to do is create a new method of creation and in a generation recreate a sounder soldier."

"You keep saying 'they' a lot Lydecker," Logan spat. "Did you have someone in particular? Or is this another one of your evasion tactics?"

"I didn't go out looking for a way to sell off my kids son," Deck returned just as harshly. "I was approached tonight by someone who had already set the plan in motion."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"E'kis S'ost I'ma ("What idiots you hired,") The Priestess stood over the slumped form of the guard, nudging and kicking at him with a pair of low heeled mules to see if he would arouse.

"Th'as j'nos a'no f'mist'ia" ("They were just a formality,") Ames insisted standing beside the Priestess in the darkened hallway. The man Lydecker had knocked out still lay sprawled out on the cement floor on his back unmoving. The other man had been taken to be interrogated on how he managed to let a prisoner just walk out of the compound. "W'kia g'usat t'a p'knista w'kia d'niksta u'sa." ("We don't need pathetic soldiers to protect what we can defend.")

"H'kis d'niksta w'ela ton'sa lun'stik E'nosta!" ("You didn't protect well enough tonight Ames!") The Priestess' voice grew shrill like a group of bats screeching out of their cave at the same time. "A's k'i'sta p'kis es'ca'iha b'sat n'ecgish'ika!" ("A key player has evaded us because of your negligence!") She stepped right on top of the guard's stomach with her shoe. He grunted sharply at her heel in his sternum but she ignored him.

"H'is n'tas f'as P'nosta," ("He will not go far Priestess,") Ames reassured, not backing down from his cool take on the situation. He hadn't expected Lydecker to just sit in the holding cell like a good captive waiting for instructions.

The Priestess turned to him, her eyes now the fiery red they were when she was enraged. "What makes you so self-assured Ames?" She switched to speaking English with ease. She was a master of both languages but which one she spoke depended on the mood she wanted to set with her words.

"He will try to warn his 'kids.' Let them know they've been compromised." White said the word Deck called the X5's like he had just drank bitter coffee. His English was not as poignant as the Priestess but it was no less threatening. "Their genetics were worth millions to Manticore, he will not turn them over to a new order so easily."

"Those insolent brats are spread all over the States," the Priestess retorted all knowingly. "Why do you think he would stay in Seattle when he needs to warn them all?"

"One of the X5's lives right here in the city." This was new information to the Priestess but she hid any emotions about it from her face. "Only her and two other X5 females have the DNA we need to harvest."

"Then he may not warn them all," the Priestess stated in complete coldness. This time when the guard had finally roused to consciousness she kicked him in the head to shut up his incessant groaning. "It would risk forcing the others out into the open."

"The X5 female will warn them all," White corrected, not even flinching when the Priestess – in a final act to shut the guard up from his painful complaints – rammed her heel right into the shaft of his penis. "They consider themselves all brothers and sisters. She won't let anything happen to her family." The guard fell silent in quiet pain as Ames finished talking.

"H'ksa d'stkiha t'nista." ("How disgustingly touching.") The Priestess switched to the ancient language not missing a beat even with the guard tried to squirm his way out from the floor before she stepped on him again. She glanced at the man only briefly, a look of disdain coming over her features in that instant. "Your mistakes will be remembered." The blood red of her eyes seemed to glow in the shadowy light.

The guard – still grimacing with the pain inflicted on head and his member – could do nothing but crawl away from her into the dark recesses of the long hallway.

The Priestess only wasted three seconds of time watching the guard stagger down the hallway before her full attention once again focused on White.

"I's y'na h'ja i'sa E'nosta th'sa f'ji hi'sna be'su lun'sa fa'sa. O'ska y'sa ik's gu'sa sh'insa s'mnas w'nsika" ("If you know where he is Ames, find him. Or you and the guard will share the same walk.") She turned to leave without any grandiose gestures; the only real indication to Ames that she was walking away at all was the sounds of her footsteps on the cement floor.

Ames took a one second stock of the situation he was faced with before pulling a cell phone from the pocket of his jacket. He hit the first speed dial number and waited. There were a few barely noticeable clicks and whirring sounds on the line – an electronic tracer going to work – and then the call went through.

"_Director's office,"_ came a deeply male voice.

"Is the Director in?"

"_May I ask who's calling?"_

"Someone who's obviously in the loop to know this direct number." White wasn't in the mood for red tape phone etiquette. "Just get on the phone with the Director and tell him he's got a call."

"_One moment please-"_

The line went quiet for a few seconds then a click echoed in the receiver as the call was finally patched through.

"_Yes?"_ A deeply male voice came over the line.

"Director Peters, this is Agent Ames White of the F.B.I. I'm sorry to call you on such late hours Sir but I need a trace on a resident here in Seattle."

"_Sir this is the Central Intelligence Agency not Map Quest,"_ Director Chamber Peters, head of the C.I.A grumbled into the phone while looking through the first of a stack of conversation transcripts from one of his agent's undercover missions. _"May I ask what's wrong with your own agency's hound dog sniffers, or dare I say it, a phone book?"_

"The address is unlisted Sir. I'm aware that the C.I.A has a record of that location before it went unlisted. Frankly I find this information easier to get from you then any of the fresh faced pimple heads working in the tracing department in my agency."

Peters could be heard smiling from the other end. After the Pulse the F.B.I had hired dozens of new agents to increase their manpower. But many of these agents were not much older then the minimum age requirement of 22 years. Since 2011 there had been several embarrassing moments for the F.B.I when several of its analysts had misinterpreted phone taps on the agency's Top Ten Most Wanted List. The incidents were cleared up as quietly as possible but the agency never had the exact same credibility they did in their days before the Pulse.

"_I may be able to help you out Agent White. Provided that my conversation with you never happened."_ Peters had been around for the Wanted List fiascos and didn't want to sacrifice the credibility of his agency by announcing his involvement with the "New F.B.I."

"Whatever it takes for you to spit out the information Sir," White deadpanned. He didn't give a crap about Peter's sense of authority; he was a brainless pig.

Peters growled silently at the hostile remark. _"I see you're smarter then some of your coworkers Agent White. You give me the name and I'll have it nailed down to what room in the house overlooks the street."_

"The name's Cale Sir. Logan Cale," White responded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

Deck stood behind Logan, who was seated at his computer typing out commands to pull up a file.

"Do undergrounders like you always go through government files for your information?" Deck's voice was low as he held a torn piece of his shirt on his shoulder to the graze wound he had gotten earlier.

Logan didn't comment, but noticed over his shoulder the way Lydecker was holding himself. He obviously had been wounded but he never complained about it. "The information is there for this kind of use anyway. Why should it go to waste?" he drew up a record on the computerized cataloging system of the CIA's website.

"The CIA are nothing but a bunch of premadonna peek-a-booers son," Lydecker told him flatly. "Keeping the organization afloat is a waste of tax payer money."

"Maybe so," Logan said just as dryly as Deck, not playing into his 'I'm more experienced then you' game. "But it seems to have served it's purpose well enough in this case." A file photo was soon brought up, an image of a man appearing on the screen.

"Ames White," Logan began, reading the information with White's file cataloged in the CIA's reference of government agents. "Born in 1984 in San Francisco. Enlisted in the F.B.I in 2019. Promoted to Field Agent Supervisor of a covert government branch in 2021. Wife is deceased and one son Raymond Peter placed with a foster family in May of 2021."

"So what does this stupid F.B.I Agent have to do with Manticore?" Jace complained. She was standing a good three feet away from Lydecker, ready to spring on him should he try anything.

"The F.B.I label is a cover-up," Max told Jace from her position beside Logan. She too was eyeing Lydecker for any sudden moves. She wasn't as adamant about killing him as Jace was but she was still wary about having him in her house. "Ames White was one of the recon agents assigned hunt down the escapees after Manticore was destroyed." Her eyes stared at the file photo of White with pure hatred. She hated him worse than Deck, if that were even possible.

"That agency was disbanded a year after it started," Deck corrected, connecting the face of White to the punk kid who had interrogated him just hours before. "The agents spent most of their time killing the X series they encountered rather than capturing them."

"That's not a surprise. Everything associated with Manticore is a dysfunctional piece of crap," Jace hissed. She didn't believe for a second that Lydecker was showing any love towards his 'kids' by being upset that a lot of them were killed by this so-called agency.

"I wouldn't be so ready to slander Manticore Jace," Deck said with quiet insistence, looking her in the face with narrow eyes, seeing her rage come to the surface at him calling her by her first name. "It was what created you in the first place."

Jace didn't buy into Lydecker's line. "Yeah and it spent the next 19 years making me pay for it." Her eyes were bursting with such a deep anger that only an unknown force was keeping her from lunging at Lydecker and ripping out his aorta. "I don't owe that place anything except a single fingered salute."

"You owe it your son," Deck pointed out matter-of-factly.

Jace moved to attack Lydecker but Max stepped and stopped her by grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "It's not worth the energy it takes to snap his neck." Jace finally stopped struggling after a few seconds but her gaze was still full of wrath.

"This Agent White better be one hell of a threat," Jace growled at Deck pulling back from Max grip. "Otherwise I'm going to town on your sorry ass."

"He's a bigger threat than Colonel Lydecker here realizes," Logan stated swiveling around in his computer chair to face them.

"If you're talking about the Familiar Cult son, I know the story. It just took me a moment to remember the face." Deck surprised Logan with his statement. He ignored the stare he was getting from the younger man and continued in his quiet commanding way. "After the Reconnaissance Agency was set up I kept tabs on all the agents personally. I wasn't about to let some half-baked morons go after my kids."

"So what did you do? Follow Ames into a strip club one day and exchanges stories for lap dances?" Max deadpanned. She stood a few inches away from Jace, arms crossed over her chest.

Deck ignored her raunchy remark. "The rumors about this particular sect have been around back since Manticore was first formed. Some of the more superstitious doctors on base even wanted to obain a sample of Familiar DNA to use in the synthesis of the X series. But of course they were fired or executed to prevent them from leaking knowledge to any outside sources."

"Must have been easy standard procedure to off someone considering your track record," Max spat.

"We were designing a totally new type of technology," Deck insisted with quiet authority still coating every part of his words. "Protecting it was top priority. You of all people should understand that. If information had leaked out you kids would've wound up spread out across international black market auction blocks going to under experienced armies for the crappiest bid."

"You must be so proud for saving us," Jace retorted in a low growl. She kept her distance from Lydecker but raised her head higher in a defiant action to assert dominance over him.

"Notwithstanding your seemingly vast knowledge of the Familiars, Lydecker, do you have any real-world proof to back up anything you told us tonight?" Logan asked.

"One week ago at 2300 hours a looped cataloging system in the mainframe of a computer was forced to manually call up certain secure data, photographs." Lydecker opened a manila folder that he had removed from his jacket and handed a stack of glossy photos to Logan. Deck had found an extra copy of the files on one of the guards. So he lifted them after the man was unconscious.

Logan stared at the first photo, not knowing what he was looking at. But soon then the image became clear. It was a picture of a barcode on the back of the neck; almost identical to Max's except for two extra digits at the end of the sequence.

A red warning box blinked on the computer screen forcing Logan to look away from the photo in his hand. He drew up a search for the number the warning had given him, which brought up his name and name of the CIA computer file. A bar was drawn across the bottom indicating the progress of the downloaded file.

"What is that?" Jace stared at the screen in confusion, she knew it was a cataloging system, but what were they cataloging?

"Someone's accessed my cataloged number at the CIA citizenbank file," Logan didn't stop working as he talked, typing a long extension command that altered the last four digits in his citizenbank file.

"You need to reroute the download," Max told him, watching the download was only 20 away from being complete.

"I know that sweetheart," Logan spoke as hurriedly as her as his fingers rapidly punched his computer keys. "Problem is this database is smart, if I give a number that doesn't exist it'll re-run the search."

"So what the hell are you doin' then?" Max retorted. She was about five seconds away from shoving Logan out of the way and diverting the download herself when she watched him complete one last file command and a few seconds later the bar measurement was halted.

"Again what the hell did you do?" Max insisted, seeing that the trace was now officially stopped.

"After someone dies in the city their citizenfile number is sent to an unused safe file until it can be deleted so I switched the names."

"You traded places with a dead guy to keep from being uncloaked?" Jace asked disgusted but with an impressed look on her face. She would have never thought of that, and she was revved up in every aspect.

"As impressive as you think that is son, it won't hold out for long." Lydecker said shutting down Logan's moment of praise. "Once they realize that you're nowhere to be found in whatever run down hovel you sent them too they'll find another route to trace you."

"It will still buy time," Logan insisted angrily. He was getting sick of being called son by Lydecker, he wasn't a damn kid. "I sent them to a dead slum crack house in Sector Four. It'll take them the entire a day to get down there before they realize they're screwed. And frankly Lydecker I need all the time I can get to listen to you explain to me how the hell images like this could exist." he waved the photos in Lydecker's face.

Deck ignored the anger in Logan's voice, he had heard it before, in the voice of pissed off new recruits, in the voices of his kids when the confronted him after the escape. It was nothing he couldn't handle. "You want to know what it is you're looking at Mr. Cale you get a hold of my kids that I know are hanging around this city tonight. Then I'll start appealing to your need for real-world proof."

XXXXXXXXX

FENTAL AVE

"If this is your idea of an enjoyable evening I should've taken my chances with Krit," Asha complained, taking a swipe at the last bit of beer from the bottom of her Heineken bottle.

Zack glared at her but didn't say anything. He was standing behind the couch and bent over to where she was sitting and snatched the bottle from her.

"It's gone genius," Asha stated, watching him tilt the bottle to his lips.

Zack scowled at her again. "Never underestimate the prowess of a Manticore mind." He threw the empty bottle over the kitchen counter where it landed in a half full plastic garbage can. He jumped over her sofa and took a seat on the arm.

"I'll stitch that on a sampler," Asha returned, looking her boyfriend full on in the face. "What is with you tonight Zack? This is so far beyond your normal brooding I'm thinking about kicking you out and getting some male prostitute action instead."

Zack let Asha's warning pass without a word. He was not in the mood for her to believe she had a hard ass side.

The lighting in Asha's living room was far from sufficient; coming only from a single wrought iron floor lamp standing in one corner. The lamp always clicked quietly when it had been running too long. And it was this that Asha thought Zack was looking at when she caught his gaze. But she soon realized that his eyes weren't looking behind her, rather they were looking low, at something between her neck and her breasts.

"You're all about being subtle tonight aren't you?" Asha asked, trying to elicit a response from Zack other then silence.

"How much did the Black Market out you for that piece of painted bling?" Zack stated, looking at a plain banded gold ring that was strung through a chain of the same metal that was hung around her neck. Zack was also just trying to elicit a response out of Asha. He could tell that the necklace was a cheap 14-karet plated chain that any gangbanger could pick up at the corner jewelry stand. But the ring was purity of gold. There were small darker areas on its surface, an oxidation coloring caused by age. But the luster of the jewelry remained in good clarity, a mark of a very expensive piece.

"It's my grandfather's," Asha said with a hint of defensiveness, but it was muted because she had come to accept a certain level of attitude from Zack.

"Does he know you hocked his piece?" Zack asked dryly.

"He died ten years ago Zack," Asha informed. "It was his wedding ring. My grandmother died two years before him so he willed it to me, his only grandchild, because he didn't want grave robbers stealing it from him later."

"At least he's a smart man," Zack concluded. "You should get it appraised," Zack picked up the ring in his fingers, gazing into his tiny warped reflection inside the ring. "You never know when you might need the extra funds."

"Actually I kinda had something different in mind than pawning my dead grandfather's wedding band," Asha insisted.

"And that would be?" Zack challenged. "If your grandfather trusted you to have it why should he care if you pawned it if you're hard up?"

Asha would've argued with any other guy who insisted she turn a family keepsake out for profit. But Zack wasn't any other guy so she let it slide. She slid both hands up and behind her neck, undoing the clasp of the chain. Holding the chain at the buckle she let the ring slide off, the cool metal landing in her palm. She shifted her attention up to Zack, looking into his brown eyes, past all the attitude, all the X5 killing ability and into the true essence of what attracted her to him, something indescribable but something unmistakable.

"I know you don't give a crap about the man made establishments of relationships, 'phony sentimentality' as you call it but I'm asking you to give a crap about me," Asha splayed her fingers out wide, displaying the ring in her palm like a sacred relic.

Zack made no move to instigate anything more or turn away for long seconds. "Am I supposed to cry now?"

"C'mon Zack," Asha retorted. "I've been with you for two years." She pushed her palm out to him, just a little, but enough to draw attention to what she was showing him. "I'm not asking for pomp and ceremony, or golden moments. All I want is something real." Her words forceful but there was a dead seriousness fueling them, rather than anger. "I love you." Her eyes fixed him in a steady, affirming gaze. "And I want you to do something about it."

"You want a fairytale Asha," Zack pushed Asha's hand away. He stood up from the couch arm. "And I don't bend that way." He headed back towards her front door.

"You can shove the way you bend Zack," Asha's voice chased after him, though she made no move to stand up. "I want you, not some damn fairy tale,"

Zack paused at her words, but he still left a few seconds later.

Asha watched him go in silence, her fingers closing around her grandfather's ring.

XXXXXXXXX

The pink neon sign outside the _'Sweet Mommy'_ Adult dance theatre flickered in and out. A lone female figure walked down the row of parked motorcycles, spotting a dark blue Yamaha Viper among the rides. The entrance of the building was watched over by a tall man with enormously large forearms that were exposed by a solid black muscle tank.

The man didn't hide the roaming look over the woman's body that approached the door. "Dancers use the side entrance baby."

"I think I'm gonna use the front entrance, _baby_," Jondy returned slamming her fist into the bouncer's crotch. She wasn't in the mood to be mentally fondled. While the bouncer recovered from the blow Jondy slipped inside the building.

The front area was dark but as Jondy got deeper inside she was assaulted with red, purple and white strobe lights that danced in wild patterns across a vast open space of a room. Kiah's raunchy song: "My Neck, My Back," was pumping through a sub woofer sound system. But even as loud as the music was it couldn't compete with the hooting and whistling sounds coming from dozens of guys lined up next to eight large circle shaped stage podiums where half naked, and almost naked women – most wearing candy apple red stiletto heels and G-strings – swirled around stripper poles.

Jondy pushed through a crowd of men that paid her no attention. She scanned the men, but after realizing she was getting no help from them she worked her way onto the nearest stage.

"Make out fest mommy!" the nearest guy shouted up at Jondy, tugging on her jeans, practically salivating.

Jondy kicked him with her boot and he landed into a group of guys who hooted at her display of martial arts. She turned up to the dancer – a very sexy tanned Haitian woman with straight brown hair that went down past her ass. "You seen a guy in here?" Jondy had to shout above all the noise of the crowd. "5' 8, Medium build, almost black hair, probably carried a lot of singles?"

"Who doesn't?" the Haitian dancer answered with a smile. She twirled once around her gold painted pole to keep the crowd from turning. She faced Jondy after her action was completed. "There a room in the back we use to give specials," the woman also had to shout to make herself heard. "I think I saw one of our girl's take a guy like that back there."

Jondy worked to keep from rolling her eyes after hearing dancer's words. "Where is this place?"

"Behind the bar," the dancer pointed over the stages to a long black bar where girls in tight white midriff baring t-shirts were serving up Vodka shots. "Green door."

"Thanks," Jondy pulled a ten from her back pocket and handed it to the dancer. She had distracted the woman from her job, and though she didn't personally get into stripping, the dancer worked hard and deserved her pay.

The woman tucked Jondy's money into her rhinestone-studded bra. "Next show, lap dance on me."

"Thanks hun," Jondy replied. "But I gotta go collect an idiot."

The 'special room' was only a fifth of the size of the dancing hall. Actually it more resembled a walk in closet then a room. A low plush black chaise lounge sat in the middle of the stark white floors and several fold out chairs with red cushioned seats were lined up against a white windowless wall.

A blonde, white-as-snow girl with a cleavage line that Jondy imaged probably weighed more then she did was sitting on the chase with a half empty shot glass in her hand. She was turned to the side and her legs – wrapped in purple lase up heels - were crossed so that her micro mini skirt rode way up to show her bright pink thong. She clutched her drink in one hand while the other was rubbing long grinding strokes into the abs of the man she was with. Her hands stayed above his clothes, but she still gave in to pleasure-filled looks as she touched him to make the experience more thrilling.

The man himself had his face turned down towards the chase so Jondy couldn't see his expression. But it was not like she wanted too.

"Krit!" Jondy's hissed.

Krit turned his head up in surprise at seeing her there. The dancer stopped her actions and looked at Jondy. She did this kind of thing for a living, but she always felt guilty if the girlfriend came in and caught her pleasing a man the way the other woman couldn't.

Jondy picked up Krit's leather jacket lying in one of the chairs and pitched it at his chest. "Break down the tents, pay the girl scout and let's go. We've got a rendezvous."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

SECTOR FOUR

Three lone prostitutes were working the corner of Fifth and Pender. Though it was chilly all the women were decked out in flashy colored tube dresses and open toed heels. Each girl paid no notice of the others, keeping their eyes cast on the poorly lit broken down road that ran in front of them. Headlights hadn't appeared in over an hour and each girl went through her own pissed off battle at having barely fifty dollars to show for her night's work.

A very faint rustle of gravel sounded off thirty feet in front of them. The rustling grew increasingly louder as a giant rumbling military shaped truck made its way down the road. The truck's headlights were turned off so no real assumptions could be made about the color of the vehicle – but it looked completely black.

The women came alive at the sounds of people near them, each planning out her attack to nab the last big trick of the evening.

The driver side door of the truck slammed shut and the sounds of shoes crunching on the gravel could be heard as the occupant of the vehicle approached the buildings behind the women.

"Hey baby, you lookin' for a good time?" A thin African American woman with Afro puffed curly hair cooed in a sultry voice to the man after he came close to her. He was dressed like a businessman, suit and tie, and black trench coat. But he was handsome, very handsome and she wanted him to do things to her. She licked her lips slowly, tracing their fullness with a pink tongue to draw attention to her mouth.

The man didn't shun her, but he paid her no attention either. His brown eyes were scanning the dilapidated building behind him where barely two minutes later three more black trench coat cloaked men came jogging out of the building.

"The building's clear sir," one of the men told his nameless partner standing beside the prostitute. "From the looks of things no one's been here for years, place is all bordered up."

Ames White silently cursed, and glared at the agent before him. "I knew there was something wrong with the assumption that a well-to-do man like Cale would live in a shit hole like this," he was not about to lay any blame on himself for being at the wrong place. The agents with him would get all the punishment because White wasn't a man who believed in discrediting himself.

The agent blanched for a moment, but kept silent. "We'll have to run a new trace, but this proves he's on to us and it'll complicate finding out where he's located."

"Then I suggest you and your other idiots get started before you're ousted from the agency and have to turn tricks with the rest of the girls," Ames pushed past the hooker who was still trying to entice him despite his obvious slam against her line-of-work. He walked back to his jeep and climbed inside the cabin._ C.I.A pricks, can't even tell when they hit a dead address._

His cell phone ring cut through the air and he dug it out of his coat pocket. "Yes?"

"W'jas d'jka f'nis'ah?" ("What did you find out?") The priestess's accented voice came over the receiver.

"We hit a snag," Ames confessed to her in English. "The dumb ass agents we hired out dropped the ball on Cale's whereabouts. They probably had to fuck Renfro large just to stay at Manticore."

"I'tos c'iks w'jsa t'a D'stska p'ysa. W'ea Ne'ah in'sta f'a th'sa A'sata t'oa m'jas w'knsa." ("I don't care who the Director played. We need the information from those agents to make this work.") There was a pause over the line then the Priestess's voice came back full force. "I'jas no m'osa sn'as Enotsta. W'ea a'sa t'as c'tika'sa h'or." ("I want no more mistakes Ames. We are at the critical hour.")

"Y'ja M'ad'asa," ("Yes Ma'am,") Ames repeated, no politeness in his voice, only assertiveness. "I'as h'knas m'ah t'stisk," ("I will hit my mark.")

XXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

The door pushed open and Syl blew in like a whirlwind. She wasn't exactly mad, but she wasn't exactly happy either. "I was _supposed_ to be heading home to see Craig tonight." She stopped a few feet beyond the foyer, and crossed her arms. "Boy gets one night off in two weeks and we have to play covert mission."

"Hey don't blame me for this. Charlie and I were appreciating each other's senses, you think I _wanted_ to leave that?" Tinga's replied, her voice equally upset. She had gotten a pulse tone message on her answering machine and had to drop _everything _and come over to the penthouse.

From the couch Zack and Zane didn't say anything. Zane was too engrossed in a beer he had found in the back of Logan's fridge. And Zack was unusually quiet, lost in thought. But because of the strangeness of the situation no one noticed. They had all been 'paged' for this meet up yet no one knew what the hell they were there for.

The door pushed open again a second later to reveal Jondy shoving Krit into the penthouse ahead of her. "I can't believe you ran out of bills," Jondy said disgustedly, pushing Krit in the direction of the couch. She did not like having to pay for his public enjoyment.

"Hey if you didn't want to fork over the green Jondy you should've said so," Krit defended, hissing a second later as Jondy kicked him in the shins.

"What's with the loner?" Zane broke his silence and looked towards Alec who was standing a few inches behind Jondy.

Jondy didn't turn to acknowledge the other X5 but she answered Zane's question. "He followed me here after hearing about this whole urgent tone thing," All the X5's had gotten the same pulse tone message – a bunch of predetermined patterned clicks – Morse code.

"Great," Tinga complained, not really about Alec, just about things in general. "We're all held up in Maxie's apartment and none of us knows the hell why."

"It's not in your best interest to question the situation."

The voice made them all turn, right into the face of Don Lydecker as he slowly made his way into the group of X5's who looked too shocked to take him down, for now at least.

"Since when does an X5 reunion include the alcoholic military?" Zane snapped. He stood up from his seat and stared into Lydecker's face – eyes he hadn't seen in over fourteen years. And they were as cold to him now as they were then.

Lydecker didn't return Zane's sneer as he stepped into the group of X5's. The look in his eyes could only be described as that of an inventor observing some of his prized work that had escaped his eyes for years.

None of the siblings were kids anymore; they had grown up in an outside world and had left Manticore behind them as adults. But the way Deck was staring at them struck a deep chord in each of them. Even though any one of them could kill him where he stood, they realized that they could never get away from the power that Donald Lydecker had over them.

"What the hell do you want Lydecker?" Zack spat, no longer being quiet. As the oldest of the X5 unit he was asserting dominance over a man he didn't want to have any contact with them. He jumped up from the couch he was sitting so fast that if he had applied that same force to a punch he could've penetrated a man's eyeballs to the back of his skull.

"Each of you is composed of the finest military genetics on the face of the planet." Deck fell into his quiet commandeering tone that they all know too well. "Even though you may think you left that all behind after the escape it's a lie. You can never escape who and what you are. You're soldiers," he gave a grand pause as if one of them had gasped in recognition. "And I'm calling in your markers."

"Yeah and you're going to be calling God to have him pick you up," Syl launched herself at Deck, going for the vulnerable flesh of his throat, but a force equal to hers held her back. And Syl stared with the bewildered realization that it had been Max who prevented her assault.

"Back off baby sister I'm going to end this right now," Syl's words were deadly with venom.

"Back down Syl," Max's words seemed crazy to Syl and she tried again to attack Lydecker, managing to get her hands around his neck before Max pulled her off again.

Syl reeled at Max. "What the hell is wrong with you?" her voice was full of pure confusion. She glared at Lydecker with all the love of a lion to a gazelle it was about to mutilate.

"Would you guys please keep your voices down?" Logan requested from his position beside the couch. "You'll wake up the kids, and I'd rather they not come into something like this."

Syl whipped around to him. "Then your wife needs to explain what the hell her deal is." Syl wasn't really angry with Max she was just really, really confused and Max was the closet outlet for this confusion.

"I don't like this situation anymore then you do Syl," Max clarified. "But Donald here claims he's sitting on a vital piece of information that affects the outcome of everyone in this room."

"So you're just gonna take him at his word Maxie?" Zack growled, not at all convinced that Lydecker suddenly switched to their side. "He'll double cross us in a heartbeat."

"He's obviously desperate to unload whatever 411 he's locked away other wise he wouldn't bother coming to us at all," Max returned. "That means we have the upper hand, isn't that right Don?" She wasn't waiting for Lydecker to actually speak so when he did she was surprised.

"Sharing classified information, even to a elite unit of my own command is a grave offense, but desperate times call for desperate measures," Lydecker talked to Max, but he was really speaking to all of them.

"It must be _really_ desperate measures if the mad scientist needs help from his lab rats," Jondy stated, in a voice devoid of all humor.

"Tell them about the photos," Max insisted, staring down Lydecker, arms crossed, ready to spring on him if need be. Her response made her siblings look at her in confusion. But their confusion soon turned to bewilderment when Logan laid out the five black and white photos of the barcode strings.

Tinga's eyes widened as she recognized one of the barcode strings. "What the hell?" The barcode was identical to hers except for two extra numbers on the ending sequence, numbers that read simply _'01'_ She launched a glare at Lydecker, demanding answers. "You created a new race of Manticore from _my_ DNA?" Tinga was beyond disgusted, she was furious.

"I didn't create a new race," Lydecker insisted quietly. "You did." Tinga's eyes went even wider, but Deck didn't stop talking. "You never bothered to check after your son was born and notice a barcode on his neck-"

"What the hell kinda shitty game are you playing Deck?" Tinga cut in. "My son has no damn barcode-"

"It would've appeared very briefly, a few seconds at most, then fade away like it was never there." Lydecker cut back in.

Zack's face that had displayed complete confusion until now suddenly contoured into realization, remembering the back of Lucy's neck six weeks ago. "What the hell are they for? These barcodes?" He believed what Deck was saying, not because he had said it but because he had seen these barcodes first hand.

"Manticore encoded DNA markers into your bodies. These markers are passed on to any offspring you conceived, and in the event of separation in the mission, can be used to track them down and return them to base command," Deck answered Zack's question with no feeling in his voice. And it unnerved the X5's even more than if he had gone into an angry tirade.

"You put a hit out on our kids before they were even born?" Max retorted angrily. She had pushed Syl away but now she was the one who was up in his face.

"Each one of you is worth millions," Deck was still calm. Hostility was a sign of losing control and he stuck to that belief. "If word got out about the existence of genetically modified soldiers – some of which could replicate their DNA in reproduction every bounty hunter and mercenary in the world would be banging down the doors of Manticore to steal the technology."

"So you affixed my son with a brand that could tell you where he is at any given moment?" Jace joined in the hate fest towards Lydecker. She never understood completely why she had stayed at Manticore but Lydecker was _defiantly _not one of the reasons.

"Up until the '09 escape the markers were just designed as an easier way to track any retrofit breeding that was done between two X classes," Deck spoke to them like he was their teacher, and they were eager to learn. "It was only after the escape did the extra insurance of the code come to light after the first one of you blipped the radar with unauthorized reproduction."

"So you and your Manticore tech prickheads took it upon yourselves to catalog each time one of my kids were born like rats in a lab?" Max retorted. She had backed down from Lydecker's face but she was still assault distance from him.

"Manticore technology is worth millions Max," Deck stated, still calm, but a quiet anger starting to rise. He did not get talked down to by one of his own soldiers. "I wasn't about to jeopardize the entire project because some of my kids couldn't keep their legs closed."

"More to the point-" Logan broke in, just as heated as Max. "We need to know if anyone else saw these files in this databank and what it is exactly Ames White plans to do with this information."

"What the hell does White have to do with this?" Alec spoke up. He had no love lost for the man who turned him out to murder in order to save his life.

"He's the one who called up the photos Alec," Logan said curtly, holding back a verbal lashing on Lydecker by sheer will power. He had no idea how much the other man really knew about White's plan and he hated having to trust him without any real justification as to why.

"What's that freak planning to do with those pics, play kiddy porn?" Though Alec's quick wit wasn't fitting for the moment, he used it any way.

"Those images are only aesthetic to Agent White's real objective," Deck said.

"Fark it out old man, we haven't got all day," Zack snarled.

"He wants the DNA those barcodes represent," Lydecker continued, going on because he wanted too, not because Zack had threatened him. "Each one of those images represents a successful X5/Human hybrid. A being whose genetic matrix is more stable then the original Manticore prototypes which will allow for the most successful combining of their DNA and the genetics of the Familiar race." Lydecker paused, out of breath, but he also realized it was a good dramatic pause by the way his kids were practically salivating for him to go on. "He wants to recreate Manticore, make it sounder, more stable and more productive then it was."

All the X5's felt like they had been kicked in the gut as the reality of Deck's words sank in. But once the initial shock wore off they were left with a raw hostility that threatened to tear them apart unless an outlet could be provided for it.

"Why the fuck are you telling us this Donald?" Zane pushed by Max and glared at Lydecker. He was much shorter then Zane remembered and he used this to his advantage. "You want to double cross us before you get your cut?"

"I say we kill him now," Tinga insisted. "Take the win."

"I have no doubt of your ability to do so," Lydecker returned in a too normal of a voice when talking about his impending death. "It's what you all were trained to do."

"Shut up!" Zack barked getting so close to Lydecker's face that he could smell the coffee on his breath.

"But doing so will leave you exposed, vulnerable to the Familiar objective."

"I don't hear any suggestions to reverse that plan coming from you mouth," Zack growled. With his acute hearing he could hear the pulsating of blood traveling up Deck's Aorta vein into his brain, triggering the formation of a thought that was about to become vocal.

"My plan Zack is to prevent this atrocity from ever happening. Manticore represents years of advanced genetic engineering; and I'm not about to let some sewer mutant cult contaminate that reputation." Deck said all this with a passion of a man who would do whatever it took to have his way.

"And our objective is what?" Jondy retorted. " Stand on the sidelines and cheer your slimy ass on?"

"You are all soldiers," Lydecker insisted. He stepped away from Zack's hostile glare and moved to stand in the middle of floor, as if trying to encompass the entire room. "This objective is a battle. So you will do what any good soldier met with a battle will do – and that's fight."

"Sorry we left our guns and ammo in our other pants," Max snapped.

Lydecker turned to her with such a fierce glare that if she wasn't use to such looks from him she would have run away screaming. "You think this is a game Max? Do you have any _indication_ as to what would happen to your children if the Familiars got a hold of them? They won't care that they come from a privileged line. I don't have to remind you that DNA samples don't have to be collected from live specimens. If this threat is not taken down then your kids are as good as dead." The last words were directed at every one of them.

XXXXXXXXX

SECTOR FOUR - UNKNOWN LOCATION

Ames White waited impatiently for his jeep to be allowed access through the sector stops. A sports motorbike in front of him revved up and the exhaust puffed a steady stream of dust his windshield. White glared at the rider, finally deciding to fling him – bike and all – against the side of the road. But the Sector Cop at the checkpoint waved the bike rider through seconds before White could initiate his plan.

The cop stuck his head in through White's rolled down tinted window, filling the jeep's cabin with his rancid coffee breath. "Pass buddy."

White turned to him and affixed him with a hostile glare that didn't belong on a human face. "Sorry I left it at home." He gripped his palm around the cop's face like a claw and dug into his eye sockets with his fingers. The cop screamed, feeling three tiny capillaries burst in each eye, which clouded his vision in a haze of blood. Ames released him ten seconds later and flung him against the concrete 'station room' of the checkpoint.

The Sector Cop's partner jumped out of the station and shot off rounds from his AK-47, trying to blow the jeep's tires out. But Ames had already broken through the barricade and was too far out of range for the cop's bullets. After a few minutes had elapsed White no longer heard the sounds of the semi-automatic weapon and slowed his jeep's speed from 112 to 65, a crawl in his mind.

"Agent White," a crackling noise came through a silver RCA two-way radio lying in the seat next to Ames. He picked it up and connected to the frequency. "What is it?" _This sure as hell better be good news._

"We think we may have a lead on where Colonel Lydecker has gone." The voice on the other end of the radio transmission was not a Familiar but a former Manticore Employee. A geneticist that had a background in combat fieldwork from the Marines. His former duty at Manticore was to keep tabs on the X series that went into combat missions and report to his superiors any errors he found in their abilities that could be corrected later at base command. He happened to be at the signal command the night Manticore was destroyed and had avoided relocation by finding a niche working with the recon unit assigned bring back the escapees. A few years after Renfro's death he had heard of the quiet organization wanting to rebuild base command and he sided with it believing Colonel Lydecker to be a dangerous live wire and a threat to genetic advancement.

"Is this as good as your lead to your former college Agent?" White's voice was beyond hostile; it was deadly.

The nameless agent winced from his end, knowing full well of what White spoke of. Manticore had gone on full red alert as soon as it became evident it would be destroyed. All of the top geneticists had been forced to hand over their hard files and research on the transgenics. Then they had all been forced into military Humvees at gunpoint to either have their memories erased of their knowledge of the project or executed if they knew too much to be let out. There was another tech he had worked with– Victor he thought was his name– who had avoided capture by stealing a guard's gun and escaped out through the basement before the fire started. His partner was caught, and interrogated for hours as to where Victor had gone but the former Marine had managed to escape and when he found out that Victor hadn't been caught, and had in fact _slept _with one of the transgenic freaks he knew that he had to side with White to 'correct' this matter.

"Agent stop whacking yourself and tell me your information!"

White's pissy voice brought the man out of his thoughts so surprisingly that his head jerked forward and smacked against the steering wheel of his black nondescript sedan. "Lydecker smashed the tracer we put in his pocket but he must not have known it was there for quite a while because the tracker picked up his last whereabouts in Sector Nine."

"The high rise district," White said more to himself then to the agent. "You confused a luxury apartment for some dilapidated slum in Sector Four!" White always enjoyed making ex-marines squirm.

"Our information was tampered with Sir," the man tried to reconcile.

"So what makes you think I should believe your sorry ass now?" White snarled.

"The readout stopped at Sector Nine Sir," the man insisted, finally finding a more manly voice again. "Cale is a wealthy man; if he has a swanky place to live in this run down city why the hell would he move out?"

The agent had a point, but White wasn't about to congratulate him. "The high rise area isn't easier to locate someone in than the slums Agent, rich people tend to guard their mansions harshly."

"We're running a new trace on Cale now, but he has ten fire walled sequence encryptions around every piece of personal information in the Seattle mainframe. It will take at least a day to break the codes."

"I don't care if he has an entourage of dragons guarding him and that X5 trash he calls his wife, I want his location found, do you understand this _Agent_?"

"Yes Sir," there was a touch of malice in the agent's voice at being talked down too. But there was also an underlying fear of Agent White that kept his words in check. There was a loud hissing of static as White ended the frequency and cursed obscenities in a language only a select few could understand.

XXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS - 12: 15 AM

Max sat in the mahogany rocker in the nursery. She nursed Lucy, but the content that was normally on her face during this time was replaced with a wary uneasiness. The chair didn't rock, stilled by her foot on the ground.

"This is a bunch of bullshit," Zack hissed from his standing position in the middle of the nursery floor. "Lydecker's words are crap. He'd never set us up for a fair fight."

"We all know the mantra Zack," Jondy returned. She was leaned up against the wall of the nursery, one foot against the plaster. "But none of us are expecting Deck to fight fair. He wants to cover himself. Manticore technology in the wrong hands is a kick in the balls to him."

"Not as hard of a kick as I'd give him if he lays anymore of that 'good soldier' crap on us," Krit stated, standing close beside Jondy.

The X5's had crammed into Lucy's nursery to have private conversation regarding the information Lydecker had blatantly presented them. The only ones not inside the room were Logan and Jace. Logan was currently working to hack into a GPS satellite to try and locate any unusual convoys of military vehicles in Seattle that night. And Jace was with him to keep an eye on Max, and to make sure Lydecker didn't come anywhere near him.

"We are good soldiers Krit," Syl insisted. "We got out of Manticore with our asses still intact."

"Some better then others," Alec commented dryly, not hiding a casual yet definite eye roam over Jondy, who ignored him but didn't tell him to back off. "Manticore obviously got desperate enough to want to latch onto the Familiar lifestyle. They're some freaky sons-of-bitches that would make Colonel Lydecker in there have to cath himself."

"That still doesn't mean he's telling the truth," Zack snapped glaring at Alec like a kid who had wandered into a war briefing. "He's probably in with the ancient cult of the damned and is just waiting for us to agree to be stupid so he can hand off his goods."

"You don't need help to be stupid Zack; you do fine on your own." Alec returned. He had never understood what made Zack think he was so in command. Zack's returning glare on Alec was blood seeking but Alec started speaking before anything could go down: "Lydecker may be a moronic jackass but I doubt even _he_ would want to hand off a reinstatement of Manticore to someone with an agenda that so completely clashes with is own." Alec paused for a moment to watch Max stand up from the rocker with Lucy. "You honestly think that he would drop this kind of information if these precious Manticore/human hybrids weren't in danger of being out of his reach?"

"So what if it's true?" Zack challenged, taking two steps towards Alec. "We're supposed to go back to being brainwashed by Lydecker on the off chance of a half assed threat?"

"Tell that to your sisters Zackie-boy," Alec returned, his eyes locked on Zack's accepting his challenge and tearing it down. "I'm sure they'll be as adamant as you to sacrifice their children's lives because Big Brother Commando can't recognize what's really there."

Zack took another threatening step towards Alec and they would've come to blows but Tinga's commanding voice cut through the air:

"Shut up!" She pushed herself between the two and whipped her head towards Zack. "I don't give a shit what your beef is with him, Zack, but you better grill it and eat it because he's right. Lydecker's got too much at stake to double cross us, and so do I." She was the second oldest of the X5 siblings and she was making Zack remember that.

"You don't have kids Zack," Max stated, a low growl in her voice. "If there's even a half assed threat against my babies then I'm taking that plan to save them however tainted you may think it is."

"Fine, if you want to go in blind Maxie; go ahead. But don't think I'm going along with this willingly." Zack had plenty to hate about this situation. But in reality he didn't want Manticore to be reborn any more then any of them did, and this seemed the only way to annihilate the problem before it spread.

"None of us expect you to big brother," Jondy insisted. "Otherwise we'd know it was a bad plan." She moved towards the door. "Let's go, before the bastard finds a way to elude the deal."

They poured out of the nursery with expressionless faces. Manticore had already been reborn in that instant as the siblings drew upon Manticore learned masks of indifference to shield any emotions from Lydecker as they faced him.

"We're agreeing to the objective Lydecker," Tinga spoke up for her brothers and sisters, she knew Zack would say something long winded and she wanted to keep this short and definitively clear. "But if there's even the slightest hint that you're playing us, the plan to not maim you is off."

"I don't want to see your son wind up in the wrong hands anymore then you do Tinga," Deck said quietly once Tinga's tirade was done.

"Suck up time is over Colonel," Zack hissed. "Get to the objective before you lose more than your flimsy credibility." He stared warily at Lydecker. He hated every part of this deal and didn't mind expressing it.

"The objective is simple Zack," Deck returned calmly, not intimidated by the words of a soldier he himself had trained. "We all have a common enemy out there, and that enemy needs to be taken down."

"Wow you should've told me us it was_ that_ simple Lydecker," Krit spat. "I could've scheduled more time at the bars." His voice still had the humoristic tone he was known for, but there was also an angry seriousness in it. "So what's the break down of your cake walk plan?"

"Wherever Agent White is it's somewhere in the city. It took me only a few hours to get to this Sector." Lydecker began. "My guess is he's based on the outskirts of one of the first three sectors."

"You're a smart little prick aren't you?" Jace cut in. She was standing in the door less entryway that led to the bedrooms of the penthouse. Her body was fully erect and tense, the stance of a mother guarding the son that was sleeping in one of those rooms.

Lydecker ignored her completely and went on, speaking as commandingly to them as he did when they were still under his authority at Manticore. "This cult, the Familiars, are nothing new. Their existence goes back further then the creation of Manticore. After base command was established there were rumors of security leaks. They wanted Manticore technology. Their plans were always revealed before anything could be instigated but the leak always remained there for them to feed on." Deck paused for a moment, gearing up to reveal something he had told _no one_, not even his closet informants. As a Delta Special Op he had learned the value of keeping secrets. "Director Renfro was the leak."

Though this was a crucial piece of information Renfro had been killed four years ago in the blast that destryoed Manticore. So none of the X5's knew why the hell a dead woman's dirty past mattered anymore.

"And how the hell is that viable now?" Alec was the first one to ask the question they were all thinking. "Last time I checked Renfro was dead."

"Don't you get it?" Deck returned to the X5 that hadn't made the escape in '09, someone with more extensive training than even his kids – who should've connected the pieces. "Renfro formed an alliance years ago with the Familiars to give them a viable Manticore female capable of passing on her genetics to her offspring. But two X5 soldiers removed her from the lab before the transaction could be made."

Max and Zack shared a silent exchange at Lydecker's words. It was they who had rescued Tinga – the viable Manticore female – four years ago from a containment facility. She hadn't seen Lydecker there, but Max knew that he wasn't out of the loop of what happened, and judging by his words tonight he _was_ there, watching them the whole time.

"Director Renfro continued to sell Manticore genetics to the Familiars," Deck went on, not loosing a beat in his conversation. "But after her death Manticore fell apart and the deal was terminated. But quiet meetings were still going on between them and loyalists to Renfro. And talk began of reestablishing the pact with the Familiars," Deck pasued again, not out of vanity, but because he was running out of breath. "Tonight I came across this cult, not by personal choice, and I was made aware of their plans to reinstate Manticore and contaminate what it took years to create."

"You want us to take down the Familiars?" Alec said suddenly understanding the grand scale of Lydecker's words. "An ancient line that's been pissing it up for thousands of years is going to be taken down by a bunch of maladjusted soldiers?"

"Don't ever underestimate where you came from son," Deck snapped coldly, glaring right into Alec's eyes.

"I don't," Alec returned Lydecker's cold glare. "I'm underestimating where you're coming from."

Deck backed off Alec and faced the others with the authority of the Colonel he was. "This is what you were designed for, what you trained for, and I will call in your markers regardless of any piss poor excuses."

"The only piss poor excuse is you Donald," Max stated matter-of-fact and stepped right up into Deck's face. Fighting the Familiars was a huge task even if the pretended to know how to approach it. And doing it with Lydecker was not something any of them were looking forward to. But for all his lies Max knew he was telling the truth about this. And if she wanted to save her children, she would have to do this. "We'll agree to the war but not the terms. You didn't call in our markers, we came on our ownThis fight is not about you. Every threat we have to face is because of you, so no one gives a damn about your loyalty speech – this thing is done to save _our_ families understand?"

Max didn't expect Lydecker to answer her but he did. "Then I suggest things get started. Enough time has been wasted on just talking."

XXXXXX

JAM PONY - THE NEXT DAY

12: 15 PM

Max parked her Ninja outside Jam Pony, not even bothering to lock it up, because she wouldn't be long and if someone was looking to steal her bike she wasn't in the mood to be non-violent about getting it back.

The messenger service was alive with runners going back and forth, both on foot and on bikes. It was a crowded chaotic scene, yet through it all Normal managed to spot Max as she walked down the ramp that lead inside the building.

"What are you doing here?" was Normal's greeting to Max. "Your maternity leaves not over for two more weeks. You're not getting extra cash for coming in early and doing nothing."

"Have you seen Original Cindy?" Max didn't comment on Normal's tirade. Like she wanted to end her maternity leave early to hang around with him.

"She's on another one of her self-appointed breaks," Normal informed her in exasperation. Max started to walk away but he still called out to her: "If your friend can't handle good honest work then she needs to stop wasting my time!"

Max did what she always did when Normal yelled at her, ignored him. She found Cindy sitting at the only table that was in their designated 'break room.' There was no food in front of her, but she was still taking advantage of the time to have a conversation with one of the younger runners.

"Mind if I interrupt?" Max asked a needless question. She had no concern about cutting into Cindy's time collecting dates, since she usually preferred long legs and breasts to flat cheasted guys. But she still didn't want to just order her girl out of a conversation.

Cindy turned to Max's voice, slightly surprised to see her because – like Normal – she knew that Max was still on leave. "Hey boo. Why are you dissin' a much needed break to hang out in this dump?"

"I needed to chat with my home girl," Max answered smoothly, feeling a smile wanting to emerge her face despite what she had come here for. But it never made it to the surface because Max had something very serious weighing on her brain. "You mind if we privatize?"

Cindy turned from Max and looked at Richard, the 19-year-old runner she had been conversing with. "Sorry to cut this short suga, but my girl and I need some time on the DL."

"No big deal," Richard returned, standing up from the rusted out white washed chair he had been sitting in. "I should be getting back on a run before Normal decides to fire me anyway." Richard was as drop dead handsome as Zack, but he had none of the cockiness. He had grown up in a matron-run family of three sisters and had high respect for the female gender. "You're lookin' really nice Max," his words had the usual trace of desire of a man to a very attractive woman. But he only meant it as a one-way compliment.

"Thanks," Max accepted the compliment and offered Richard a smile as he departed from the table.

"So what's the dealio suga?" Cindy jumped right into the conversation Max had wanted them to have alone.

Max slid into a vacant seat across from Cindy, and rested her elbows on the table, her leather jacket rustling at her movements. All her actions were done in complete silence and Cindy knew right away that something wasn't right. "What is it boo?" Her words were met with more silence from Max. Cindy leaned up over the table, starting to suspect that whatever was going on was more serious then she knew. Max always went silent when something really major was going down. "You can tell Original Cindy anything girl, you know that right?" She set a hand on Max's arm and caressed the bicep for a few seconds. "Cause I'm down like that, and I'll be here for ya."

Max's eyes had been downcast the entire time. She forced down a weak sounding sigh that was building in her throat and cast a dead serious gaze at her friend. "I need you to do something for me."

XXXXXXXX

SEATTLE - UNKNOWN SECTOR

"What the hell is the meaning of this turtle pace?" Ames White's booming voice preceded him like a trumpeter as he banged through the double metal doors.

He had walked into a vast concrete building two stories high. Narrow metal catwalks hung suspended from the ceiling. Beside them large aluminum masses that resembled the noses of 747 jumbo jets emerged from the floor like the last remains of a city after a nuclear war. The huge frame of these machines contained long exhaust pipes that pointed skyward and thick clouds of hot steam emitted from them at ten second intervals. The steam humidified the air of the enclosure so much that it felt like a tropical rainforest. Men in white lab coats, and four or five in black business suits scurried around below the catwalks to lab stations that consisted of long banquet sized tables covered in electronic microscopes and top of the line computers.

The workers hurried around like a newsroom before a major story break. They were so lost in the chaotic mess that was their jobs that White's comment went virtually unnoticed, something that infuriated Ames.

He stormed off to the nearest lab station where a balding man sat at a Pentium X04-Class laptop – a very high tech computer designed in 2008 to aid the covert Star Wars Missile Defense System. The tech stared intently at his computer screen that was showing a map out of a single slice of human chromosome 13. His concentration was suddenly interrupted when a large hand seized his lab coat and yanked him to his feet so fast that the coffee he was reaching for splashed to the floor under his workstation.

"Agent White," the tech gazed startled into the angry glare of Ames's face. The hot breath on his neck made the room ten times warmer then it already was.

"Do you have some problem with your ears that needs to be corrected?" White snapped. He was so close to the tech's face that he could see the sweat beads forming at the bridge of his nose.

White didn't wait for the man to give him a pitiful 'no sir' response. "I want to know why the hell it takes an entire day just to find where one damn person lives!"

The tech squirmed under White's grip, begging like a snared animal to be let free. "Sir, I'm not in charge of surveillance and recon but I can assure you that we're working our asses off to break through Cale's security mainframe before the day is out."

White was completely unexcited by the techs attempt at reassuring words. He was beginning to wonder just how many techs it _took_ to locate one damn address. Nevertheless he released the tech's lab coat causing him to fall back hard on the cushioned computer chair. Ames left him there like a frightened child and went in search of the group of ten agents he had given the appointed task of handling all the surveillance work.

He found them all busily hunched over their computers just like the prior man had been doing. But unlike their counterpart these individuals were not geneticists – they couldn't match any of the Harvard medical intelligence the first technician had displayed, but they were not there for that reason. They were the nervous system of the operation. They compiled all data taken from the outside world and relayed it back to the other agents and lab techs. They were the remains of what once had been a hundred-man Cryptology Unit at Manticore. It had been their jobs to encrypt any outgoing data concerning covert missions; also they were responsible for breaking through the codes of private investors who thought they could cheat Manticore in order to steal their technology. They had been displaced after the fire and those that escaped reconditioning were at a loss as to what to do next. After hearing about the plan to recreate Manticore they hired themselves out to the Familiars rather than being on the bad side of the movement and hunted down for what they knew.

The computers these men, and one single woman - whose features were so austere she could very well be mistaken for a man – worked on were concealed by cubicles that blocked their work from view completely, even from their own coworkers. If any of them made a discovery that needed attention or input they would push a red signaling button located next to their CPU and it would intern signal the other agents in the sect to converge on the cubicle. They were working on very classified information; and the Familiar's, being a higher bred version of human and much smarter then modern man knew; were aware of weaknesses that made human beings too curious and competitive for their own good. If one of the agents oversaw something he shouldn't have before he was properly debriefed they could easily be bought by the Black Market.

Ames stopped in front of the first cubicle, staring at the man designated as the Special Agent in Charge for the surveillance unit. On his Pentium monitor was a map of Sector Nine. Every residential building was lit up in red and coordinates were given below them as to their exact location. Several of the apartment buildings surrounding Mayor Steklar's multimillion dollar library had their coordinates X'd out and the SAC was busy typing out commands on a text area below the map that was opened to the City of Seattle Mainframe file catalog of all it's citizens.

"I only hope that all this fanfare is bringing up good news," Ames voice made the SAC swivel in his chair.

He was younger then the technician that White had first confronted, but not by much. Specks of gray doted his black hair around the ears set below a square forehead and prominent Anglo Saxon nose. But his eyes were what made others take him seriously. They were translucent pewter gray and were set in a way that made him look permanently pissed off. But when he heard Ames's voice behind him a cloud settled over his steel-eyed expression, because the man he was looking at scared the hell outta him, and demanded his respect.

"The trace is running Sir," the SAC reassured trying to find his voice in a throat that had suddenly gone drier then dust. "But it's a slow and arduous process. I don't know what the hell kinda work Cale does, but he made damn sure no one is able to look at his stuff." The SAC broke off to wipe away a collection of sweat that had accumulated at the back of his neck staunching his white dress shirt.

"It's been over three hours," White insisted. "And you have the highest damn form of tracing gear known in existence, you should've made headway." White wasn't expecting a hat trick but his agents just couldn't keep screwing up on their jobs and begging him for mercy.

"We have Sir," the SAC replied turning back to his computer to make sure none of his lower agents could see him cracking under Ames White's sterile glare. "Cale is one hell of a smart tech head to set up this kind of security system. The first three firewalls we broke through were smoke screens. After we broke the codes the system it recognized it had been infiltrated and froze up, reset it's passwords with completely new symbols and kicked us right back to where we started."

"Another dead end Agent?" White's voice dripped with blood lust. "These just keep adding up don't they?"

"There may be another way Sir," the SAC insisted turning back to his computer screen. "This map shows the layout of Sector Nine. All the X'd out coordinates we know for a fact aren't your guy." He typed a command out, banging on the computer keys with long fingers. "Now his encryption system may be state of the art but each time after I attempt to break through a firewall it sent an Electro pulse through to some location here in the Sector. Cale somehow managed to connect his computer permanently with every mainframe in the city, my guess is to run checks on who was trying to access his files." His fingers stilled on the keys for a few seconds before he hit one simple command: _Control Alt F5_ which brought up a Sonar resonance imager – a program that transformed sound waves into wave graphs where frequency pitches could be compared. "This city is filled with high pitched frequencies from cell phones, hover drone satellites. But his security system is unique, with a distinct wavelength. So all we have to do now is rebreak the firecodes and send the signal out again. Once it's out we filter out all the background noise and find out where the pulse wave was transmitted too."

"Fine," White was finally becoming pleased at the way things were turning, but it would take another three or four hours they didn't have just to try all the different symbols to rebreak the firewalls around Logan Cale's files. "But if this doesn't work you and every damn agent in this city will be walking on foot and banging on every door in that goddamn Sector until you find them." He wasn't serious because he knew how easily people could tip the man of a convoy after him. His eyes spotted the Priestess at the head of the room where one of the metal machines was particularly loud, sounding like a dozen men grinding metal in their teeth No one else was within fifteen feet of her because the noise – although not completely unbearable – was suffocating.

The Priestess took no notice of the noise. Her ears were the size of any woman's but she had the unique ability to fold them against her head, blocking out sound so much that any audio stimuli came to her muffled. Though this made her hearing limited she was a master of reading the senses of those around her. She smelled the pheremones of White before he even came close enough for her to see him. Once he was within her line of sight she stepped away from the hissing monster of a hydraulic motor so as not to have to shout to him. After she sensed the noise had settled down enough her ears came untucked from her head and she shook them a little, like a dog does when they itch.

"What of the progress?" She gazed up into Ames's eyes. She was almost as tall as he was and she used this power to her advantage.

"Slow, remedial," Ames responded in a normal voice. They were around those who knew of their project, there was no need to be secretive.

"Siding with pathetic human minds has its consequences Enosta you know that," the Priestess called Ames in English by his F'Tusa, or "power name"It was given to every first born Familiar male by his father to ensure his son would exert power right from the first moment he was alive. In his case it meant: "Firewalker", but in English the closet translation had simply come out to _Ames._

Ames actually drew his features into a small laugh like he had shared some inside joke with the Priestess. "What's with the high minded apparel?" He changed topics and spoke of her clothes.

The Priestess was wearing black silk Cheongsam – a traditional Chinese long narrow skirted gown – that covered her from the top of her green neck and ended just above her ankles. It was covered with embroidered white cherry blossoms with silver buttons at the high collar. The dress itself was incredibly beautiful but on the Priestess green body it didn't look beautiful, but out of place, ghastly against her skin.

"I came from a meeting," the Priestess returned. She had a love of Chinese clothing, the silks the designs. She knew she was nowhere close to being pretty. But dressing in the extravagantly designed silk gave her a sense of raw power. Ancient Chinese beauties had been cunning thieves and murders wearing such lavish garments and the Priestess would do the same. "T'jaksa V'jska p'nsa 'wiksa w'nas En'osta, b'jas he'a I'mpa'ta fo's re'ja p'has to'baj." ("The Elders are very proud of your work Ames, but they are impatient to begin the Second Phase.")

Ames looked her up and down but without any trace of lust or a simple observing of a female form. "Sj'ka d'jak t'ah p'saka to'sa mk's lan'ah'ik P'nosta?" ("So you decided to give them pleasure to make them wait Priestess?")

"Kil'sa E'noa U'tusa!" The Priestess snapped annoyed. The meaning of her phrase was so complicated that no exact English wording would explain it but it roughly translated to: "Fuck you." "C'jsa m'as En'osta, I'ja to'sa di'kas u'as s'kaisa." ("Your men Ames, I have doubt they will be as useful as you claim.")

"They're doing their job, albeit half assed." Ames switched back to English, wanting the ex-Manticore workers to hear what he was saying. "We will have our people with them when the real moment comes."

The Priestess stared out into the mass of workers too busy to pay her the same attention she had gotten in the bar on the previous night. "This work they do now is a test Ames." She also fell back into English, watching the workers scurry around them like rats with their tails on fire. "And they are shitting up their examination with their slowness. Colonel Lydecker should've been found hours ago. The files he took are of great value and shouldn't have left our complex."

"Lydecker knows nothing he hasn't already," White insisted. "He trained these transgenics, he oversaw the cataloging system we came across. Nothing viable has escaped."

"Except Colonel Lydecker," the Priestess hissed turning her full attention back to Ames, her eyes going Cat's eye yellow again. "These transgenics of his are the entire reason this project is able to survive. Without their DNA everything is worthless."

"I don't have to be reminded of that," Ames said curtly, lowering his voice to a quiet anger. "This entire project would not have even come into existence had I not been trusted enough to be assigned to a Manticore recon unit after the fallout."

The Priestess eye's shifted again and now the pupils were blood red. "You have been trusted to head this yes, but be mindful Ames-" she was older then him by one hundred years and her dominance over him echoed in every word she said. "The project is built on a house of cards. Until we've cemented our cornerstone by successfully creating the new transgenic line even the slightest change in the air will destroy our work." She said nothing to Ames about warning him not to screw up, but the warning was lurking behind her statement. The project was entering its final phase; a slip up now would prove deadly.

Her blood red pupils bore into Ames' head. "Watch your men carefully, as soon as the readout on Colonel Lydecker's location is unearthed I want to be notified." The Priestess was as commanding as Anna Renfro, but a thousand times more dangerous.

"Of course _Mig'akas'a_," Ames called the Priestess by the name that had been given to her by the Head Priestess of the Familiars. It had become her new name much like a nun's Sisterly title became hers when she entered the Convent. But the Priestess refused to use it because the Head Priestess had always hated her and had humiliated her to no end with her name, which meant the same thing as the English equivalent of: "slut" but with the sacred prefix of "_Mig"_ attached to the front of it, so that her full name was: "_Holy Slut"_

The Priestess glared at Ames with as much hatred as any female who had been talked down to, and in a very American hard ass way, she flipped him off with a green leathery middle finger. She dropped the offensive gesture a second later and stood once again in a dignified manner. "I suggest you get to work Agent White, you've wasted enough time already."

XXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS - 6: 15 PM

Deck stood once again virtually on top of Logan watching him access Sector maps with the ease of a man who had done it for years. "I'll bet you never thought that one moment in front of a minister would result in such consequences."

"When you care about someone you do what you have to," Logan returned continuing on with his typing sensing Deck's retaliation was imminent. "Whatever happens as a result will just have to be dealt with."

"You don't have to convince me son," Lydecker said emotionlessly. "I felt the same way about my wife."

Logan's hands stilled on the keys for a second, but he did his best not to show Don Lydecker how much his words had affected him.

Deck took his silence as an opening. "Her death devastated me at first, but then I saw that death came for the weak, and that weaknesses was something that could easily be corrected."

"Is that why you headed Manticore?" Logan still didn't look at Lydecker, feeling the older man trying to work in on his mind. "To try and reinvent your dead spouse but without the 'weaknesses' that killed her in the first place?"

"I loved my wife son," Deck defended with quiet hostility. "She was as special to me as Max is to you. But it was her weakness that got her murdered. She refused the simple humiliation of touch, something she would have easily learned to deal with and instead chose to be shot down on the street. If not for her own weakness she would still be alive and you and I would have no need for this conversation."

"We wouldn't be talking Colonel," Logan insisted, turning to collect the printed maps that were being fed out of his hp laser printer. "But it would be at the expense of your wife's rape. You turned her death into a martyr, a reason to bioengineer children and then spend the rest of the time torturing them into submission."

"If I never viewed my wife's death as a martyr Mr. Cale then _your_ wife would never have existed." Lydecker's words were low, but intense, insistent.

Their conversation could have gone on for hours. Each man knew the power of his position and each was intelligent enough to vocalize it. But it was never to be because at that moment Max stepped into the computer room. Her eyes settled on her husband, briefly glancing at Lydecker out of the corner of her eye but not giving him any real attention. "You have the maps?"

Logan's answer to her was to hold out the three enlarged satellite photos taken of Seattle's first three Sectors. Max took them from his hands and he stood up at the exact same moment like they were bound together by an invisible cord. Neither of them looked to see if Lydecker was following them, but they could hear his footfalls echoing on the hardwood floor.

The dining room now resembled an improvised war room. The black lacquered table was taken up completely by a huge hand drawn map that only allowed one tiny corner of the table to peak out from the paper. All the matching chairs had been pushed back and Syl stood at the head of the table examining the map while Tinga looked on. Close by Zack was speaking in a quiet hushed tone about what was most likely issued commands judging from all the military vocabulary he was using.

They were all so in tuned to their work that none of them gave any special acknowledgement to the other three joining them. This evening wasn't a social call; they were soldiers discussing battle plans. Their focus on the objective couldn't be broken just because one of their sisters and her husband had just entered the room.

Only when Zack noticed that Max was carrying satellite surveillance photos did he break concentration from what he was doing. "Any cloud cover on the readouts?"

"None," Max said walking the short distance to the dining room table. She spread out the images on top of the map. "The evening was crystal for spying."

Zack leaned over and examined the images, comparing it to the map he had drawn up early that morning during a recon mission. Both maps were almost exactly alike because of Zack's photographic memory – a trait of all X5's. But the satellite images showed what his map couldn't – the location of every vehicle that had been traveling through the first three Sectors of Seattle during the time the readout was taken. Cars and other vehicles all appeared on the map as glowing red formations because of the heat that came from their engines. There were several hundred red dots all over the map, which was a normal traffic occurrence for a metropolitan city.

Most of the cars were all lined in even groupings to show the flow on the highways for average night traffic. But what Zack was looking for was an unusual amount of traffic converged on one area on any of the side roads that were normally supposed to be dead except to crack dealers who normally walked to their sites.

Zack looked over the maps very carefully and cursed under his breath when he could see nothing out of the ordinary. "The readouts are normal," he was incredibly pissed off. Recon had gotten him about a dozen locations, abandoned warehouses, factories, even condemned office complexes, all which could easily be used as a base of operations for a project on the DL. But being so late at night the streets were teeming with Sector Cops and for Zack to try to get a closer perimeter on the locations – even with his speed – would have sent the dozens of Sector Cops straight towards him.

"Maybe he cloaked the engines on his convey," Syl insisted, not liking what she was saying but it was defiantly a possibility. All car and truck engines emitted heat from their motors – heat that could easily be tracked by any infrared camera. But military technology had designed a way around the problem by inventing a clear patch like object that could be affixed to the motor. It was adequately named a _Nighcloak._ The _Nightcloak _was basically a giant cooling system of a silicon gel that was previously frozen to absolute zero, well contained inside a permeable, yet ultra durable plexplastic. It would immediately cool any release of heat or exhaust emitted from a vehicle, making the car virtually undetectable from any heat seeking tracking system.

"Cloaks only last 12 hours," Lydecker insisted. He ignored all the snarling looks he got from his kids and stepped over to them. "Something would've turned up on one of the readouts before a new seal could be applied."

"Well maybe they all ducked inside a covered garage to fuck each other while they waited," Syl snapped. She could sense Lydecker wanted to elaborate; he was practically salivating. "But you're the G.I. Jane, Deck, you tell me how to find these guys."

Deck let Syl's slam of calling him a pussy slide. "You can't always look for the obvious," he picked up the satellite image of Sector Three in his hand. A double laned road between a strip joint and a huge infrastructure of a building caught his eye, there was a line of large vehicles going down the road, but spaced out enough so that they were obviously traveling separately from each other, or at least it seemed. "An ordinary looking line of trucks next to a deactivated hydraulics plant is more cause for attention than a tank on top of the Space Needle." Deck looked at Syl with what could only be described as disappointment in his eyes.

But Syl ignored his gaze just has he had ignored her words. "Then that hydraulics plant has gotta be where White set up his operations. Unless it's a decoy."

"We don't have anything else to go on," Max told her. "If we assume he's playing us we risk waiting until they come out of the woodwork before we can do anything."

"But if it's a ploy baby sister and we do Battle Royal on the wrong locale then we're fucked even more." Zane spoke up from where he was sitting on the edge of the dining room table.

"If the location is intended to be wrong Zane he would've advertised it more," Max insisted.

"She's right," Jace agreed, "If he wanted us to know about that place he would've made it way too easy to find." She was speaking in a normal voice despite the sleeping child she had in her arms. Max had woken up two hours ago unable to sleep and only calmed down when Jace held him. He was a solid sleeper and hadn't woken up yet, but just to be sure Jace had him pressed up against her chest and had her hand to his exposed ear to keep him from hearing too much.

Everyone seemed in agreement with Jace's explanation, even Zack who still didn't trust her. "So now that we've got the hot spot we need a count down on when we do this shit."

"Tonight," Logan's voice made him look over to him. He may have been Zack's brother-in-law; but they still weren't best friends. "My data file already has been hacked into ten times today. They'll be wise to my firewalls if they're not already and if they move onto a pulse resonator detection they could have this address by morning."

"So we do this tonight then," Max agreed with him. "If we take them down there won't be anyone left to hack into your mainframe."

"Tonight then," Jondy repeated, letting that one word that held such powerful meaning sink in.

"We'll take down Manticore," Zack returned.

XXXXXXX

A deep rumbling thundered above a ceiling of solid rock. The place was below the hydraulics plant – a cavernous cave going down fifty feet into the earth. Huge stalactites hung like spearheads above. Some joined with the stalagmites below forming columns that made the cave resemble an earthy Roman Parthenon. The cavern was strangely light for being so deep in the ground. But this was because of the large lanterns that hung from ropes in the ceilings. The lanterns were tinted in red glass so that the pillar candles that burned within gave off a dark burgundy hue that made the whole cave appear well lit but ghastly.

In the center of the cavern the stalagmites had been cleared away, leaving the ground as smooth as linoleum tile. The ground there was not plain rock as the rest of the cave. It had been painted in a sweeping swirl pattern with interchanging colors of black and burgundy. Surrounding the inner circumference of the circle were three large tubs that had been sunk halfway into the floor of the cave. The tubs had been painted burgundy and lined on the outside with black velvet. Two of the tubs stood empty but the third had been filled to the top with water that looked like blood because of the color of the interior.

Steam rose off the water's surface and the strong smell of belladonna curled around the floor. Three robed figures stood beside the tub forming a triangle. One of them was a large hairless man with skin as green as the Priestess. He had his hand lunged towards the bath where his long spindly fingers were curled around the dark hair of a nude man submerged in the water.

The robed man stood with the two others and called out a chant that echoed repetitively throughout the tavern. Their words were all directed at the man in the water who kept his eyes closed and showed no fear to what was being done. Around his neck was an Ancient Egyptian Ankh of solid gold. Folded neatly at the base of the tub was the black Armani suit he had worn when he was talking to the Priestess.

Ames let his thoughts focus on the chants of the Elders surrounding him. His body remained completely motionless but his lips repeated the words they were saying:

"_E'kisa 'Fas U'ksa T'ksa Mi's H'jaka My'ah C'ks, No's Ika'a!"_

_("My father before me, my mother that gave me life. Hear my cries, heed my command!"_)

"_G'kia m'sk s'tek E'nosta, S'kns o's Asga, Le'ts l'anka flo's in'ksa my's tu'sk so'a nki's Tk'sa N'ups ("Give me strength, Ames, Son of Ages. Let life flow in my veins so that I may take life.")_

"_Le'ts t'a wo'sa ok'a mia Pr'dsuas b'a c'kisa an's ki's d'mksa t'sa Ank'aet'a!"_

_("Let the work of my predecessors be completed and what is cast this night know Eternal Life!")_

The chanting grew louder, like the cries of Catholic Priests in an exorcism of demons. The head priest poured a vial of his extracted blood over Ames' head, letting it flow down over his face.

"_Le's t'a b'jks o's Mig'Can'sa a'lsa p'sta m'a B'jks fo's tj'sa s'j'aka'ah"_

_("Let the blood of the Holy Man purify me from the spews of blood from those I slay.")_

"_An'cias E'st'mia p'skna t'a O'sa wo's d'sta t'hakna Oa'ka'ia ("Ancient Elders guide the One who will defend the Order")_

After the last word had been uttered the Priest shoved Ames' head completely under the water, submerging it for twenty seconds. When Ames reemerged he stood up stark naked, the water dripping off his body. Each Priest placed took hold of an edge of a long black cloth and with simultaneous movements, wrapped it around Ames' lower body like a towel.

Ames climbed down from the bath and stood on the painted ground in bare feet. He bent down to pick up his suit, which the Elders had wrapped in a damask cloth to keep the water from dampening it. But a long green feminine hand handed the cloth bundle to him before he could reach it.

The Priestess stared into Ames' face, but not before roaming her eyes lower. She bore the hideous sterility of all Familiar Priestesses but she still harbored desires for flesh. And Ames was the one of the most beautifully sculptured creation of their race. Being half human made him far more graceful then even the noblest of Elders.

"The others are ready Ames," The Priestess watched as he accepted his clothes back. "They only await your command."

Ames unfolded flap of the cloth from waist to dry off his face. He removed the Ankh from his neck and handed it to the Priestess. "Tell them they don't have to wait any longer."

XXXXXXXXX

Don't throw pies at me! This cliffhanger will be resolved….when you ask? How you ask? Well kids, just scroll down the chapter list to "Choices 24-Part 2" and then, poof! Instant satisifaction…

Now onto part two!


	24. Training Day Part Two

Choices 24- "Training Day"

Part 2

Note: All disclaimers, author identification and ratings from the first chapter are still effective here.

Another Note: This is the first time I've had a story so huge that I had to divide it into two parts…Kinda exciting isn't it? What will happen…will the Famulair's be defeated? Will Alec ever tell anyone about his Secret Marriage to Original Cindy? (no, haha, that's not real..)

But for the answers to the other stuff read on…

XXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS-10: 40 PM

"But mommy why do we have to go?" Jess's voice was pleading as he watched Max pack his clothes in a duffel bag. It was a late hour for him but the effects of sleepiness had vanished the moment Max had shaken him awake from his dreams.

Max hunted around for a warm jacket in his closet, avoiding him; she didn't want to see the look in his eyes. "It's not safe for you guys here tonight." Max threw the wool jacket over Jess's body, pulling his hands through the sleeves.

"But why?" Jessie asked as Max was zipping up his jacket. "Where are we going?" He was confused, scared. His mother had never before forced him out of his room in the dead of night.

"Someplace where you _will _be safe," Max said, smoothing out his jacket. She stood back up to see if he looked like he was dressed warm enough.

"But we're safe here mommy," Jessie insisted, pleaded. "Why can't we stay here?"

"I told you Jess!" Max lost her temper with her son, something she wouldn't normally do but her emotions were running high. She regretted her harsh tone a second later when she looked down and saw Jess's eyes grow large with tears brimming at the corner.

"I don't wanna go away," Lexi cried first. She sat on the edge of her bed and grabbed onto her stuffed rabbit Mr. Whiskers shedding tears into his fur. Her crying was so broken and lonely, a little girl who didn't understand.

Max bit her lip, sheer will power keeping her tears at bay. She couldn't stand seeing her children like this. She walked the small distance over to Lexi and knelt down to her, enveloping her in a big hug. "It's okay baby."

Lexi cried freely now that she had someone to comfort her. "I don't wanna go away momma, please let me stay here." She clung tightly to Max and this time Max's tears escaped into Lexi's hair. "Please mommy let me stay here."

"It's only for a while," Max kissed her daughter on the forehead and then on her tearstained eyes.

"I love you baby. You and Jessie and Lucy, you're my whole world. And I won't let anything happen to you guys, you understand?" She held her face in her hands and kissed her small nose.

Jessie came over to them, a torn expression on his face. He hugged Lexi's small body and Max wrapped an arm around him to pull him close.

The bedroom door creaked open and Logan stood there looking as solemn faced as Max. "They're here."

Max turned to him with a silent nod and without another word she picked up Lexi and grabbed the duffel bag with her free hand. The walk out of the bedroom went too fast for Max's taste. She came out of the long hallway like a prisoner facing the gallows. The tiny footfalls of Jessie beside her echoed off the floor as the two visitors inside the penthouse stood up.

"I know it's late," Logan started to explain but a man's voice cut him off.

"Logan stop. If it was important enough for you to call us over her at ten at night then late isn't an issue." Bennett Cale's voice was gently insisting on his cousin. He had no idea why Logan had called him to pick up his kids but he knew it must be something big because Logan was a solitary individual.

Beside Bennett, Maryanne stepped away from her husband to take the bag from Max. She was seven months pregnant now so Bennett claimed the bag before she could lift it. She looked up at Max, seeing how tightly she was holding Lexi, and sensing that this wasn't just a social call. "Don't worry Max. The kids will have fun with us, right hun?" Maryanne tried to get Lexi's attention but she didn't raise her head from Max's shoulder.

"You didn't have to fork over Uncle Rob's cabin," Bennett complained to Logan, slinging the duffle bag strap over his shoulder.

"Just think of it as a free vacation before you have kids of your own," Logan returned with a forced smile. He handed Bennett the keys. After he took them he held out a scrambled black cell phone. "Don't use the phones up there, the lines short out too much."

"It's alright Logan, I've got my own," Bennett insisted waving his silver Alltel wireless.

"The reception's bad out there," Logan lied. "I had this one wired so it comes in clear." He pushed the phone closer.

Bennett stared at the black phone and finally took it with a sigh. "With the way you're handling things you'd think you and Max are going on some secret mission."

Max didn't laugh but she faked a smile. "You should get going." Lexi was holding onto her so tightly that she had to pry her away from her body.

"Okay," Maryanne said softly and took Lexi in her arms, settling her against her hip. "Say goodbye to mommy."

Lexi remained silent so Max stepped over to her and kissed her forehead. "Bye baby. I'll come back for you soon. I promise." She pulled away, a tight feeling forming in her chest. But she kept her emotions off her face to hide it from Maryanne.

Lexi wrapped both arms around Logan's neck when Maryanne brought her to him. "Bye daddy," her words were small, sounding like a squeaking mouse.

Logan kissed the top of her head and out of the corner of his eyes saw Jace stepping out of the hallway with Max.

Bennett turned to the other woman, observing the beauty of her features and also the wary reluctant look in her eyes as she stepped over to him.

Jace held onto her son and critically eyed the two strangers: a very pregnant woman and a tall brunette man who had the same eyes as Logan. She felt her soldier training kick in, warning her of the threats of a new situation. But Max was there beside her and gave her a silent nod to let her know it was okay.

With slow movements Jace handed off her son to Bennett. "His name's Max."

Bennett gently held the child, observing the fierce glare in Jace's eyes. It was a warning that Jace would inflict unimaginable pain on Bennett should anything happen to her son.

Bennett almost shrank at such a harsh stare, but he knew that Jace had every right to act this way. "We'll take good care of him."

Jace stood silent, making a mental note that she would hold Bennett to his word under the harshest punishment. She kissed Max all over his face and hurried out of the living room not wanting to see him being taken away.

One by one the children vanished through the doorway none of them talking, but the sounds of tears were plainly heard. When Jessie was about to go through he stopped and turned back to Logan. "I love you," he said it to both his parents. He hadn't said it yet and he felt like he had to before he went out the door.

"We love you too baby," Max called out to him seconds before Bennett got him out the door.

After they left Max and Logan stood alone in their living room, neither daring to meet the others eye. But when Max finally ventured a look at her husband she could see her pain reflected in his eyes. She wanted to go to him, but there was still too much to do to break down now. She went off in search of Jace. The hallway was quiet for the first ten feet but then a quiet whining came from the end.

Jace was leaned up against one wall; her head down, leaning against the surface like it alone was supporting her. Kaja was sitting on her haunches pressing her black nose into Jace's jeans.

Jace was silent as Max approached her but after hearing her sister's footfalls she lifted her head and dozens of tear tracks marred her brown cheeks

Max could think of nothing to say to Jace that would take an edge off – she was making one of the toughest decisions of her life and sugar coating words wouldn't make it any better.

Jace had ripped her heart out of her chest a few minutes ago, and Max could feel that same mind numbing pain ache in inside her own body.

XXXXXXX

FENTAL AVE

Asha rolled over in her bed, her mind still heavily laden with sleep. But her alert level suddenly came back to full consciousness when she hit a protrusion that hadn't been in her mattress when she went to sleep. She reached to flip on the light.

"Zack?" Confusion entered her eyes when she saw him sitting on the edge of her bed watching her. She sat up. "How long have you been staring at me?"

"A lifetime."

Zack's words were so unusually cryptic – even for him – that a cloud of confusion crossed over Asha's features. "Really? You look good for your age."

"Looks are only pleasing to people who lack any sense." There was Zack's usual wit.

"Fine," Asha gave in. "Then you're the ugliest bastard I've ever had the privilege of hooking up with." Asha was trying to play with him, to get a reaction out of him. But after it didn't work she sensed he was in a brooding mood and would only start talking when he felt like it.

She didn't have to wait long. "What difference does it make if I was watching you for five minutes or five hours? If you didn't like it then there wouldn't be any leeway." He paused for such a long time that Asha thought he was just going to continue to stare at her like she was on display in a museum.

But when he finally did speak his words were so unusual that Asha wished he had continued to keep silent.

"If I died tomorrow would you care?"

Asha didn't know what to make of this. _Is he joking?_ "Is this just metaphorical or do you have something in mind already?"

"Death is all the same," Zack insisted in a voice too quiet and calm for what he was saying. "It doesn't matter how you do it, you'll still wind up six feet under."

"You're being very morbid tonight Zack even for you," Asha complained. She leaned against the headboard trying to make sense of his words.

He followed her movements with his eyes. "You still didn't give me an answer." His voice was commanding; it wasn't a request.

"The question is: 'would I care if you died tomorrow?' No I would just get over the wasted years of my life any move onto another conquest. Did you snort something before you came here? Why the hell _wouldn't_ I care if something happened to you?" Asha's temper was beginning to come out. This was a hell of a conversation to have in the middle of the night when she was supposed to be sleeping. "And why the hell are we even having this conversation, you're _not_ going to die tomorrow."

She shut up when Zack began speaking again, not believing the words coming out of his mouth. He didn't tell her everything because there were things that only could be discussed between soldiers and though he had grown incredibly fond of her she wasn't a soldier.

Asha remained silent after Zack finished talking but her eyes were teaming with a quiet rage. "So you came here tonight for a mercy screw? Is that it? The soldier goes off into battle tomorrow so it's little woman's duty to fuck his brains out the night before?" Asha was pissed off, her eyes were now on fire, as she started hard faced at the man who had wormed his way into her life and had earned a rightful place there.

"Well let's get started then soldier cause we're running out of night before," Asha grabbed a hold of Zack's jacket and yanked him down on top of her before he could offer any verbal counter attack.

Their sex wasn't neat or even sensual but they were too wired give a damn about aesthetics. It was achingly raw, and that's what they both wanted.

XXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

"I have a 911 pick up for Jam Pony," Cindy tried to insert a little humor into things but all Logan could offer her was a half hearted smile. So she didn't try again and stepped silently into the apartment.

Max was standing a few feet from the door holding Lucy and Cindy could see that her girl's eyes were infinitely sad, and she wished beyond anything she ever wished for, that she could take that pain away.

Logan handed Cindy Lucy's snuggly and she slipped it on her body, stepping over the short distance to Max. A look passed between them that held more meaning than hours of conversation.

Max held onto Lucy for a long time, sighing so deeply that she might have broken under the pressure. The baby was given to Cindy who laid her down gently in the snuggly.

Logan came up from behind Original Cindy carrying a black pea coat and a brown paper bag. "These are the best I have to offer." With his help Cindy slid into the coat. From the paper bag she pulled out a long platinum blonde wig. Her savvy attitude got the better of her and she raised an eyebrow at it. "Guess you like white chocolate huh?"

Logan laughed a dry laugh that dissolved into a small smile. "I like transformations to be through." He held out a set of keys just as Cindy was affixing the wig to her head.

"Car's on the third level, a green Saturn, nothing too fancy. Given where you live I know Sector Cops will give you heat for anything richer."

Cindy took the keys from him "Original Cindy doesn't even have a car so this _is_ rich to her." The blond wig went down to the small of her back and it made her face look completely different. She tied a purple handkerchief around the wig to make herself look like she was still from her old neighborhood. Sector Cops looked for any chance to find "rich heiresses" alone. She left chunk of hair down in front of her eyes to cover up her face.

Logan offered her a pair of sunglasses but Cindy declined. "This thing is supposed to look normal boo. And no sista from my neighborhood wears shades unless she's tryin' to hide somthin'"

There were several beats of silence after Cindy's disguise had been completed. "You'll beat this bitch suga," Cindy broke the silence, placing a hand on Max's shoulder. "That's on the real."

Max hugged her friend feeling her rubbing her back from behind. She pulled back and gazed at her sleeping daughter. "Tell her about me," her words to Cindy were pleading. "If I don't make it out. I don't want her to forget."

Cindy felt a rush of tears prick her eyes but only one escaped. "You can tell her yourself boo, cause you'll be comin' back." She watched Max lean down to kiss Lucy and saw her one tear echo itself on Max's face.

"I love you," Max's words were so soft it was almost like she hadn't said them at all.

Logan kissed his baby next, a gentle, but lingering one on top of her head. "I love you too honey."

Cindy waited for a few more seconds before closing the coat ends around the baby. The way the snuggly was positioned on her body and the draping of the coat over it gave off a carefully planned illusion – that Cindy was pregnant. She kept the sash loose around her body to give Lucy enough air to breathe. Luckily the baby was solidly asleep because Max would have not been able to take sedating her to keep her from crying.

Cindy moved to the front door and then turned back to face Max right before she stepped out into the hallway. She wanted to say something but words were hard to form on her lips, so she left, the door shutting quietly behind her.

Max didn't move after Cindy had left, or for sixty-seconds afterwards. She resembled a beautifully carved statue. Only after she slowly turned her head to face Logan did she transform from a statue back to a living breathing person.

"I think I found my heart," Max's words were quiet, as if she didn't really want to say them at all because it was too painful.

Her eyes on Logan's were two depths of sorrow and his heart was crushed because he knew he couldn't take her pain away; he could only share it. "Max-" he had no idea what the hell to say, her name was the only thing he could think off.

She sighed, low and quiet. "Bedroom."

Her words surprised Logan more then anything. "Are you sure you're in the mood for something like that?"

"You're the only one left here that makes me feel alive." She was being painstakingly honest and her brown eyes mirrored her passionate emotions.

They were finally alone together, but everything else was wrong. They had gone from simple desire to a desperate need to be with each other before a frontline war was to be fought. It wasn't ideal, or even romantic.

Logan picked her up without a word and walked them to their bedroom. No it wasn't romantic

But it wasn't always about romance; it was about emotion.

XXXXXXXXX

STEEL POLL SALOON-EIGHTH AND PENDER

12: 30 AM

Lydecker sat finishing the last hit of his watered down whiskey. The scantily clad hooker beside him still tried to attract his attention despite having been ignored by him all night.

"We're closing up soon old timer," the barkeep's voice mirrored his youthful looks. He took the empty whiskey shot glass from Deck's hand and Lydecker was too moody to complain. "Don't forget to pay the tab buddy."

Deck's glare on the barkeep was deathly cold. He held out the money for the kid to take, but when he reached for it Deck grabbed a hold of his shirt. "I'm not your buddy you drunk pushing punk."

"Okay man, sorry." Deck's grip on the barkeep wasn't that strong so he managed to free himself from the older man's grip. "I didn't know you were so against stuff like that."

"You don't know anything son," Lydecker pushed himself off the stool, still glaring at the barkeep. "You think you have a good grasp of things because you serve up tequila night after night and listen to sloshed out losers tell you their sob stories?" The barkeep didn't say a word, feeling like a boy being reprimanded by a stranger. "You're nothing but a trick to a bunch of drunken pimps serving out a quid pro quo until the day you die." Deck pushed past the hooker who watched him go with a frustrated grunt that she didn't get to make any cash off him.

The outside air was cool but there was very little wind to hide the rancid smell of heaped up garbage in alleyways and the overpowering odor of dried blood spilt from previous gang wars. Deck's black Hummer was parked next to the row of black cruiser motorcycles and sports bikes. He climbed into the Hummer's vast front seat and turned on the radio that was located below the encrypted short wave.

The frequency was set to a talk radio station and an extremely upbeat radio announcer's voice that soon filled the cabin.

"_Welcome to All Access Military Radio ladies and losers. If you're just joining us it's almost one AM; and the Man who runs our station is piss drunk in a gutter so we're still broadcasting live for all those soljas who like to get things done in the dark."(muffled laughter)_

XXXXXXXXXX

A loud beeping pierced through the darkness and a hand quickly shot out to shut it up. A pair of brown eyes opened into the blackness and stared at the glowing numbers on the clock's digital face. _2:15_

Tinga wanted to sigh and roll back over to fall asleep as fast as she had awakened. Beside her Charlie was snoring softly with his head leaning up against the headboard. Tinga could see his features even in the dark and sleep didn't mar his handsomeness one bit. That same handsomeness was reflected in the smaller features of Case who had his head pillowed against his father's lap and his legs stretched out across Tinga's.

She stared at them with eyes that could see in the dark – her boys. The alarm kicked on again for a 'two-minute past' warning and once again Tinga switched it off. But she knew that she couldn't stay there anymore.

"Charlie," she hovered the words over his ear, shaking him with one hand. "Baby, I gotta go."

Her husband came awake a few seconds later and sat up on their bed just as Tinga gently placed the lower half of Case's body into his lap. "Let him sleep for a little longer." She slipped out of bed with a sad reluctance.

xxxxxxxxxx

_I am so high,  
I can hear heaven.  
I am so high,  
I can hear heaven _

_Oh but heaven,  
No heaven, don't hear me.  
_

xxxxxxxxxx

Charlie watched her round up her black leather boots, her body already tucked into the black leather that she had slept in to be prepared for the morning

Case woke up at the noises and groggily looked at Tinga in confusion. "Mommy where are you going?"

Charlie leaned down close to his son "Mommy's going to work Case," his words were a muted whisper and watched his wife loading a clip into black Beretta.

Tinga gave a downcast look at her husband and son as she placed the gun into an inner pocket of her jacket.

xxxxxxxxxxx

_Someone told me,  
Love would all save us.  
But how can that be? _

xxxxxxxxxxx

FENTAL AVE

Asha's bed was a mess of tangled sheets and she slept naked on them with the comforter over her bare form.

Zack's forest green backpack was thrown beneath the only window in the room and its owner silently slid it on one shoulder. Inside, the cross bow and the Sig Sauer P230 rattled against each other. Nothing else made a sound, even the air outside was quiet.

There was no light on Asha but Zack could see her because of his Manticore genetics. He used this ability to walk back to the bed without bumping or crashing into anything.

She was laying on her back with one arm thrown out across the vacant spot he had been at hours before. He pushed away strands hair that that had been stuck to her face with sweat.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Look what love gave us.  
A world full of killing,  
And blood spilling.  
That world never came._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He traced the side of her face with his first two fingers and kissed her quietly on her mouth. A dangling chain fell forward from around his neck, one with a gold band looped through it. Zack tucked it into his jacket as he stood up walking out of the room without a sound.

xxxxxxxxx

_It isn't the love of the hero,  
And that's why I fear it won't do.  
_

xxxxxxxxx

XXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

Max strapped a black utility belt around her waist and lowered the ends of her black down vest to cover it up. She had slid out bed an hour ago to get dressed in Lucy's nursery. Logan had still been asleep so she didn't want to wake him. And she wanted to be in here to stare at Lucy's empty crib, something that cut her with a mind numbing pain. But it was a pain that she needed to feel, to remember why she was doing this.

She left the darkened nursery and stepped down the long hallway towards the living room. The floor lamp beside the couch had been turned on and Max could see Logan standing by the end of the leather couch.

He had managed to come out without her noticing and watched her every move as she stepped towards him like a prisoner who had been released for one day to see the outside world.

Max's steps were determined but not as light as they usually were. "I'm set," she didn't know what else to say.

There was a beat of silence before Logan spoke. "Not quite," he held out his black pistol to her.

Max didn't make a move to take it. "I'm not usin' it."

"Being the only one who isn't using one of these in this kind of situation will only get you killed Max," Logan's voice was insistent.

"No," Max's return was forceful. She pushed the gun away. "What I'll do out there is going to be all me."

Logan knew they didn't have time to argue, and he didn't want to argue with Max about something she had known how to do since birth. In reality he just wanted to see her get angry, so that her livid passion would give him strength. "Be careful okay?"

His words were so typical Logan, something he had said to her a hundred times before they were married when they were in a limbo about their relationship. But now Max knew what it was like to be with him completely and his words made her painfully aware of how much more was at stake. She kissed him, because she knew that he knew too.

There was a second when she wanted to stay there forever, just be a normal wife. But she pulled away from him because she was never a normal anything. She felt his eyes on her the entire time she walked out of their apartment.

Down in the parking garage she found Jace sitting on the roof of her Spider staring at a small picture of Max. She turned up when she heard her sister coming and tucked the photo into the cup of her bra under her black turtleneck and leather jacket.

Max mounted her Ninja and Jace slid in behind her on the seat. She left her car because even a Mitsubishi racer would be harder to maneuver than a motorcycle. The Ninja's DOHC motor cranked to life and carried them out of the parking garage and away from Fogle Towers.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

_And they say that  
A hero can save us,  
I'm not gonna stand here  
And wait._

xxxxxxxxxxx

There was still a lot of traffic even for how early it was. But Max didn't notice the traffic because she took all the back alley roads. Only a few lone crack dealers paid the Ninja any attention because they saw the beauty of the women riding it.

Twenty minutes later the Ninja pulled into a large garage that was offset from the back road by a few feet of gravel and sand that made up a crudely fashioned drive with potholes full of rancid smelling water. Beside the sliding grate entrance doors a lone man sat tied up in a corner. He was either knocked out or drugged out of his mind because he paid no notice to Max and Jace as they dismounted the bike and walked inside.

Three guns went off simultaneously inside the garage because someone inside _did_ notice the new arrivals.

"Guess this is the place," Max's words were dry as she watched Zack, Zane and Tinga lower their weapons when the saw who it was.

xxxxxxxxx

_I'll hold onto the wings  
Of the eagles.  
Watchin' as they all fly away._

xxxxxxxxx

Ten feet behind the armed X5's Lydecker stood watching them. "We need to get on with the briefing soldiers so I suggest that you stop wasting time." He didn't move from his position as he said this but his voice was intimidating enough.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

Logan had gotten online the minute Max had left the apartment. Actually it was more like five minutes after Max left because the scent of her was so powerful that he couldn't help but be overcome by it, remembering their night together. He had never pictured that their first time after Lucy was born would be under such stressful circumstances. They went on for hours, stopping only from sheer exhaustion. It wasn't nearly as romantic as Logan wanted it to be but the thrill of finally being able to touch his wife sexually made him forget any aspects of romanticism.

Now he was sitting at his secured system uploading a collection of satellite photos and DOD defense files. He could do nothing about the rest of his database. All the files contained highly secret information and loading them onto a removable media disk was very dangerous. All it took was for someone to steal them off him and his entire Informant Net would be emptied of all its secrets. Bling had all the codes and passwords to the network as well as a computer that was linked to his system. He was under orders to destroy the files if he didn't hear back from Logan or Max.

The penthouse seemed unnervingly empty without Max and their kids there. Logan had appreciated living alone for years, but now counter years of married life had made him appreciate the chaotic noises of a family more. Only Kaja, the beautiful dark coated German Shepard remained. Her coal black eyes stared at Logan as he packed away his surveillance gear and his iMAC laptop into a black leather messenger bag.

Kaja whined in the back of her throat, sensing something wrong with the way things smelled.

Logan tucked his loaded pistol into the pocket of his leather jacket. He turned to the soft whining sounds coming from the dog. "Daddy's got business to attend to." He slung the bag's strap across his shoulder. On his way out he stopped to pet Kaja's ears, speaking to her in a low but clear voice. Words that weren't English but the bits of German he knew. She had been an attack dog before they adopted her. A cherished _Snouser_ – a dog trained to attack by only German commands so that another person couldn't override her orders. His enunciation of the vowels were terrible, but in the end he got them to sound right and knew his message was received correctly by the pricking up of the dog's ears. His words were simple, but direct:

"_Attack anyone who hasn't been here before"_

"Daddy's not the only one."

Logan snapped his attention away from Kaja at the sound of a distinctly female voice sounding off a few feet in front of him. Asha was leaning inside the opened front doorway.

"Why are you here?" Logan didn't have time to be polite.

"I thought I'd join up," Asha replied pulling back her jacket to reveal her 22 caliber silver Colt in a shoulder holster.

"You have no idea what the hell you're up against," Logan insisted.

"Neither do any of them," Asha insisted.

Her words stuck something in Logan. He knew he wasn't going to convince her not to come and another set of eyes watching the X5s' back would prove useful. And Logan knew of one X5s' back in particular that Asha would be watching.

He didn't offer her a response but he stepped past her without any further complaints so she took it as a 'yes' and followed him out the door.

XXXXXXX

"Forget your useless trace," Ames breathed down the SAC's neck.

The man turned – startled – in his computer chair to face White. He thought he could detect traces of belladonna wafting off White's body but he didn't comment on it. "Sir we only need one more hour to break the last code before the electromagnetic pulse is reset." The SAC said this like it would only take five more minutes before Manticore was officially theirs.

"Screw your fucking codes, agent!" Ames hissed, spraying the SAC with drops of warm saliva. "Colonel Lydecker's coming here."

The SAC's pewter gray eyes clouded over in confusion, but the clouds quickly cleared because he was a man who didn't just believe instantaneously. "Sir, Lydecker doesn't even know where the hell we are. He didn't get a good look at the location when he escaped."

"Lydecker is a smart man, sir." Ames retorted calling the SAC 'sir' with lowercase emphasis to remind him of his lower position. "He was the CO of Manticore for over twenty fucking years, don't you think he knows how to do recon?" Ames pulled back from the SAC but still glared at him like something he wanted to step on. "No he'll come back here. These transgenics are his babies; he won't hand them over to new management without a fight."

"Even if that were true Sir we'll have no prep time to plan for his arrival, but it's not like we'll need any anyway. One man – even one that's a Special Ops Army Ranger – doesn't pose a threat to us Sir." "Especially not with the strength of your people." The SAC said 'your people' the same way a white southerner talked about an African-American in the 1950's- an insult masquerading itself as mere classification. "And our goal is to get our hands on the hybrid DNA, Lydecker alone is of no immediate value to us Sir."

"A Special Ops Army Ranger never comes back alone Agent," Ames' voice was deadly without any raise in pitch. His eyes looked ready to burn right out of his head with silent rage. "It would be in your best interest to remember that." He stormed away from the SAC and walked to meet the Priestess, who was waiting for him on the outskirts of the SAC's cubicle. She had shed her chegosam for a shapeless dark crimson dress that fell below her feet. Over top she wore the dark brown, velvet-lined robe that was traditional of all Priestesses of her race.

"U'sta k'st hi'sa l'asa he's inte'ah'ika t'a un'sta'ik'ma." ("You toy with him like he's smart enough to understand.") The Priestess talked without lowering her voice; there was no chance that her words could be understood by anyone except Ames. But she did it more to prove her dominance. She would have said her comment just as loud in English.

A smile actually covered Ames' face. "Us'ta g'nu h'sta fu'ns." ("You need to have a little fun")

"T'js o'sta ru'aha. I'jkas m'iks t'as p'as h'usa 'stks I'ks s'tas du'sa"("Tell the others to come up. I want more then pathetic human strength on sentry duty.")

"E'nosta 'sa g'oah f'jks s'nos'ika." ("Ames is good for something.") The Priestess smile on colorless lips was a hideous sight which only added to the sarcastic sting of her words. "I'ksa b'a d'nsa," ("It will be done.")

XXXXXXXX

"What kind of resistance will we be meeting up with?" Zane was speaking via his short wave radio from the driver's seat of his Hummer.

The frequency that he was tuned into went staticky for a few seconds before the response finally came.

"_I'm not sure, but I guarantee there'll be a hell of a lot of them," _Zack's voice radioed back from the other Hummer that was in the lead; one that belonged to Lydecker. He was sitting in the second row of seats keeping his eye on Lydecker the whole time. He had chosen to ride in Deck's Class Two Armored Hummer to keep him from pulling any surprises. Tinga was with him to make sure Deck knew how impossible it would be to try and escape under the watch of two X5's.

"_That's an understatement._" Alec's voice was heard in the background from Zane's Hummer. _"But I always wanted to get my Familiar Maiming Medal."_

His quip was met with silence on the other end. Tinga sat in the long black bench seat across from Zack. With slow reluctance she slid her wedding ring off her finger and attached it to a ring on her belt loop, covering the ring up with the hem of her jacket to keep it out of sight.

Tinga looked up from her task with a glare when she caught Deck watching her from the rearview mirror. He said nothing to her but reached for his radio again. "You are all about to enter enemy territory and, as your training taught you, they will not fail to exploit you in anyway possible. That being said, any personal items on you that identify you as anything other then a soldier need to disappear. We cannot afford losing the objective over something so mundane."

From the other Hummer Max made no move to remove her rings and instead defiantly slipped her leather glove over her left hand, adding it's mate to her other hand a second later. "Diamonds are a girl's best friend remember?"

"That won't be a problem Deck," Zane spoke into the radio.

Tinga noticed a glint of metal around Zack's neck. She recognized it to be chain and saw the small distinct outlining of something circular attached to it. "Wanna explain what the hell is up with that?"

"None of your damn business," Zack responded tersely doing a weapon check on his gun.

Tinga handed him two extra clips of Pelican bullets. "I stole them off Logan, we need all the free candy we can get."

The bullets were crude to the armor plated, cyanide-tipped ones he usually carried, but he wasn't going to complain about free ammunition. He slid them into the pocket of his leather jacket.

Tinga watched Zack cock and re-cock his gun to check the springs on the barrel. "You think we'll win?"

Zack cocked the gun for the last time, turning stare at her. "We don't have a choice."

XXXXXX

The guard on sentry duty at the hydraulics complex whistled to himself to keep from going insane at the solitude. White had specifically dictated that only one guard would appear visible at the front of the building in order to give the illusion that the complex was weakly guarded. It was a sneak attack; more then a dozen men would converge on the spot if any threats were sighted.

The middle-aged man thanked his luck that the night was particularly cool because the fatigues and body armor he was wearing was suffocatingly heavy. He kept his eyes out into the night, wanting to break protocol and smoke a cigarette. He knew that it was blatantly stupid to give off any light so an adversary could spot his location. But he hadn't had one all day and the effects of withdrawal made his brain feel like it was itching from a million ant bites.

He tried to ignore the craving but his mind couldn't concentrate on anything else. He'd either have to light up or risk letting his senses be clouded by lack of nicotine. It sounded perfectly plausible to him so he dug out a pack of Morley Lights he had tucked away in the ammunition pocket of his flack jacket. Placing one of the white sticks to his lips he covered the flame of his Bic lighter to keep the flame from being noticed. The nicotine laden smoke entering his lungs calmed him and he took several satisfying drags from the cigarette, blowing out the excess smoke into the night air. He finally decided to stop after the next hit because his hand on the stick prevented him from properly grasping the AK-47 strapped across his back.

He dropped the still-lit cigarette end on the concrete drive under his feet and snuffed it out with the toe of his combat boots. This action took his attention away from the perimeter for only a few seconds – time that the guard felt was inadequate for anything to happen. But as he turned back to his scanning his line of sight he felt something hard strike him in the neck. He reeled from a stinging pain and, in surprise, he grasped the feathered end of a small black arrow sticking out of his skin. The pain was acute, and the guard found it hard to catch his breath. The arrow had pierced the side of his larynx before slicing through his jugular vein, filling what was left of the former with blood.

The injury had left him voiceless and he reached for his weapon, desperate to return the fire. But he only had his right hand on the butt of the rifle before a powerful blow knocked him in the head. He was instantly dizzy but all aspects of pain soon vanished after the bone crushing snap of his own neck being broken echoed in his ears.

Zack turned the guard over, taking his weapon and the rounds he found in his uniform pockets.

Zane – who had fired the arrow from his crossbow – helped Zack pat down the dead man. "That cyanide tipping would've done its job."

"It was taking too long," Zack returned, leaving the guard's body where it lay. There was no time to conceal it, and the guard being absent from his post would raise suspicion of its own.

Zane pressed his hand to the side of his head to speak into the receiver mic unit around his ear. "Is anyone on the pick up?" Like any good soldiers the X5s had split up into smaller groups to cover more ground.

"_Zane this is Syl; we're set up thirty feet in front of what looks like a side janitorial entrance."_ Syl's voice came through the receiver in Zane's ear.

"What's the situation like there, Syl?" Zack asked, knowing that giving away their names was a security risk, but then again, just being at the complex was a security risk.

"_Dead, no sign of sentry,"_ Syl responded looking ahead of her into the night at the gray door in the side of the silo shaped building. The door itself was painted the same shade as the building in order to conceal it from view. But Syl noticed it because plain walls didn't have latches on them. _"But I'm betting my transgenic genetics that's not the case past the threshold. Did you run into any resistance on your end?"_

"Just one lone punk trying to get his smoke on," Zane relayed. "But you're probably right little sister. White's too smart to leave the place so poorly guarded."

"_Which means we get an early birthday present the minute we walk through those doors." _Krit returned. He was crouched beside Syl near a low hedge of overgrown Hyssop bushes.

"_Speak for yourself Krit my birthday present's gonna be naked and dancing."_ Jondy's voice entered the mix. She was still in sight of Lydecker's Hummer and was watching the old man do nothing but sit on his ass and oversee the operation. Twenty yards in front of her were two large steel audiiorium style doors. There were no guards posted at them but Jondy could see why – laser sensors had been set up all around the door and five feet in front of it. _"I think I found the main entrance but it's sewed up tight with laser trip line."_

A few feet ahead of her Alec was standing on the very edge of the sensor's perimeter. The lasers ran in dozens of zigzag patterns with spaces so small that no part of the human body could get through undetected.

"_Then try to find a way around the ball of yarn Jondy," _Lydecker's voice was quiet but authoritative. He was in his Hummer listening to each of his kids' frequencies. Parked a couple of feet beside him was Zane's matching Hummer and through the front windshield he could see Logan Cale's form inside working on his computer.

XXXXXXXXX

"_This isn't a ball of yarn Deck, it's a fuckin' tangle."_ Jondy hissed.

"Hold on a second Jondy," Logan had his radio unit around his ears and his open laptop glowed from his lap. He had hooked his computer up to Zane's monitoring equipment so that the images from his system were projected on three 19-inch TV screens in front of him. "There might be a way to bypass the lasers if I upload a virus into its microprocessor. But if this system is connected to the entire mainframe it could black out everything inside and you'll be forced to go in blind."

"_We can see in the dark Logan; we're special like that." _The voice was so hostile that it could've come from Zack but it was Alec who had said it.

"The cloak's not permanent Alec," Logan informed while typing furiously on his computer to download the virus. "A system as big as this will have dozens of failsafe programs. After the virus is uploaded you'll only have a two minute window to get inside before it's back online."

"_Then you better get that bitch started,"_ Max's tone was as every bit as cocky as Alec's but Logan had grown accustomed to her wit and was actually just glad to hear her voice. _"These guys are gonna be wise to us soon and I'd rather it be after we got inside the place."_

"The virus is uploading now," Logan informed all who were listening in on his frequency, watching the bar on the computer fill up. "You've got fifteen seconds before it implants."

"_Move into position," _Deck ordered his soldiers. _"Take down as many as you can before the lights come back on."_ Exploiting tactical advantage over the enemy was the first rule he had learned in Ranger training. Fair fighting was for the days when all a soldier had to fight off was a sword blade not a bazooka.

"Ten seconds guys," Logan watched the file complete its last few seconds of uploading. Beside him Asha watched the same thing.

XXXXXXXX

Ten short seconds later the lasers around the door disappeared as if they were never there. Jondy stood inches away from it with Alec. "System is down here."

"_Here too," _Zack's voice reported. He and Zane had found another laser tripped door hidden in a thick growth of overgrown ferns. Like the door Syl had found it was also painted the same color as the building in order to hide it from view. "_Get ready to emerge – five,"_

Syl pulled out a gun from her pocket and Krit did the same.

"_Four," _Zack's voice continued his count down.

Jondy pressed herself flat against the wall giving Alec a signal to kick the door down on 'one'

"_Three."_

"_Two."_

Max had no weapon so she stood behind Syl and Krit, but still readied herself to fight. Tinga and Jace were a few steps behind her since this was the last door they had managed to find.

Syl cocked her weapon and raised it in the air, preparing herself to kick the door in.

"_One."_

XXXXXXXX

The SAC grinned in triumph at the message that was displayed across his computer screen:

"_Electro Pulse Trace complete. Press any key for readout._"

His finger hovered above the _'H'_ key – the pad of his pointer touched it's gray surface – but suddenly his computer screen went blank and the lights flickered off leaving him in total darkness.

Around him his fellow agents started cursing and the sounds of computer chair wheels squeaked across the tiled floor.

"What the fuck is going on?"

"Maybe a transformer blew."

"Our transformers can't blow idiot, they have triple back up sources-" the nameless person never completed his sentence because a noise– not unlike that of an explosion –echoed off in the building and the noise of gunfire from somewhere sent all of the techs scrambling in the dark.

The SAC heard one of his agents scream in pain and the sickening sound of bone snapping sounded off only a foot away from him. Air rushed by him as one of his workers dropped to the ground obviously dead. The SAC was a gruffy, dangerous, hard as nails man, but in that instant panic took a hold of his sense because he had no idea what the hell was going on.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Syl searched the tech's still form for any weapons but all she found was a lighter and a pack of gum. These technicians were definitely civilians because soldiers always carried at least a handgun on them at all times. Her night vision allowed her to clearly see the tech's face, but she didn't pay any attention to what he looked like because somewhere in the darkness someone was starting to return the gunfire.

Bullets ricocheted off the aluminum workstations sending sprays of sparks through the air that lit up the darkness like miniature fireworks. The shots were being fired blindly from a high vantage point and the spray of bullets barely missed Syl as she ducked behind one of the workstations.

She aimed her gun and shot in the direction of the gunfire. Being able to see in the dark gave her an advantage but whoever was firing the rounds stayed obscured from her vision. Another round of gunfire – not from her – sprayed out over the complex.

A curse echoed near Syl, and she immediately recognized the voice. "Did you get hit?" she had to practically shout above all the gunfire that wasn't coming from a single round piece but from an automatic rifle.

"I'm fine; it just brushed my shoulder!" Max's reply showed no traces of pain because the adrenaline she was running on masked it.

Seconds after her words ended the lights – as Logan had warned about – suddenly flickered on and revealed the chaos of over turned chairs from the techs that had fled during the fighting. The bodies of several technicians littered the ground. None were bleeding because they had been stunned or killed when their necks were snapped.

In the now lighted building Max emerged from behind the desk next to Syl. A single trail of blood oozed from her shoulder but she had no time to reflect on her injury because the gunfire –temporarily stopped by the suddenness of the lights coming back on – started up again at full force.

This time a dozen men could be seen from the catwalk showering a spray of bullets down below.

Max ducked back down behind the desk, shielding herself with her arms to protect her face.

Twenty feet from Max and Syl Jondy emerged from behind the huge hydraulic engine embedded in the ground. She pulled the pin of a grenade and hurled it at the catwalk. A thundering explosion rocked the structure and the catwalk's thin metal cables broke like string.

None of the twelve soldiers on the catwalk had time to jump onto the stairs before the mass of metal fell to the concrete twenty feet below. The impact tossed them to the ground like toys. It was obvious some had broken several bones from the fall, but those who hadn't been knocked unconscious began to hunt for their weapons.

Zack shot two of them down before they could even get a hand on the strap of their rifles. One of the other two crawled on his belly to reach his gun that had gotten flung only few feet from him. He had his hand on it but then screamed a second later when Krit stepped on his hand. Krit retrieved the gun while the soldier was still writhing. He aimed the soldier's own weapon at his heart.

"Where are the others?" Max's command was directed at the soldier. Her face was a lot of things to men, sultry, sexy, beautiful. But now her eyes were narrowed and her lips were pulled into a snarl so that the only thing that she was to the soldier was intimidating.

"What others?" a soldiers first response when captured was to deny everything and the downed man stuck to that rule.

"We don't have time to listen to your crap! "The people who hired you out, I wanna know where they are!" Max was shouting louder then any drill sergeant.

But the soldier wasn't intimidated by it. He knew if he didn't give her the information he would be killed; but he would make that sacrifice to keep the agenda of his employers a secret.

Max was a soldier too though; she could practically read the man's thoughts. If she killed him he would die with all his secrets. Death wasn't torture; pain was torture. She grabbed the arm of the soldier and started to slowly bend it backwards. "Tell me where they are," her words were as low and as slow as her actions.

The soldier face contoured in agony both at Max grabbing his injured hand and at the excruciating force she was applying to his arm. He could feel the long bone's resistance at first but then it started to give like a stick. The pain was blinding and he couldn't hold in the screams anymore.

"Where are they?" Max was shouting at him now, only moments away from bending his arm back a complete ninety degrees.

"They're not here!" the soldier's resolve had finally broken. "We were the first wave."

"Where'd they go?" Max pressed her face right to the soldier's

"_Max? Max! What the hell is going on?"_ Logan shouted at her through her earpiece. He had heard all the gunfire and Max's indication that she had been hit, but after that she had stopped talking.

Max didn't respond to Logan's call. With methodical movements that she hated herself for, but had years of training in, she bent the soldier's arm back in a complete wrong angle. The snap of bone was a loud as a popgun going off and the man muffled a scream and tried to pull away from Max to cradle his injured arm.

"There's a cave system twenty feet below the complex. It's accessed by a sealed entrance in the back," the soldier's words were barely audible through his moans.

Max released his hand and stood back up.

"_Damnit Max; answer me!" _Logan cut in through her earpiece.

"There's a cave under the ground," Max finally spoke to Logan. "That's where White and the other Familiars are hiding. They're the force of this project. If we get rid of them it'll die."

"_They have lab files on X's in their system; someone has to delete all the copies or this thing's just gonna keep coming back." _Logan told her. He still had no idea how bad she was injured but he forced himself to keep working or she could be injured even more.

"I'll get 'em," Max replied. She turned to Krit. "Get down to that cave before Ames has a chance to retaliate."

Krit nodded and reloaded his Cobra. "Watch your back little sister, they're coming out of the woodwork."

Max watched him hurry away for a brief moment "Okay Logan where the hell is this file supposed to be?"

"_All these hard drives are connected to a mainframe so you should be able to access them from any computer."_ Logan replied, wanting desperately to ask if she was okay. But even if she was hurting he knew that now was not the time to ask her because she would deny any pain until after her objective was accomplished.

Max kept a vigilant look out around the room; now having time to fully process how large it was. There were dozens of long tables with numerous computers and there were three-foot aisles in between these stations; to say the room was large was an understatement.

The gunfire had sent the technicians scrambling for cover so Max had no problem finding an empty computer. The outage had cut off all the systems but they obviously ran on backup programs because the monitor she was staring at displayed the main log in page. There was a command box with an empty field prompting a password.

"I need a password to access the system," Max relayed to her husband who was listening in.

"_Is there a set number of spaces?" _he asked.

"No, it's infinite."

"_Damn,"_ Logan's soft curse was not missed by Max or by Asha who was sitting beside him in the van. He knew that were limitless possibilities on what the password could be but unfortunately they didn't have limitless time.

"It's gotta be numeric," Asha felt Logan's eyes turn to her in confusion as she spoke. "It's the only kind of code with no restrictions on order."

She was right. If the password had used letters it would have to form words, no matter how many it could use, because random gibberish would be too easy to guess. But he still shot her a look because there were thousands of combinations of numbers that could be used.

"_101011001,"_ Asha suddenly blurted out a combination of numbers. _"Binary; standard language of all computers. Even it's not right it will override any new password with the failsafe program."_

"I'm in," Max said. She had heard Asha's suggestion and now was online to the mainframe. "You been holding out on us?"

"_I was a grad student at MIT. I wrote security programs,"_ Asha returned."_ But I dropped out to do hacking against the Man, no money, no limelight, constant arrests; every tech head's dream."_

"Girl's got a right to be a fugitive," Max's banter was no different than had she been hanging out at Crash, but there was an underlying tone of urgency that kept her remarks short. She searched the encrypted files, unraveling their codes in a few seconds. It was a code system used only in Manticore and, luckily for Max, all X5 officers had been trained on the ins and outs of this system. The purpose was to protect the files from outside knowledge by storing them inside the minds of soldiers who could erase it from their memories. But Manticore had never planned for one of its own to use that knowledge _against_ the program.

Max was now staring at the document in front of her, a listing on three X5 Female live births, one of which was her. The births were divided into categories and contained detailed height and weight at birth, and much more disturbing, chromosomal mapping of the babies' genetics along with the same barcode images she had seen in the photos. There were no names; the babies had all been assigned a number at birth, the same code sequence of the barcode. And Max came to a startling realization that she now knew what her mother went through 23 years ago.

"_Max, what is it? What do you see?"_ Logan hadn't heard her talk in five minutes.

"They have _everything_; PCR genetic mapping on every single kid."

Logan had only heard his wife sound scared on a few occasions and this was one of those times.

"I'm going to give you commands to upload a virus Max. It should fry only the computers so they won't suspect anything."

"If they have hard copies it won't do any good," Max argued. She unvelcroed a strap from her utility belt and removed a long glass cylinder The cylinder was filled to the top with a milky syrupy liquid and was sealed at the top and bottom ends with a copper disc-like cover where a multitude of green and red wires connected to both ends like a purse strap.

"Give me the virus code."

"_Max-"_ Logan had heard a shuffling noise from her end, like she was digging around for something. She didn't have any weapons on her so what she was looking for was something else – and Logan suspected it was worse than a gun.

"Give me the codes," Max repeated. "After I uploaded your virus I'll set the timer on mine."

"_What virus?"_ Logan was now past confused and moved into bewildered.

"Six ounces of Nitroglycerin."

"_An interface bomb!"_ Logan shouted. The P2-200 Interface or the "Non-Hacker's Virus" had been invented by a genius grad student of Bill Gates turned angry Navy Seal in 2011. It had acquired its name because it could only be activated by a three-signaled code from a computer keyboard; and since organizations had a tendency to group their computers in one area; it was guaranteed to destroy every system. The major drawback was that it wasn't an internal computer virus; it was a bomb with a leveling radius of up to a quarter of a mile.

"Yeah, but cross your fingers; Jondy couldn't get a very readable set of blueprints off the Black Market site."

"_You're insane! Interface timers can only be set as high as ten minutes."_

"Which means we gotta haul ass as soon as I get this puppy lit, so no holding out anymore baby I need that code."

"_Max-"_

"Tick tick Logan," Max cut in. "I don't wanna die where White takes his coffee."

xxxxxxxxxxx

The winding set of narrow spiral stairs creaked with each movement Zack took descending it and noise echoed into the vast cavern the staircase lead into. The earthen cave was bathed in a tint of red light that made the atmosphere very eerie. The lighting was sickish in color but it illuminated the cave well enough for Zack to see where he was going without forcing him to rely on his night vision. His hands were grasped around a black handheld automatic that he kept poised in front of him. Ten paces behind him Zane scanned the cave He had switched from his crossbow to a Glock 9 millimeter and aimed it into the recesses where the red light couldn't penetrate. His pupils dialated and he started into the darkness, his night vision going into effect.

There was no noise except for the droning of the hydraulic machine above them. The cave reeked of a pungent herbal smell and was heavily humid from any lack of outside air. A huge metal tub sitting on a painted rock floor stood a few feet in front of Zack. He stepped cautiously towards it but it was empty save for a small bit of water at the bottom. The other four identical tubs surrounding it were completely empty.

Zane's footsteps approached the ceremonial area. He too scanned the tub. "There's nothing down here guys," Zane spoke into his radio unit. "A whole lot of hygiene fixtures but no signs of anything alive."

"_Great,"_ Alec's annoyance was evident in his voice. _"He probably used some back door and now we're left with an empty house."_

"_Not necessarily."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

All the X5s were tuned into the same frequency so everyone heard the unfamiliar voice come in on the radio.

Max was the closest to the person the voice belong to so she turned from the computer, but not before typing in the code for the Interface Bomb.

In front of her the Priestess' red eyes locked ontto hers with a deathly glare. "I believe you were taught better then to mess with things that don't belong to you." Her long robes hung off her skinny body like extra skin still left after massive weight loss.

The timer on the bomb locked and readout started its ten-minute countdown. "I was taught no such thing." Max faced the small female form, backing away slowly from the computer.

"I'm not surprised." The Priestess's voice was filled with poisonous venom. "You are completely undeserving of the genetics you've been given." In her hand she held a fully loaded silver Beretta.

"That's a strange remark coming from someone who's wanting to make off with Manticore technology." Max could hear Logan yelling in her ear as to what the hell was going on but she ignored it.

"Don't flatter yourself," the Priestess insisted with a low growl. "You're only providing a product we need, much as a cow provides milk to people."

"If I'm a cow then you're the freak getting a rile out of squeezing the utters." Max stopped backing up, eyeing the gun in the Priestess's hands. She could overtake her; but her small size seemed to carry a much deeper strength then its appearance suggested.

"Transgenic filth!" Max's words enraged the Priestess. "You have no idea what the hell you've gotten yourself into. Manticore was nothing but a playground, teaching you nothing but hotheaded insolence. Which is why we must eradicate past mistakes and start over." She aimed the gun, at Max's upper chest. "Don't worry; this isn't a kill shot. Female ova is only viable for a short time after death, and I want all the time I need to savor every last extraction."

Max saw the Priestess raise her gun but before she could squeeze off Max kicked it out of her hand. "Sorry I'm kinda attached to my eggs."

The Priestess hissed like a King Cobra and pulled out silver handled dagger with a blade that was curled liked a charmed snake.

Max blocked her movements before the blade could slice her. The Priestess seized Max's upper arms and slammed her to the floor. Max struggled to free herself from the Priestess's grip. She punched the green leathery face above her. The Priestess reeled from the attack and Max was able to slide out from under her body. She was unaware of the sound of a cocking rifle with the red laser sight being aimed at her back.

Zack had seen the laser pinpoint. There was no time to figure out where the shot was being fired from. In a rush of speed he slammed his full force into her, throwing her to the floor.

The sounds of automatic rifle rounds resounded in Max's ears as she struggled to get up, soon realizing that she was being crushed by Zack's weight.

"Zack!" the gunfire became louder as more men – robed figures with semi automatics – took fire on them. Max crawled up from under him. The bullet had torn through his Cartoid Artery and a huge puddle of blood was oozing out of his neck. Max put her hand on the hole to try and stop the flow but more bullets made her duck her body down to avoid the rounds.

"Zack!" Max shouted at him above all the noise. "We gotta move! The timer's only got seven minutes left!"

Though Zack was shot he was still conscious and aware. He had only kept silent this long because Max's screaming kept him from saying anything. "Get out of here!"

"Damnit Zack!" Max screamed at him. "You're not about to be a martyr on my watch!" She got to her feet, pulling Zack along with her. "Move your ass soldier!"

There was a scream of agony from up above and both Max and Zack looked up in time to see Jondy snapping the neck of one of the robed men on a catwalk. He limply plunged to the floor like a rag doll, but another robed figure advanced on Jondy, kicking her hard in the chest. The force knocked her flat on her back on the catwalk's metal floor.

The figure in front of her glared at her with narrow eyes that peaked out of the hood of his robe. He pulled a dagger – with a waving blade like the Priestess's - from the inner folds of his robe and plunged it downward at her chest.

Jondy kicked the Priest's feet out from under him but her action did not unbalance him. He had a training level that was equal to hers and wouldn't fall for such tricks.

He emitted a loud cry, much like a hiss from a cobra the minute before it strikes, and lunged at Jondy again. She rolled away from him but the blade managed to slice a long cut across her shoulder. The catwalk was narrow so there was no place for her to go but off it. But before she fell she grabbed onto the metal support beams beneath the catwalk and was left hanging from it thirty feet above solid concrete.

The Priest picked up his discarded knife but before he could attack again Alec grabbed him from behind and fired four rounds into his back. The Priest choked on his blood before he dropped to the catwalk floor, his head and arms dangling loosely over the edge.

Alec peered over the edge at Jondy dangling by from the beam. "Need a hand?"

Jondy did her best to glare at him from her vantage point. "I got it," she pulled out an anchor launcher from the pack strapped to her body and shot out the line towards the roof. It hooked onto a beam and Jondy descended down from the rope to the ground. Alec freebied off of her rope line and dropped down after her.

The gunfire had suddenly ceased; and the room was eerily quiet. Jondy wasn't about to question it; but she wasn't so naive in thinking the stillness would last.

"You could use a Band-Aid," Jondy quipped dryly to Zack when she saw all the blood from where he had been shot.

"We need to take a five minute rain check on that Jondy," Zack gave her his best sarcasm not allowing his injury to weaken his wit.

"Then let's get the hell outta here!" Max started running out of the building, only glancing back once to see that the others were following her. She relayed a message into her radio unit: _"Five minutes to clear the premises."_

"_Did you get the files?"_ Lydecker's question was low, but demanding.

"We took care of our end Donald," Max spat. "In another four minutes you'll have to take our word on it."

They made it out a side door when the gunfire that had ceased moments ago started up again at full force. The bullets ricocheted off the metal door, the shrapnel showering the X5s who were trying to escape.

Zack dropped his hand from the pulsating wound in his neck and shot off a clip from his gun behind him, hitting several of the priests.

"_Max!"_ Logan heard the explosion of gunfire.

"Almost there!" Max returned in her radio.

They made it outside and through the four-foot area of lawn where the two Hummer doors stood open.

Logan stood in the doorway of one of the Hummer watching the X5's jump into the vehicles. Tinga and Krit kept turning around to return fire that followed them out the door.

"Is everyone out?" Logan called out to Max when he finally spotted her among her siblings.

"It's clear!" Max shouted back jumping into the Hummer with Zack practically throwing himself in next to her.

From out the window she saw a figure staring at her from the lawn; and she recognized it to be Ames White. "Get this thing moving now!" She shouted the order to Zane who climbed in to the driver's seat. He gunned the engine drove out so fast that the tires squelched from the speed.

A rumble started emerging from the building behind them before the explosion sent a shockwave of fire that almost engulfed the two Hummers. But Zane pulled the Hummer out of the fire and onto a single lane road just as the road he had just left was swallowed up by the flames.

"Car One to Car Two you guys okay back there?"

"_If you stop that Car One, Car Two bullshit we'll be fine,"_ Alec retorted from the other Hummer.

"You being fine is strictly a matter of ignorance Alec," Jondy returned. Now that they had completed the mission she was feeling loose enough to kid.

"_To those who deny baby,"_ Alec stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah uh huh," Jondy returned.

Even Max managed a small smile. Beside her Zack had his head thrown back against the seatback, eyes closed but Max knew he wasn't sleeping. "We did it Commander."

Zack opened one eye and stared at her with it. "Guess all that Mengele torture was good for something."

"Speak for yourself," Max growled, but there was slight mirth in her voice.

Zack didn't respond and Max turned back to see he had closed his eyes again. "No slacking off yet solider we still need to debrief." There was no response from him. "Zack?" His sweater was saunched in blood from the bullet hole. On instinct Max reached around for the pulse on the uninjured side of his neck. It was incredibly faint and beating slower with each second and Zack still didn't say anything, a first for him.

"Damnit!" Max cursed.

Tinga heard her from the back seat "What is it?"

"Zack's down, I can only get a faint pulse!"

Tinga immediately climbed over the bench seats and made her way to the front. What Max said was very true; blood was leaking out from the hole in his neck with each slow beat of his heart.

"Is he breathing?" Tinga pressed her ear to Zack's nose without waiting for a response. "Barely."

Asha had been radioing a command to Lydecker's Hummer with headphones on so she hadn't heard anything. When she turned back to relay Deck's returning message the words never escaped her mouth.

"What the hell happened?" Asha was between Tinga and Max in less then three seconds.

Tinga ripped off a section of her sweater and pressed the scrap down on Zack's neck. "He got hit in a major artery, blood loss is too substantial to keep his heart pumping."

"He needs medical attention." Asha stated the obvious, staring at Zack who was bleeding out in front of her. His words from last night echoed in her mind. _"If I died tomorrow would you care?"_

"He's X5!" Tinga growled with a protectiveness that could only come from a sister. "Going to a hospital would compromise him and he would never agree to that."

"He'll bleed out if something isn't done soon Tinga!" Asha yelled back.

"We can't!" Tinga growled placing both hands on Zack's neck to try and better stop the bleeding. "What kind of doctor wouldn't question how he got shot tonight?"

"_Tinga, what's wrong?"_ Jace's voice came from the other Hummer.

"Zack's hit," Max responded. She pushed Tinga's hands down further with her own to add more pressure to the wound. "We got to get him somewhere."

"_What kind of care do you think a hospital will give him Max?"_ Lydecker came through the unit. She had forgotten that all their communicators were wired into the same frequency and hearing Lydecker's mantra was something she didn't need. _"They won't know what they're seeing; Zack will be fine. You kids have resilience."_

"I'm not in the mood to test that theory tonight Donald!" Max barked back at Lydecker. She stared at her brother whose blood was all over her hands. He had taken a bullet that was meant for her. "Alec?"

"_What is it Maxie?" _Alec's voice returned over the radio unit.

"Make sure Donald keeps up, we gotta make a stop."

"_You got it,"_ Alec returned. He didn't hold any warm feelings towards Zack but he still didn't want him to bleed out. He was one seat behind the driver's where Lydecker was. He pressed the maw of a silver Colt into Deck's neck. "You heard the lady Donald, keep following those tail lights."

XXXXXXXXXXX

METRO MEDICAL-3: 45 AM

The hospital ER reception area was dimly lit and the few shift nurses on duty carried flashlights around to be able to see where they were going. A minute later though a rumbling growl sounded through the air as the ancient auxiliary power came to life.

The charge nurse clicked off her Maglight. "You must have a magic touch to get that piece of junk going."

"These are special fingers," the person the nurse was talking too returned. He was dressed in jeans and a dark blue hooded sweatshirt so it was clear that he wasn't a maintenance man. But the nurses weren't complaining.

"Then you should save them for human females Eric," the nurse insisted with a smile going back around to the reception desk where she had been filing papers before the blackout.

Eric gave his infamous lopsided grin. "That'll have to wait until tomorrow Estelle, my uncle needs a ride home."

The nurse Eric had called 'Estelle' raised her eyebrows even further. "You _must_ be a devoted nephew if you're willing to come during grave yard hours."

"I do what I can," Eric returned, a bit over dramatic but he got that way around all the nurses when their shift was almost over. It was a tactical maneuver in trying to pick them up.

"Eric," the voice of Eric's uncle sounded off a few feet behind him.

Sam watched Eric turn to face him – grateful that his nephew had actually found the place. He had been very confused about the directions over the phone when Sam called him. At 21 Eric wasn't the brightest offspring of Sam's sister Macey but he had offered Eric a place to crash while his nephew searched for work in Seattle, as a favor to his sister. But so far the search had only gotten him as far as the bars and strip joints. He wasn't a bad kid; he was just amazingly good at doing nothing of value.

"Hey Uncle Sam!" Eric waved Sam over. "Estelle and I were just talking about you."

Sam sighed under his breath. Only his nephew would hit on a 42 year old twice divorced.

"Let's get going, my next shift starts in eight hours and I'd like to use that time to sleep-" the remainder of his sentence never came out as a loud crash emitted from the entrance of the ER from the doors being kicked in. Sam watched in shock turned to terror as two women dressed in all black entered the hospital, one of them carrying an AK-47.

Jace kept a firm hand on the trigger of her gun and glared at Sam "You a surgeon?"

Sam kept his eyes on the weapon in the woman's hand and glanced briefly at her companion who was young and blonde.

"Hey aren't you-" Eric's pointed at Jace remembering her from the other night at Crash.

"Shut up!" Jace yelled at Eric. She fixed the sights of her gun on Sam. "Answer the question!"

"Yes," Sam said dumfounded, eyeing the gun. Estella was frozen in terror. "But what is it you want me to do?"

"I said shut up!" Jace shouted again. She didn't have time to listen to this doctor ramble. She turned to Syl. "Get a suture kit, and extractors and whatever the hell else you can find." She turned to Eric and Sam. "You let's go." She grabbed a hold of Sam's arm and forced him at gunpoint out the door. Syl, carrying out the medical supplies, ran out after Jace. As soon as they were out the doors she could hear the charge nurse calling for hospital security.

Zane's Hummer roared into the Ambulance bay and the doors flew open.

Sam's terror turned to sudden confusion as he recognized a face in the Hummer interior. "Max?"

Max turned up in surprise at the sound of Sam's voice, but didn't say anything.

"Reunions later Doc," Jace growled pressing the maw of the gun into Sam's back. "Get in,"

She pushed Sam inside the Hummer and slammed the door shut. Eric was of no use to her, so she left him in the ambulance bay, knowing that he couldn't rat them out because he didn't really know anything.

"Get moving!" Syl ordered beating on Zane's side door. The Hummer squealed out of the ambulance bay and Syl ran back to Deck's Hummer climbing inside.

Alec cocked the gun at Lydecker's neck. "Follow that Hummer, Colonel."

Deck was complacent, but silently fuming at being made to play the part of a driver. "Get that gun out of my neck, son. I would have never been allowed to train you kids if I was a coward."

"Max what-?" Sam was no longer being held at gunpoint and had a better time to assess the situation. On the floor of the Hummer he saw the still form of a blonde man he didn't know. But there was blood oozing from between Max's fingers pressed to his neck.

"I don't have time to give explanations Sam!" Max retorted, not looking up from her brother. "We need your help or he's going to die."

Her words were pleading. Sam didn't know who the man was, but he was obviously someone very close to Max. "Where was he shot?" He kneeled beside the downed man, trying to get a better view.

"In the neck, he's already lost a lot of blood," Max relayed the information to Sam.

"How's his airway?" Sam asked.

"He's still breathing but it sounds shallow."

"Blood probably is flooding his trachea, starving air from his lungs." Sam moved Max's hand aside so he could see the hole. It was jagged and after feeling around the back of Zack's neck he felt a large entry wound. "How big a slug was it?"

"Titanium .35 millimeter," Tinga answered gravely. "Those damn things blow in and out of you like wind."

"It would've been better if the bullet remained lodged, the exit hole did the more damage." Sam ripped open one of the packs of gauze from the pile of medical supplies Syl had brought and pressed five pieces of gauze down on top of Zack neck.

"He's crashing," Sam felt the pulse in Zack's neck which was beating sluggishly only once every four seconds. Sam pressed his hands down on Zack's neck so hard that he could've broken it. "This is insane! His Carotid Artery has two gaping holes they need to be repaired or he's going to bleed out."

"Then do it!" Tinga screamed at him.

"It's a surgical procedure," Sam insisted. "I can't perform it in a moving vehicle. If I make a bad cut I could kill him. We need to stop somewhere."

"We can't go back to the garage," Tinga looked at Max while she said this. "If White staked out any locations he'd be on us in a minute, we need another spot, someplace large enough to conceal Hummers."

Max reassured Tinga with a glance, thought it wasn't as confident as she wanted it to be. "I know a place."

XXXXXXX

The hydraulics plant was now nothing but a huge ball of flame. Minutes after the blast technicians began pouring out of every available door and window coughing and choking on the suffocating smoke. Half an hour later there were only a few stray people wandering out. Their hair was singed off and their skin was burnt so badly that huge chunks were torn from their charred bodies like paper, making them resemble survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Those few didn't make it out more then a few feet from the blast zone and fell, weakened, to the ground gasping on blood as much as air.

Ames watched the chaotic destruction from a Hummer nearby . The bomb had been unexpected, but not unprepared for. He had been in one of the cave's sub chambers listening to the gun battle above when he heard a timer being set. He had escaped completely unscratched by a tunnel that lead out of the cave and into a wooded clearing twenty yards away.

"Human insolence can never be trusted," The Priestess was seated in the Hummer beside Ames. Her robe was singed only slightly around the bottom edge, the only evidence she had even been in a fire at all. She was the only one out of all the Familiar Priests there that night to survive the blast. Sitting in the Hummer were the last two nobles of their ancient race. But neither of them appeared very anguished about it.

Ames turned his head away from the inferno and moved it slowly towards her. "No," he agreed quietly. "But human weakness can be." He had been the one who had prepared to shoot the loathsome female X5 who called herself "Max" but he had shot the man instead because the latter had pushed her out of the way and taken the bullet. And Ames knew that his injuries were grave, and that, if he waited, his targets would soon reveal themselves.

XXXXXXX

The Hummers parked next to a courtyard flanked with stone mason buildings. A huge structure towered above the smaller buildings casting a dark shadow over the courtyard that concealed the military vehicles from any outside view.

The first Hummer door opened and with silent and hurried movements Jondy, Max, Tinga and Zane held onto four corners of a tarp where the still form of Zack lay inside it.

Lydecker got out of his Hummer and stared up at the looming building before him. "This is your idea of an unsuspecting place?"

"There's a taboo about places like this that keeps even the military out," Max quickly returned, but then added in sarcastic wit. "But if you're afraid you'll burn, Donald, you can wait outside."

The stained glass windows of the cathedral were dull but ominous in the night, but none of them paid attention to them. Jondy picked the lock to one of the side entrances. The room had a musty, but clean smell and after flipping on a light it was revealed to them that they were in one of the offices of the church.

The small amount of light that emitted from the tiny desk lamp wasn't enough to arouse suspicion that anyone was in there. But a few seconds later the doorknob to the office twisted open.

Krit and Jace aimed their guns at the door, surprising the lone man who had used the key to unlock the door.

Before any exchange could come from the man, Max interrupted the tense silence. "Father Destry," She hadn't expected the Priest to be at Sacred Heart so early.

Destry's eyes immediately showed startled confusion after he recognized the face of the woman.

"Mrs. Cale-" His words stilled out when he saw the blood that was covering her hands, and his face grew even more disturbed at the sight of a man's body lying across a makeshift gurney.

"He needs surgery Father," every word Max said was deadly serious.

Destry looked at Zack's still form, and back to the haggard, but fierce looking men and women glaring at him. Something about the whole situation was deadly wrong. "Why haven't you taken him to a hospital?"

"It's too dangerous," Max's words did nothing to lessen Destry's confusion, but she didn't have time to waste trying to coax the Priest to her side. So she told him the truth. "Something very bad went down tonight, all we need is space; we won't do anything to the church-"

"If the Sector Police caught you in here you all would be arrested for criminal trespass and he would be thrown in jail with you, without any regard to his injuries." Destry insisted in a quiet, demanding voice, but in reality he was terrified. All the people around him looked ready to break his neck if he didn't comply.

"Please Father," Max pleaded with a look in her eyes equal to her words, a stare that was territorial, desperate. "He's my brother, if he doesn't have surgery he'll die."

Whether it was the words 'brother' or 'die' or the combination of the two that swayed the Father Max would never know, but Destry affixed her with a look that told her he would help her.

"My office has minimal light," Destry grabbed a set of keys off his desk. "Follow me,"

He led them down a small hallway of mahogany doors and inserted a key into the one that was situated at the end of the hall. The deadbolt slid out of its place and the door opened.

Destry flipped on a panel of four light switches and the room they were in was bathed in overhead light.

Max recognized it immediately to be the vast and airy sanctuary of the church. The huge stained glass windows rose above the dark wooden pews. Behind her a scraping sounded emitted and she turned her head to see Destry remove a rectangular candleholder filled with the sacred candles down from a wooden table.

"Take the statue down from its brace," Destry stated. The large marble carving of the Virgin hung over the altar table like the maid at the bow of a ship and She would be in the way for anyone wanting to get behind the altar table.

His instructions were to no one in particular so Jondy performed the task of removing the huge statute of the Blessed Mary from her mounting on the wall. The image of the statue struck her memory for an instant as she laid it down on the ground.

"The Blessed Lady will forgive us for removing her from her post if it will save this man's life," Destry reassured in only the voice a priest could provide.

In the midst of all this conversation Zack had been laid across the mahogany table. His wound had continued to leak blood, and the amount of bloodloss had turned his normally white complexion a ghastly shade lighter now completely soaked through the collar of his sweater.

His features glistened with sweat, a sign of impending infection that Sam worried about more than the blood loss. The doctor listened to Zack's chest with the stethoscope that had still been around his neck when he had been taken from Metro. He wasn't listening to a heartbeat but rather lung noises. There was a faint rushing of air going in and out of the aveoli tissue but no wet sounds, which would be an indication that blood had gotten into his lungs.

"Lungs sound weak but clear, all the escaping blood that isn't leaking out of the external bullet holes is pooling into his windpipe but thankfully none has gone down it yet. I can suction out the excess volume and close the holes."

"Then what's wrong?" Krit asked sensing hesitation in Sam's words.

"His blood loss is too substantial to survive the operation. He needs a transfusion-"

"So transfuse him," Max retorted, what needed to be done sounded basic enough to her. "He needs X5 blood and you're surrounded by them."

"It's not that simple," Sam said with the grave tone of a doctor trying to tell a family member what the stakes were. "He's lost half his volume already he'd need two liters in order to even have a chance, taking one liter out of someone is risky enough, and he needs one more if he's gonna make it."

"Take them both from me," Max concluded causing Sam to look at her like she was crazy.

"No Max," Sam insisted sternly. "Taking out half the body's blood volume causes cardiac failure, coma-"

"We were designed with revved up bodies Sam," Max insisted. "My system could remanufacture the blood in a few hours."

"I can't let you do this," Sam cut in. "Even with your genetics you can't be certain that your body won't experience the same kind of shut down, it could kill you."

"I'll supply the other liter," Jace offered.

"No," Max answered, turning to her sister. "Lack of blood makes you weak. If I'm the only one that does the transfusion it keeps only two of us indisposed."

"Max no," this time it was Logan who tried to stop her. "I know you want to help him, but there has to be another way." His wife had just admitted she was willing to die for her brother, and that didn't sit well with him, no matter how much raw emotion was in it.

"There is no other way!" Max shouted, her eyes were on fire but it didn't come close in equaling the feeling of guilt inside her. Zack had taken the bullet that was meant for her. She owed him. "He's my brother Logan, he'd do the same for me." Before her husband could respond she turned back to Sam. "Do it."

Sam looked to Zack's still form, then back to Max with a look of silent defeat. "There's an IV bag and catheter mixed in those supplies, you can transfuse yourself but I want someone watching you the whole time. I don't want anybody dying on my watch."

Logan had chosen himself as the obvious person to sit with Max during the transfusion but before he could get the words out he was beaten to them.

"I'll do it," Father Destry stepped down from the pulpit and walked with determined steps over to Max. All that had transpired tonight had both stunned and shocked him, but the fierce loyalty Max had for her brother was obvious. And he had to admire her strength because Max Guevara Cale was a very special kind of woman indeed.

"I'll need some extra hands to assist," Sam spoke up after Max had unearthed the cathater from the pile of medical supplies.

"You've got sixteen of them," Zane returned.

Max situated herself in the first pew and removed her down jacket revealing her black muscle tank top. She flexed her right bicep and slid the catheter needle into her skin. The catheter was a kind with a pump at the head of the tubing that could be twisted on causing a small vacuum suction of air to pull the blood out of the body and into the IV bag.

Father Destry slid next to the empty spot right beside Max. With very deeply emotional movements he made a sign of the cross above her forehead. "God protect you."

XXXXXXX

Cindy carefully peeked out of the corner bit of curtain covering her apartment window. The lights across the alley had been extinguished during a brown out that morning and, being so old, they hadn't come back on with the rest of the power. The almost total darkness of the streets below made the soft glow from the lamplight behind her shine noticeably. She had only been looking for three seconds but she quickly closed the curtain, not wanting to take any chances about someone seeing her light.

Her apartment was quiet, no radio going on as she usually had it. Only her nickel-plated alarm clock – a piece given to her by her grandmother Stefana – ticked quietly in the corner.

Cindy turned away from the window and walked the length of her small living room floor. Tucked against her shoulder Lucy made very faint cooing noises. She had refused to go to sleep for the past two hours so Cindy had been walking her up and down.

A knock on her door made her jolt in surprise. It was too early in the morning for anyone to be there.

"Shh," Cindy rubbed Lucy's head to try and quiet her noises and crept to her front door. There was no noise from the other end. She leaned over to grab a baseball bat she kept in the corner.

"Cindy? I'm suppose to ask if you're coming into work today."

Cindy released the bat at the sound of Sketchy's voice. "Fool it's too early in the morning to be askin' me that." She kept her voice low in case Sketchy wasn't the only one out there. "I'm sick I already told Normal that."

"Sorry but he made me ask," Sketchy insisted from the other side of the door. "Cindy?"

"Go to work Sketch," Cindy returned shifting the baby higher on her shoulder. "And tell Normal to find himself a better lackey."

There were no sounds for several minutes so Cindy concluded that Sketchy had left. She let out a sigh she had been holding and looked down at the baby who still hadn't gone to sleep. "I know baby girl, I'm worried about your momma too."

XXXXXXX

"Put a clamp on that," Sam was holding the sections of Zack's torn neck together with forceps. His neck had been cut open with a single incision to minimize suturing. All the blood had to be removed from his airway via a suction catheter before Sam could even begin to make any repairs in the artery.

Syl placed the metal surgical clamp on her brother's neck and Sam removed the forceps, holding his breath until he saw the clamp holding. "Open the suture kit and we'll sew up the hole."

"Blood's ready," Alec hand delivered the two liters of blood in a large Foley drainage bag.

"Hang it there," Sam nodded to the wooden podium that had been moved close to the altar table to serve as an IV tree. "Someone tell me how Max is doing," Sam ordered not looking up from his work.

"She hasn't said anything in the last fifteen minutes," Logan was sitting on the side of his wife not occupied by Father Destry. Forty minutes into the transfusion Max had gone pale and lagarthic so Logan took on her weight, letting her lie out across his chest.

"Is her skin clammy?" Sam still kept his eyes his work but his words held urgency.

Logan had already noted the ash tint to her complexion with silent worry. "Yes," the words were a struggle to get out.

"Fill one of the empty IV bags with a solution of 80 percent water and 20 percent salt and start a drip line on her, and cover her up so she doesn't lose any more body heat."

Destry immediately went to the wooden bin that against the corner of the last confessional, pulling out a gray knitted afghan donated to the poor by a member of his congregation. He returned to the pew and covered Max with the blanket.

Jondy found a carton of salt that had been sitting in a corner of the sanctuary. It was rock salt used in the garden but Jondy knew the right amount to put in to make the mixture. There was no water in the taps because just yesterday the church's water main had been hit by a stray bullet from a Sector Cop putting down a group of young rioters. The line wasn't supposed to be fixed for another week. It was for that reason that the church had been closed for services and why Destry had come in early to get some paperwork done.

Jondy had managed to find ample water though, in a large ceramic jug dispenser with ornate images of Mary and Jesus carved all over its porcelain finish. She wasn't Catholic but she knew immediately that it was Holy Water. But this wasn't the time to worry about offending someone. She filled the IV bag and shook the mixture to get it to combine.

Kneeling down next to Max's still form she pushed aside the blanket on her body and inserted the IV in the same spot the catheter needle had been in.

Destry had seen where Jondy had gotten the water from, but there was no blame on his face, she was only doing what had to be done. He laid a hand on Max's forehead, not as a Priest, but as a human being offering strength to another.

He cast his eyes over to the doctor working feverishly to save the life of the young man. The scene was so profound to Destry, watching a doctor perform surgery on his altar. The blood of the man had dripped down on the table with a few drops sliding down the altar leg and onto the head of the statue of the Virgin.

During all these rapid-fire events Lydecker had made no move to intervene or interfere. He stood stone still in the center aisle between the rows of pews eyes locked on his kids, from Zack who lay cut open at the hands of a civilian doctor to Max who lay so listlessly still against her civilian husband.

Tinga felt Lydecker's gaze and turned her head, staring back at him with the same intensity.

Deck watched her for a few brief moments before he slid along a pew and disappeared behind a partition wall.

XXXXXXXXXX

The fire had not gone unnoticed, but by the time fire officials arrived they could only put out the charred remains of the building. Nothing could be saved and CSI police units had been called in to gather the bodies.

Since no one knew if the plant contained any chemicals all the officials were clad in Level Three yellow Hazmat suits.

The bodies the unit found were particularly gruesome, organs protruding out of hanging flaps of bright red burned flesh, or charred so badly they weren't even recognizable as human. The agents worked quickly to collect all the dead before the media helicopters caught wind and swarmed in for their piece. But before any of them could touch a single one of the dead a line of Black Hummers appeared on the single dirt road that led up to the ruins. All the vehicles parked in a semi circle around the perimeter of the plant. Dozens of men got out, soldiers dressed in black Kevlar uniforms carrying M-20 automatic rifles.

One of them stopped right in front of a CSI agent, waving a thin paper in his face. "We're taking over this operation. You and your men are hereby ordered to step down. This site is now under military control."

The agent came out of his trance, and became angry at having his operation cut in on. "Under whose authority?"

"I am not under obligation to tell you that Sir," the soldier responded then turned back to the other soldiers awaiting his command. "Delta Team, gather up all the bodies and establish a two mile perimeter around the area. Alpha Unit, engage a point to point search, collect any contraband that survived the fire."

"Yes Sir," the first two soldiers in the line agreed and the mass of men broke down to perform their duties.

The CSI agents were stupefied watching the soldiers carrying green army stretchers through the site, placing the remains into body bags.

"Who the hell are you!" The lead CSI agent shouted into the air but no soldier stopped in his task to answer him.

Frustrated as hell, the agent ripped open the sealed envelope the soldier had given him. He suspected it to be a military warrant; even if the soldiers were ordered to keep their superior's identity a secret they still needed official papers to take over a scene. But when he folded open the paper his face contoured in complete confusion. The letter was typed, giving nothing away in the form of handwriting. The paper contained a single line:

_You have no idea what you've walked into._

XXXXXX

SACRED HEART

Sam pressed the end of his stethoscope against Zack's chest. The operation had only taken an hour but Sam felt like it had taken ten years because he was operating with minimal supplies in a church. The X5's heartbeats were still weak but unlike before they were stabilized. Twenty minutes through his suturing Zack's heart rate shot up to a rapid level. Sam had to reopen the sutures and discovered he had thrown an embolism, a blood clot. He had to cut down two inches deeper in the artery to remove the large clot that had formed and was blocking blood flow to his heart. And it took another twenty minutes to ensure his blood wasn't thickening again, with the artery being left cut open the entire time, before he was finally able to reclose the wound.

Sam also noted with relief that there was minimal oozing from the sterile bandages that he had wrapped around Zack's neck. The small tinges of blood that did peek through the bandages were normal phenomena after a major operation. Satisfied that his patient wasn't about to suffer an arrest Sam intended to make his way to the first row of pews to check on the female member of his two patients. But he had no sooner taken one step than he caught sight of a blonde woman.

She was approaching the front of the church slowly enough for Sam to observe her every movement. She was young, pretty enough to be one of the X5 sisters– because it was no secret that Manticore had made its female soldiers exceptionally beautiful to use as tactical advantage over their enemy. But when she finally stopped in front of Zack she didn't look at him like a sister, but rather like a girlfriend, lover, someone who had become a part of his life by choice.

"How is he?" the woman's voice gave away only a subtle hint of how concerned she was but her eyes gave away her emotions completely.

She was definitely not an X5, but Sam could tell that she was still a person that only appreciated the truth. "He survived the surgery, but the next few hours are still critical. I'll have to monitor him closely, make sure he doesn't develop another clot." Sam was telling her the truth but he could also sense that she needed something more human. "But he's young, stronger than most, I don't see any reason why he shouldn't pull out of this."

At the doctor's words Asha's lips almost pulled into a smile, but it quickly faded away because she didn't really feel like smiling.

Sam touched her shoulder in reassurance. "Why don't you sit with him?" He didn't wait for Asha to answer his question and walked down to the first row of pews.

His shadow cast itself over Logan who looked like he was asleep but his eyes immediately shot up at Sam. He hadn't been sleeping, not even a little bit.

Sam had to maneuver around Logan's grip on his wife in order to feel the pulse in Max's neck. It was still beating slowly like her brother's, but growing stronger. The saline solution had been completely emptied so Sam made a move to remove the needle from her arm, speaking to Logan at the same time.

"She should be coming around soon, just continue to keep her warm." At the contact of the needle being removed Max suddenly jerked.

"Hey, can't girl even get some beauty sleep?" Max's complaint was laden with grogginess but it was still strong. Her eyes opened a second after her words were finished and she stared at Sam with a teasing glare that would have been full force had she been strong enough.

"Maxie, if you get any more beauty sleep guys' crotches everywhere are going to explode," Zane had his feet up on the back of the pew where Max was laying. He had been looking at a weapons pricing catalog, but he had been on the same page of Bazookas for the last ten minutes. He was worried about his siblings; but if Zack's way of avoiding emotion was to act angry all the time Zane's way was to pretend he wasn't interested.

Max was still feeling shaky from the effects of blood loss, but she still pulled her head out from Logan's chest to shoot Zane the best glare she could muster.

"Welcome back," Sam's declaration made Max turn to face him. "You gave us a scare for a while."

Max didn't say anything, her eyes shifting up to where Zack was. "Did it work?"

Sam nodded silently. "He still isn't awake yet but, judging by your ability to recover he should be coming back pretty soon." He paused; weighing his next words. "You saved his life."

Max stood up, but the blood loss still made her weak and she immediately became dizzy.

"Easy," Logan caught her before she fell, supporting her with an arm across her shoulders. He caressed the nape of her neck, right over her barcode.

Max regained her bearings ten seconds later. "I'm fine." She didn't want to appear ungrateful for Logan looking out for her, but her thoughts was elsewhere and she was determined to let her body go where her mind wanted.

She slowly made her way up the aisle to the front of the church. For a moment her mind flashed her back to the time when she had walked down this same aisle in search of Ben. She could almost hear his voice as she approached the altar.

"Max?"

The memory vanished at the sound of Zack's voice. Sam had been right about Zack waking up soon, as Max already knew.

Zack only moved enough to lift his head a centimeter or two from where it lay on the table but his piercing gaze had no trouble reaching her.

"Hey," her words were simple, but almost overwhelmed with relief to see him awake. "How you feelin'?"

"About the same as you look," Zack returned quietly but with all his usual sarcasm.

"You're not exactly pretty right now either Zack," Max came back. "Crimson's not exactly your color."

At her words Zack could smell more fully the scent of fresh and drying blood from his wounds.

Words from Asha had never come because she had sat there only a few seconds before going in search of a bathroom. And since neither Max nor Zack knew of her being there in the first place neither of them noticed.

"It's not yours either." Zack saw the faint traces of dried blood matted under Max's shirt from where she had been shot earlier. She hadn't even noticed the wound because of all the adrenaline.

"Sorry," Sam's voice broke through Zack and Max's conversation. "I had to take this off of you during surgery." He dangled a thin chain looped through a gold band. "But I only undid the clasp so it can still be worn." He handed it to Max figuring she knew what it was and that Zack wouldn't have a problem with her seeing it. Sam was wrong, but how could he have known?

Max examined the item in her hand. "Since when do X5 guys wear jewelry?"

"Since when is wearing some a war crime?" Zack answered her question with a question.

Max managed a dry smile. "Why'd you do it?" The ring in her hand was forgotten as she asked Zack for a reason for taking a bullet intended for her.

"I was owning up to who I was." Zack's words were faint; as much as he didn't want to admit it he was still weak. But there was still determination in everything he said.

"By taking a hit for me? I don't think the Big Brother Society would disown you had you not gotten shrapnel up your neck."

"It's not something you think about Maxie," Zack insisted, cutting down her sarcasm. "I wasn't about to watch you die because of some bullshit fear about not being a martyr." His words were harsh, but there was nothing but unyielding protection behind them. He had done what he had to do, regardless of the consequences.

Max sensed someone behind her and she slowly turned around to see that Asha had reemerged from the wings of the church.

Asha shared the same pale complexion as Max and Zack, though not from blood loss. She had made it through the door of a small two-stall bathroom before throwing up in the sink. The sight of blood alone wasn't what had made her sick, she had seen enough bloodshed in her life; it was because the blood belonged to Zack.

Max walked the short distance over to Zack, laying the chain in his palm. She caressed locks of his blonde hair "If you ever pull something like that again I'll kick your ass." She leaned over and kissed the side of his face and when she pulled back a single wet track was evident on her face.

XXXXXXXX

"_Everything's set Sir,"_ the voice was crackly through the scrambler, only faintly recognizable as male. The person on the frequency seemed to expect some words of gratitude from the other end. _"Sir?"_

"Just make things go accordingly." Ames wasn't about to glorify a messenger boy for doing what he was supposed to do.

There was a beat of silence as the other man dealt with the sting of Ames's words. _"Yes Sir."_

XXXXXXXX

The chain was still in Zack's hand and Asha stared briefly at the jewelry she hadn't known had gone missing from her apartment, before looking up into the face of the man who had taken it.

"What happened to you not bending that way?"

"It was the heat of the moment," Zack returned, completely non-romantic, but Zack had never been a romantic guy.

It was an excuse, a cheap one. "Then I'd like it back." Asha held out her hand expectantly, but silently praying she would come up empty handed.

Zack fixed her with a gaze that hovered between a hard ass soldier and a flesh and blood feeling man. "You obviously have no respect for the heat of the moment." He sat up and clasped the chain around his neck.

"We need to move," Deck's low command cut through the air of the church. He watched all the eyes of the X5s shift to him at the sound of his voice. "Daylight's in another half hour, and our position will be compromised after it hits."

"No," Sam insisted with a voice equal in issuing ordering as Lydecker's. "They just underwent major medical procedures." By 'they' Sam was referring to Max and Zack.

"My kids are strong," Lydecker all but growled at Sam. "They don't need extra time to recuperate."

"They're both weak," Sam continued to insist, he was foremost a doctor. "If you move them too early it could kill them."

"You don't have a choice in this matter Doctor," Deck returned cutting him down with a piercing glare. "Just because you saved their lives doesn't mean you know how this system operates."

Sam wasn't about to back down. "What do you care about the system Sir, if you're so into going above it?"

The rest of their conversation was never known because Father Destry came running out of from the hallway that lead to the church offices.

"The building's on fire!" Destry had part of his black suit jacket over his nose. The hallway that he had just vacated was slowly filling up with a thick smoke, but no traces of flames preceded it.

A faint scraping echoed above in one of the large air vents of the cathedral ceiling. Syl looked up to the source of the noise and Max also turned her head upwards. The scraping noise soon gave way to a gushing pumping sound and both sister's soon came to the realization that the smoke was only a diversion to get them all in one room, and that what was pumping through the vents was Nitrogen Oxide, a highly toxic gas. The ventilation system had been shut off making the effects of the gas instantly smothering.

"We need to get out of here!" Max's voice was muffled by her hand and from the coughing that was emitting from her mouth. The gas burned her mouth and nose, making her coughing wet with mucus.

Through her haze she could see her siblings make their way towards the front of the door. Syl kicked in the double wooden doors and cold Seattle air instantly pierced through the gas.

Max doubled over from her coughing, feeling the wooden back of a pew gut her in the stomach.

She felt herself sliding but a second later she felt someone grab her before she fell.

"Let's go people!" Zack grabbed a hold of Max, hooking his arms under her legs. With his hands occupied he had to resort to holding his breath. Some of the gas entered into his lungs when he did so but he didn't allow himself to succumb to the resulting burning that would force him to breathe again.

He carried Max out through the door, feeling the wet drops of rain hit him. A hot blast of gunfire cut through the raindrops, sending bullets flying around the entrance of the church.

Max dropped out of Zack's arms as he pulled out a Beretta to return the fire.

Ahead of them were dozens of soldiers in Kevlar body armor armed to the teeth and firing rapidly with their M-20 automatic rifles.

Zack's clips were soon spent, not being able to cut through the thick body armor well enough to hinder the soldiers' attack.

There was a horrible cry from the first line of soldiers as Syl and Zane dropped from the roof and landed right on top of them. Syl threw the first two soldiers down on the ground and back flipped over Zane to nail the next two with a double kick that sent them reeling into the chain link fence that surrounded the church.

The second line of soldiers fought back hard but Tinga, Jace, and Krit emerged from the rain, each shooting the soldiers or breaking their necks with their bare hands.

Max had crept from the church's entrance and swiped her foot across the foot of a firing soldier, throwing him off his feet and onto his back. Before he could recover she disarmed him and knocked him right in between his forehead with his rifle butt.

A soldier lunged at her, kicking her in the back but she did not fall and retaliated on the attack, throwing him against the side of the church. Max tore through the wet strands of her hair that was plastered to her face and blocking her vision. No sooner did she did that than two soldiers jumped on her back, throwing her to the ground.

The muzzles of their guns were aimed right behind her neck. Gunfire echoed behind her and she felt the dead weight of the two men fall on top of her. A hand helped her slide out from under the two bodies.

Logan had fired two kill shots, but he looked ready to throw up because he hadn't been taught glorification of taking human life.

Max recognized that horrified look on his face all too well but she didn't have time to console him about what he had just done. The soldiers' bodies littered the churchyard, creating an above ground cemetery that reeked of spilt blood and bodily fluids. Out of the corner of her vision she could see Lydecker popping off shots from his Beretta, it was a full-scale modern war where even he was an asset.

Taking down the three soldiers had left her feeling incredibly nauseous but she wasn't willing to succumb to it. "Let's go!" Max grabbed Logan's hand and the two ran from the churchyard, stepping over the bodies of soldier's as gunfire from Max's siblings sounded behind them.

Jondy spent the last clip in her black .45 caliber Vector. Having no other weapons on her she launched the gun at the remaining soldiers like a Chinese Throwing Star, taking out several with her aim.

Several of the soldiers were stunned but still standing. But they didn't have time to retaliate on her before Zane jumped on them from behind and snapped their necks before they knew what was going on.

One of the soldier's had escaped from Zane's attack and took aim at the Jondy with his gun, but his attack was cut short with a gasping cry as Tinga threw a steel bladed hunter's knife into his back. He lost his hold on his weapon and fell backwards into the muddy dirt, screaming as the hilt of the knife connected with the ground and plunged the blade deeper into his body.

"You okay?" Tinga had to shout at Jondy through the rain.

"All the firing lines are down!" Jondy yelled back. "Let's get the hell out of here before they send another wave!"

Tinga didn't need to be told twice; she followed Jondy through the long outside corridor that lead to the courtyard where the two Hummers were parked.

The doors had been flung open and most of the X5s were already inside but Jondy stopped short before she climbed in. On the underside of Zane's Hummer she noticed an elongated black box with several crisscross red wires running from it. Jondy had been trained in Manticore as Interface Debugger, which was just Manticore's fancy term for a bomb dismantler. She had no doubt that inside the black box secured to the underside of the SUV was several pounds of Claymore set to go off through a trip line wired to the ignition.

She removed a pair of needle nosed pliers from a place she had concealed them on her body, yelling instantaneously at Zane not to start the engine. She cursed under her breath because all the plastic wire covers were red – leaving no indication as to which wire would dismantle the bomb or detonate it if she removed it. There was also no timer on the bomb that meant that it would go off the second she screwed up. Time was something she didn't have; so, going purely on her skill and more on luck, she pulled the middle wire.

"Hit it!" Jondy yelled to Zane. The Hummer engine roared to life and the claymore remained undetonated. Jondy ripped the bomb from the bottom of the Hummer and jumped into the vehicle as Zane was driving away.

"Lydecker, you didn't happen to find a little extra juice in your ride?" Jondy talked to Deck via her radio unit. She was asking this for the sole reason that half of her siblings were riding with their old Manticore CO. Even with all that had gone down that day she wasn't about to forgive years of torture and abuse because of Deck's few moments of humanity.

"_Negative,"_ Deck was forever an Army Colonel. _"Vehicle's clean."_

"_As clean as you can get riding with something like Colonel Lydecker."_ The remark came from Alec who was stretched out across the last bench seat. His leather jacket was caked in mud and the brown goo was also clumped in his hair and drying to his hands. This description repeated itself throughout all the siblings who wore looks of weariness only soldiers leaving battle could understand.

The interior of both Hummers reeked with the smell of mud, sweat and drying blood. In Zane's SUV there was a marked silence. Zane kept watch in his rearview mirror to make sure Deck wasn't trying to play anything, and also to keep watch for an ambush. Directly behind him on the next bench seat Zack was leaned up against one window, while on the opposite side Max was imitating his position except that she was resting her head against Logan's shoulder instead of the windowpane. Her legs were stretched out across half the length of the bench seat, leaving little room for Zack's larger frame. But her brother looked too lost in thought, or rather too exhausted to care.

Asha sat with her knees drawn up in the small floor space in front of the bench seats on Zack's side. But she didn't complain about the cramped arrangements and placed a single hand on Zack's leg to get his attention. Her hand never made any contact with anything that would arouse him, but his eyes still lowered to her face.

"_You have no idea how proud I am of you kids,"_ Deck's declaration came through the radio's frequency.

"Geez, thanks, _dad_," Jondy hissed, his words making her cringe. "That makes all those years of torture totally worth it."

"_I was trying to build something, create soldiers that were as deadly as they were flawless." _

"Did you succeed?"

"_You tell me."_

Jondy ripped off her headset and pitched it at the opposite window.

"_Guys we've got company."_ This time Alec's voice came through the radio unit.

"What is it?" Tinga responded.

"_Three black SUV's convoying, could be gangsters, but then they wouldn't be tailing."_

"How far back?" Jondy asked

"_A quarter mile."_

Jondy could see through the front windshield that they were nearing the Sector Two checkpoint. The sector they had just come out of consisted of almost nothing but forest and operating plants for the wealthy corporations. Sector Two was the beginning of the main inhabited city of Seattle. There were constant attempts from illegals and criminals to flee into the city from this gateway, and as such the checkpoint was heavily guarded all the time.

"Zane!" Jondy yelled up in the front seat to her brother. "Drop your speed down to fifteen!"

Zane took his foot off the accelerator and lowered the Hummer's speed down from seventy miles to a practical crawl.

"Krit I'm gonna need you for something in a few minutes." Jondy spoke into her radio unit.

"_Forget Krit I'll fulfill your every wish,"_ Alec returned.

"Later boy when you have time to fantasize better." Jondy said.

"What are you going to do?" Zane yelled back from the driver's seat.

"What I always do, improvise," Jondy answered pulling apart the casing from the bomb in her lap.

Once the black plastic was removed a system of interlacing red wires was revealed snaking around the outside edges of the box. The wiring all converged at a single point and ran into a separate cloudy Kevlar coated plastic box that held one pound of Claymore. The box itself was coated in Kevlar to keep any stray bullets from making impact on the Claymore and detonating it. Jondy couldn't penetrate the box without some form of tipped bullet that she didn't have, but that was exactly what she was counting on.

"Hey Maxie," Jondy shook her sister's shoulder. Max lifted her head from Logan's shoulder, still looking weary, but fully attentive to Jondy's words. "You feel up to delivering a package?"

xxxxxxxx

The wind whipped in Max's face even at the slow speed Zane was driving at. Jondy stood a few feet behind her on the roof of the Hummer. She backed up, and then hurled forward onto Lydecker's Hummer.

Max followed her, careful not to drop the bomb she was holding. She landed on her feet a few inches away from Jondy.

The three SUV's were now only less then a quarter mile behind them and closing in fast. The checkpoint of Sector Two came into view almost the same distance as the SUV's. What was about to happen had to be timed exactly.

"Krit take the hit!" Jondy shouted into her radio unit.

There was a smashing sound as Krit broke through the back windo of Deck's Hummer with the barrel of an M-5. He opened fire on the SUV's. The lead car swerved to avoid the bullets, but soon soldiers began emerging out of the windows to return the rounds.

Jondy dodged all the bullets, keeping one eye on the approaching checkpoint. Already the gunfire had caught the attention of the guards. Four of them came pouring out with M-20's. The bullets were the same issue as the soldier's were firing behind them – with one exception that was key, a tipping with the same Kevlar penetration ability as _Cop Killers_.

Jondy could see the MP's at the checkpoint take aim with their guns; several rounds began popping off around the two women.

"Now Maxie!"

Max threw the bomb onto the top of the first SUV in the convoy and then she and Jondy crashed through the windows of Deck's SUV.

Max glared at Lydecker from the passenger seat she had landed into. "Floor it Donald!" She stepped on the accelerator herself without waiting for Lydecker's response.

The Sector Cops continued to fire on the SUV's but as the rounds of bullets flew past the unknown vehicle one of them tore through the casing of the Claymore on the roof of the SUV and the bomb exploded. The rocketing aftershock engulfed all three SUV's in a wall of fire and smoke.

The Sector Cops all leapt away from their checkpoint as the SUV's came hurtling towards them because of the momentum of the blast.

The push from the bomb slammed Deck's SUV into Zane's and the first Hummer practically dragged the second through the checkpoint seconds before the other trucks had the chance to collided with it.

"I'm getting fucking tired of my ride almost getting smoked!" Zane cried out after getting the Hummer righted on the road. "Next mission we're taking someone else's car."

XXXXXXXXX

7: 15 AM

"Max? God you look awful."

Max turned her gaze up to Bennett but didn't respond. She pushed her way past Logan's cousin and into the cabin.

The space was well lit from the numerous lamps spread out across the room but Max was glad to see that the dark blue roman shades were all pulled down and didn't allow anyone outside to see that light.

She stepped slowly over the hardwood floor and the noise created by her shoes caused Maryanne's head to turn from the fireplace. She acknowledged Max silently but then a second later leaned over to shake the small forms of the two children lying next to where she was sitting on the couch.

"There she is." Maryanne's words caused Jessie's head to turn and the minute he locked eyes with his mother he bolted off the couch followed closely by his sister.

"Mommy!" Jess was the first one to reach Max and threw himself in her arms while Lexi –who had spotted Logan first – bounded up to her father.

Her son embraced her in a death grip and Max didn't want to loosen it. He burrowed into her shoulder and Max put her hand on his neck to keep him there.

Lexi, for her part, was at a loss for words and simply cried on Logan who was more than willing to let her cry, and be content with holding her.

Max shared a look with her husband and in the lamplight tear tracks were streaked across her face.

The 19-inch Sanyo television on its black Bose Acoustic pedestal was turned to KBXL newsbreak where a lone white female anchorwoman was giving a report:

"_We are in the middle of covering a early breaking news story about a deadly explosion. It happened just twenty minutes ago at the Sector Two Checkpoint. Three vehicles were engulfed in the flames, but our sources tell us there were two other vehicles at the checkpoint that somehow managed to escape the blast-"_

xxxxxx

The door slid open on the Hummer and a dark pair of brown eyes stared into it's interior.

"Max-" upon hearing his mother speak his name the boy Max climbed up over the metal landing step of the Hummer and tackled Jace with the force of his embrace.

"My baby," Jace hugged her son with the same intensity that Max and Logan had done inside the cabin with their children. She couldn't help the tears that sprang to her eyes as she embraced her only child.

XXXXXX

"…_The area is still too dangerous to get a body count but it believed that there will be few, if any survivors. The cause of the blast is highly suspicious to Law Enforcement, as it comes on the heels of an explosion that happened just hours ago around 5:15 at a local Aeronautical Hydraulics plant in Sector One. Dozens of bodies are rumored to have been pulled from the flames." _

"The perimeter is secure Sir," the soldier stated watching Lydecker's eyes give him a quiet form of approval. "Recon uncovered numerous burned out computer CPU's but nothing stable enough to reinitiate."

"Were the bodies of Agent White and this Priestess of his recovered among the ruins?" Deck asked hearing the rustle of plastic from the large tents that had been erected to cover the remains. Dozens of guards stood on patrol around yellow police tape on the charred remains of the Hydraulic plant yard. The sun had started to come up so the soldiers were now under strict orders to conceal their findings.

"All the remains we found were charred beyond recognition Sir," the soldier responded. "It will take weeks to cross examine the bodies with dental records, and it's also a fair assumption that many of these corpses have no records on file so the only way to identify them is through DNA analysis. With all these complications Sir if Agent White and this woman _are_ among the dead it will be months before we can identify them."

Lydecker's jaw became rigid as he digested this information. The soldier was telling him the hard truth and he was forced to respect the honesty. But as man with his line of experience he already knew what the results of all the tests would be.

XXXXXXXX

"_Analysists are calling this attack too well orchestrated to have been conducted by amateurs and in the days ahead more concrete proof that these were, indeed, professional attacks is expected to reveal itself." _

The black SUV drove around the charred remains of the Hydraulics pant observing the activity of the soldiers. All the bodies had been removed and the task force units were now sifting through the twisted metal and concrete in order to find anything that they may have missed before. The men were so absorbed in their tasks, and so secure in believing that they had sealed off the area from outsiders that no one noticed the SUV roll down its window and a pair of blood red eyes stare out at them.

"T'jkas n'ts th's en's. I's n'jks a'ha' si'tnik'ah," ("This isn't the end, it's only a setback.") The Priestess rolled up the tinted window.

"It's more then a setback," Ames insisted from the driver's seat. His voice held nowhere near the confidence of the small woman beside him. "With all our power we can't snap our damn fingers and recreate everything like the son of the Christian God. What was destroyed will take years to rebuild, maybe more."

"You are as insolent as you are handsome Ames," the Priestess returned in her accented English. Her dark red eyes were now directed upon him. "What are a few years compared to centuries?" She was practically spiting with venomous anger. "We will rebuild as we have done before, but not on a mere training day."

"We shall see M'jaka (My Lady)." Ames addressed her as royalty though she was only a lowly Priestess, but his words were so sarcastic in tone that the Priestess fixed him with a glare.

"_You_ shall see Ames, I already know."

XXXXXXXXX

MAX (VOICE OVER): _"We escaped eleven years ago with only our closed Manticore training into a world we didn't even know. But through our years of freedom we acquired things that Manticore would have never given us."_

"I'm here to pick up a package."

"Shut up and get in here boo," Cindy embraced Max the second she got through the door of her old apartment. Max returned the hug, staying in her friend's arms for countless seconds.

When Cindy finally did pull back her eyes locked on Max's with all the concern she could give. "You aiight suga?"

Max nodded, "It takes more then that to bring me down." Cooing noises emitted behind her and she turned to their source.

MAX (VOICE OVER): _"We fell hard into the sentimental lie that Lydecker warned us constantly about avoiding."_

"Miss me?" Max's words were dampened with deep emotions as she watched the pair of smaller brown eyes find hers. She lifted Lucy out of the baby car seat that Cindy had placed on the kitchen countertop and cradled her infant daughter. "Hey baby girl." She kissed her by her ear, caressing her back and neck with her free hand; two tear drops sliding down her face and hitting Lucy baby's soft skin.

"Told ya you could tell her all that yourself, boo," Cindy stated, reminding Max of the promise she wanted Cindy to keep.

MAX (VOICE OVER): _"Love and family were all the enemy by the standards of Manticore. They made you weak and forget your true objective. But after we got out we figured that Manticore had it all backwards."_

xxxxxxxx

8:15 PM

"This is a most unusual way to do this," Father Destry's voice was tight inside the small confessional.

The city of Seattle was slow in everything they did, but through an anonymous source the Police Department had been sent that very afternoon to detoxify the church. But the Cathedral had sustained numerous damages from the gunfire and the Nitrogen gas would take days to pump out. Sacred Heart was officially closed for two weeks. But the neighboring Catholic Church fifteen miles away had allowed Destry to conduct his services in their sanctuary. The small church had nowhere near the grandeur of the Sacred Heart, but it was comfortable and beautiful in its simplicity. The small staff of clergy were honest and kind hearted and gave Destry and his staff full access to their facilities. One of these facilities were the tiny wooden confessionals which matched the small size of the church.

But it wasn't the smallness of the confessional that brought about Destry's declaration, it was for the reason he had come.

"We're not exactly usual people Father." The female voice reached Destry's ears from the other side of the confessional wall.

From his vantage point Destry could make out the lightly curled blonde hair of the young woman and see her dark eyes stare back at his. "I assume that because of all your precautions you're choosing to do this anonymously?"

Asha's silence was Destry's answer.

"Then let's not waste any time." Destry had his small prayer book resting in his lap but he didn't open it, already knowing the words he would say.

"Father in Heaven I embark upon you tonight to bless all that will reveal itself upon your eyes-"

"Where'd you steal this?"

"I know a few dead grandfathers of my own," Zack's remark was cryptic, but witty, telling Asha that he was joking.

While Destry talked Asha held a gold band in her palm and felt it taken from there a moment later. She saw the flash of gold in the darkness before the cool metal of the band was slid on to the correct finger of her left hand. In the dim lighting that came through the confessional walls she could make out the gold chain with her grandfather's ring. It hung around the flesh of Zack's neck that was hidden by the sterile white bandage.

MAX (VOICE OVER): _"It's because of these so-called weaknesses, not in spite of them, that we have become stronger."_

"I bestow my blessing on what has been sanctified here tonight Father by my position as a Priest of Your Church and granted by the Martial Law of Seattle."

Zack kissed Asha's left hand right above the wedding band he had just given her.

MAX (VOICE OVER): "_Because a soldier who has nothing to fight for will die for nothing." _

(FADE OUT)

XXXXXX

All this time later perfection. So sorry for the long wait, but I had to wait this long too because it took me this long to write this. So many plot turns and twists. Maybe some of you might not appreciate the last bit with Asha and Zack getting married But from what I see of Zack's character he is hot headed and lone wolfish yes, but I think if he were to fall in love with someone that love would be hardcore. They Zack and Asha have been together for years and just keeping them dating wasn't pointing out the significance of their relationship. There's just something different between Zack having to protect his girlfriend and Zack having to protect his wife.

That aside this fic contained a lot of shooting and blood scenes but I still tried to keep it deeply laden with emotion because otherwise it's just a video game in story form. The significance of the church was done to symbolize the raw essence of humanity, of blood and struggle and a desire to find sanctity. It wasn't to insult the Catholic Church so don't flame me on that, it was SYMBOLISM at it's most bare boned.

The song used in this part was "Hero" by: Chad Kroger from the _Spiderman_ soundtrack

Please review since I'm sure you've been waiting long enough for it.

p.s. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you Sammie for dealing with this mother of all fanfics, my public thanks you too, heh. Otherwise my fics would be nothing but well structured pieces riddled with typos and gramatical erros.

Peace,

Mystic


	25. The Honeymoon Period

Choices 25 -"The Honeymoon Period"

Author: Mystic25

Rating: PG13

Summary: Exploring the 'morning after' if you will of Asha's marriage to Zack.

Disclaimer: James Cameron created characters that could've gone so much further had FOX not cancled the show. So therefore I steal out of the greater good. Don't sue please; just throw money.

A/N: After a lovely vacation in Seattle I am now back filled with DA story ideas. You have no idea how seeing so many crows and ravens make you want to write Dark Angel fanfic, haha.

XXXXXXXXXXX

SEATTLE

7:45 AM

"Good morning everyone, we have a special request going out today from a guy who made a permanent hook up with his lady. He says you know who you are, so darlin' this is for you." 

"_Got me lifted, shifted, higher then the ceiling, and oow ee it's the ultimate feeling_

_You got me lifted feeling so gifted, sugah how'd you get so fly." _

Oh god. Asha kept her eyes closed, hoping against all hope in the universe that she hadn't just hear what she thought she had on her clock radio. Her eyes opened to a small beam of grayish light peaking from behind the Venetian blinds in front of the only window in her bedroom. Even though the light was muted enough so that her senses wouldn't get a shock from it her eyes still took time to adjust. She neve had been a morning person.  
She put a hand over her face, feeling the cold metal of her ring on the bridge of her nose. The effect of feeling the band on her skin threw her into a brief kind of drunken haze one would find themself in after they did something either really stupid or really worthwhile. 

She turned her gaze fully on the gold metal clasped around her finger. It had been almost two full weeks but the effect of that piece of jewelry on her hand still floored her. Asha Copland, the girl who at seventeen swore she would never get into a serious relationship, had gotten married. And not to just a nice normal guy on the street, hell no, she had hooked up with an elite super soldier. It gave new meaning to being involved with a government conspiracy.

The chosen song was still blasting in her ears causing Asha to groan. She didn't have a problem with hip hop music; she just didn't appreciate some guy singing about his "super fly chick" before ten in the morning.

"Zack!" Asha called out after seeing the empty space on the bed beside her. She had never been able to wake up and find Zack still next to her. In all the times they had slept together – which was also quite a few times before they had gotten married because neither one of them excatly were virgins – Asha had waken up to an empty bed. And apparently being married didn't change that fact.

Asha sat up in her bed searching around for a moment for her long sleeved gray cotton shirt that she had discarded the night before. She found the article of clothing on the floor and bent down to retrieve it, feeling cool air hit her naked breasts. She slipped the shirt on and searched around for a pair of pants. Finding none near the bed she climbed out from beneath the sheets in nothing but her gray shirt and a pair of red bikini cut briefs.

She walked barefoot over her threadbare carpet and over to a walnut stained bureau. She pulled open the first drawer and unearthed a pair of olive green cargo pants from under an assortment of her bras.

She slipped the pants on, still hearing the sounds of the song_ Suga Suga _being belted out of her clock radio.

_Ugh, _The song was starting to drive Asha crazy. Partly because of the overdone ghetto talk, and partly because the dedication could very well have been for her. _Yeah, like Zack would ever decide to go on public radio, too much exposure. Thank god for that._

"Zack!" Asha's voice traveled ahead of her as she reached her living room where she finally found Zack tinkering inside the gearbox of his black Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle. He always hauled his bike up into her apartment building because there was a constant threat of thieves if he left his bike on the street. And Asha never complained because it was a nice bike and she didn't want to see it stolen anymore then he did.

Zack didn't acknowledge her presence when she came into the living room and Asha took a brief moment to roam her eyes over the dark blue muscle singlet that he was wearing. His right arm was turned towards her giving her ample view of the Chinese character tattooed on his shoulder. That was something that surprised her; Zack was so obsessed with keeping a low profile yet he had sat for an artist who marked him with needles and could easily remember his face. Not that she was really complaining about it; frankly she thought it looked hot.

"Hey!" Asha called out after Zack failed to answer her. "You have super hearing, how can you not hear me talking to you?"

"You said my name," Zack stated, not looking up from his motorcycle. He reached for the socket wrench he had laid on the bike's handlebar. "That's a single word that doesn't indicate the start of a conversation." He turned the driver a few times and a loose nut popped out and fell to the floor.

"That's the most elaborate way of saying you were ignoring me that I've ever heard," Asha returned watching Zack retrieve the metal nut from the floor.

"If you wanted someone to constantly pay attention to you shouldn't have married me," Zack said laying the nut he had just picked up on the saddle seat of his motorcycle.

"Hey it was a mutual agreement Zack," Asha informed, crossing her arms across her chest. "It comes with its own set of rules. One of them being I'm you're wife, which means you have an obligation to pay attention to me."

Zack shot her a _'yeah right'_ look. "You're my wife Asha not my boss." He tightened the gear nut back into place.

"Wife, boss. The parallel is the same," Asha returned.

"Well in that case I quit," Zack replied dryly. He dropped the black plastic cover over the engine and secured the bolts that held it to the body of the motorcycle.

Asha raised her eyebrows at him but she didn't comment. Her years being with Zack had taught her that he was almost always a smart ass and used sarcasm like other guys used sweet talk on their girlfriends.

Zack walked over to the couch where he had thrown his leather jacket, picking it up jacket and sliding it on his body.

"You planning on meeting up with your secret girlfriend?" Asha quipped.

"Something like that," Zack responded, taking the keys to his bike from his jacket pocket.

"Tell her to lay low, because if I get a hold of her I'll make your Manticore training look like school yard fight techniques." While Asha was talking she stepped over to Zack and straightened out the collar of his leather jacket. She traced the ring that hung on a chain around his neck with one finger. "You're lucky you're pretty." She kissed him before he got the chance to offer her any of his wit.

Zack's hands slid very low on her back over the fabric of her shirt. Their kiss lasted long enough for Asha to be breathing hard when she pulled back. "I'll sit here and knit you a sweater while you're gone."

Zack raised his eyebrows and emitted a sound that could be described as a dry laugh. "Good luck with that." He wheeled his bike out the front door.

Asha went to close the door after the bike's fin shaped bumper had cleared the threshold. That was _almost _your typical newlywed moment. Except for the fact that both of them were fully clothed and not nearly as wanton. Their intimate relationship was great, but Asha had married Zack for an entirely different reason. The great sex was just a bonus. Asha walked barefoot into the kitchen – the small silver ring on her middle toe clinking softly on the peel-and-stick tile. She opened the fridge and found what she remembered was coffee three days ago sitting in a white ceramic mug. She pulled it out, smelling it first to make sure that it hadn't turned, and after deeming it okay, stuck it in the microwave to reheat.

The microwave timer beeped at the same time the phone rang. Asha tried a brief moment of multitasking, trying to pick up the coffee and grab the phone before the machine picked up. But the mug was warmer than she realized and she swore as the cup burned her hand.

Her answering machine had already picked up the call.

"_Hey, I'm not in, leave a message." "beep-" _Zack's clipped manner had worn off on her.

"_Surprise!" _The male voice was very familiar. _"Just got on leave and had to catch up with my favorite girl. Are you avoiding me? 'Cause you're usually there-"_

Asha picked up the phone before the message completed itself. "Hey Dean," Asha recognized the voice of Dean Miller, an old friend from high school. Dean had joined the Marines right after graduation. Since he had no college experience he hadn't advanced easily in rank, but he had made Lance Corporal. His was stationed in Puerto Rico, which meant that he was currently eating up her phone bill with the call, because he always liked to reverse the charges. But Asha didn't mind, Dean was her friend. Almost all her friends were guys. She fit into the boys club early on and as such many girls became jealous of her close relationship with guys and denied her any form of friendship.

"_Hey Dean, I call you after eight months and all I get is 'Hey Dean'?"_

"If you wanted a little song and dance you have the wrong girl," Asha replied taking the cordless phone and her coffee over to the couch.

There was laughter from Dean's end. _"Fair enough. You'll never guess where I am now."_

"Embarrassing yourself in front of the local Puerto Rican girls," Asha replied, sipping the stale coffee.

"Close, I'm twenty miles outside of Seattle." 

Asha almost choked on her coffee. "You're _here?_ I thought you said you _just_ got on leave."

"_Yeah as in three days ago, that's a 'just factor' for the Marines sweetheart. So I took two planes, a train and a very shoddy bus up here because it's been too damn long since I've seen you. I got into town last night. I tried calling you but your phone was disconnected."_

"Yeah, the wiring in this area is always going out." Asha let a beat of silence linger in the air. Last night she had pulled the phone jack because these were her first few weeks being married and she was consummating that fact. Of course Dean didn't know that, which would make for a very interesting time if he wanted to meet up with her. "How much time did you get off?"

"_Only a week, which sucks cause I promised my mom I'd visit her on my next leave and it's going to be hell trying to get to Ohio after here."_

"You should've thought about that before you came up here."

"_Ouch Asha, that hurts. And here I thought you loved Dean Miller."_

"And here I thought Dean Miller was mostly in love with himself."

"_Okay woman enough,"_ Dean ordered in a stiff voice, but there was a playful tone underneath it. _"How about we meet up so you can insult me to my face? You know any good dives in the city that haven't been shut down by Marshal Law?"_

"You do know you're insulting the same government that signs your paychecks?" Asha reminded, resting her coffee mug on her left knee.

"_Uncle Sam can kiss my ass for all the good he's done the country lately Asha,"_ Dean returned. _"If anything this government of ours should see a Corporal's way into getting hammered."_

"Somehow I doubt that kind of motion would swing with them."

"_You're probably right. But that still doesn't let you off the hook for coming out with me and ordering a round."_

"_Me_ ordering a round? You shouldn't have Dean."

Dean chuckled_. "Yeah I know. Meet up at seven okay? I have some stuff to take care off."_

_And by' stuff' he means women,_ Asha thought. She had been his friend for four years in high school. She could practically read his thoughts. "You got a deal. Just don't try to hook me up with any of your buddies. I'm not really into the hard ass soldier type." _That was the worst lie in the history of mankind. But I WASN'T into the hard ass soldier type, at least not until recently._

"_Since when have you ever denied being fixed up Asha?" _Dean questioned. _"Normally you just go along with it and string me up by my shoelaces later for matching you with such a crappy guy_. _Did you finally get yourself a man or something?"_

"Would you be jealous if I told I did?"

"_ME? Jealous? Now you're talking crazy girl."_ Dean blew her off. _"But seriously I'm glad for you. Bring him along and I'll give him a Marine standard once over free of charge."_

"Not that I don't appreciate the offer Dean, but Zack doesn't like to be cross examined."

"_Zack huh? Sounds like you snatched away an innocent pretty boy from his club scene."_

Asha had to repress a snort. "I would call Zack a lot of things, but _innocent _isn't one of them. And I wouldn't count on him showing up tonight."

"_Off cheating on you?"_

"Not all guys live by your high standards Dean," Asha reminded teasingly.

"_You really can hurt a guy you know that?"_

"Uh huh," Asha returned. "I'm hanging up now Dean, so shut up and I'll meet you at seven at this dive Crash, on Ninth and Steel." She hung up. _That was an interesting turn of events. Good thing Zack ISN'T showing up at Crash tonight. I don't think Dean's Marine standard once over would stand up to Zack's steel driven prowess, that is one confrontation I would gladly avoid. I mean it's gonna be hard enough to explain to Dean that Zack isn't just a fling of a boyfriend; he's my husband without having Zack go all Manticore on him. _

_How the hell did I manage it where I have to tell an old friend about my marriage before I tell the family that kinda came with the marriage?_

XXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

"Uh sweetheart, what are you doing?" Logan asked quizzically. He had come into their bedroom to find Max sliding the huge cherry wood chest of drawers away from the wall it normally sat in. "It's a little early for furniture moving."

"You're telling me," Max agreed. She bent down low and started hunting around on the floor behind the bureau. "Found them." Her voice was muffled behind the furniture. She came out a second later with her black and white Nike sports gloves. "Lexie dropped these back here after I told her I was going back to work today." Max pushed the bulky piece of furniture back in place as she talked. "It was her way of keeping me here."

"You can't blame her for that," Logan said of his elder daughter. "I only wish I had thought of it first." Max had been on maternity leave for almost two months. Today would be her first official day back to work at Jam Pony.

"I can't believe I'm saying this. But I'm actually glad to get back into Normal's grind," Max said, surprised at her own words. "I mean no offense Logan, but the life of a housewife is _definitely_ not for me."

"I could've told you that a long time ago Max," Logan teased. "And with you out of the house most of the day it'll give me a chance to work on the secret other half of Eyes Only involving more women and less paperwork."

He said this with such a straight face that Max couldn't help laughing at it. "You better close down that shop Logan Cale. 'Cause there's no way in hell I'm having any bimbo competition."

"I'll take that into consideration," Logan returned. "I mean who am I to begrudge a super soldier?"

"Damn straight," Max returned, then laughed again at the turn their conversation had taken. They had always had witty banter with each other; but since they'd been married it had taken on much more of a playful side. "Speakin' of begrudging a super soldier, where's my coffee?"

This time Logan laughed. "Coming up my lady."

Max stepped over to him. "Don't even _think_ of just kissing my hand." She kissed him fully on the mouth, liking the taste of his new toothpaste.

"The coffee's going to get cold if we keep this up," Logan insisted.

"That's what microwaves are for," Max reminded. She pulled away when she felt something yank away the gloves that she was holding.

"Lexie," Max watched Lexie sneakily back out of the bedroom with the gloves in her hand.

Lexie took off into a full sprint after she saw her mother's eyes locked on her.

Max broke away from Logan and ran after her daughter. "ALexies Marie, I need my gloves!"

She cornered the four-year-old in the living room next to the leather sofa and flung her upside down over one shoulder.

"Mommy stop, I'm dizzy!" Lexie giggled, her head hanging near Max's the middle of back.

"Give me back my gloves baby girl and I'll let you go." Max said pulling Lexie upright in her arms so that she was now facing her right side up.

"But I don't want you to go back to work," Lexie complained, clutching the gloves tighter in her hands. "Why can't you stay here all the time?"

"I'm not gone all day," Max reminded, smoothing down Lexie's hair which had gotten mused up when she grabbed her. "When you went to school these last few weeks I missed you too but I knew you would come home later. You don't want me buggin' you all day tellin' you to pick up your toys, and clean your room, and practice your accordion."

"I don't have an accordion mommy," Lexie told her.

"Oh right," Max agreed. "Then maybe we oughta play your stomach instead," She lifted up Lexie's shirt and blew a raspberry on her skin. Lexie giggled. "You better give me back my gloves or this won't stop." Max blew harder on her daughter's stomach.

Lexie squealed louder. "Okay mommy here," she handed the gloves back to her mom.

Max took them from her. "Thank you," she kissed Lexie and set her down on her feet, patting her lightly on her bottom. "Go get your stuff together for school."

Lexie didn't move and turned back to face Max. "Mommy?"

"What baby?"

"Will you walk with us to school today? Jessie says only babies walk to school with their mothers, but will you anyway? Daddy did it four days in a row."

Max smiled. "You got a deal." The scene was domestication personified, but it wasn't as girly as Max had feared when she was younger. It was just, fitting.

She went off in search of Logan to relieve him of his duties of school walker for the day. "Baby, you hidin'?" She searched through the hallway and finally found him in the nursery changing Lucy's soiled diaper.

She had to smile at the scene. All those thugs and murders that were put away by Eyes Only would never suspect that the All-Seeing Informer changed diapers. "Hey, Lexie wants me to walk her and Jess to school. So you're off the hook for today."

"That's great, because this little girl down here made the most disgusting mess I've ever seen and I've seen the boiler room of your old apartment." Logan wiped Lucy's bottom with a baby wipe, chucking it into the trashcan by the changing station.

"She's a Cale, always getting into a mess and having hired hands clean up after her," Max teased.

"Actually she's more from the Guevara/Manticore line. Getting want she wants by way of insistent prowess," Logan returned, kissing the bottom of one of Lucy's flailing feet. She cooed and squirmed around and he used the distraction to slide a fresh diaper under her. She wasn't even two-months-old and she already had her mother's way of getting to Logan's heart. He snapped the fresh diaper on Lucy just as their other two children came parading into the nursery with their backpacks strapped to them.

"Come on mommy, we'll be late!" Jessie complained, his hands resting on the straps of his black bag. He had fallen in love with kindergarten the moment he was enrolled. Due to Max's genetics he had mastered the basics in half the time of the other students, so much so that his teacher had requested that he be placed in a gifted program. Max still hadn't said yes, she didn't want to isolate her son for his capabilities, but she did give into extra art and music classes the school offered. She wanted him to have a normal school life, but that didn't mean she wanted him to be bored all day.

"Yeah mommy hurry up, Jenny's waiting for me!" Lexie chimed in with her brother, referring to the little girl in her class that she had befriended.

"Aiight I'm coming," Max responded. "Duty awaits." she told Logan who was now holding the freshly diapered Lucy in his arms.

Logan offered her a small smile. "Say goodbye to mommy Luce, she has her work cut out for her."

Max kissed the baby and looked up at Logan. "I _always_ have my work cut out for me baby."

"Oh for the days when all we did was just chase down Eyes Only enemies and avoid black helicopters huh?"

"Oh for nothing," Max retorted. "At least now I can wear a little less black," She glanced down at the tan down jacket, dark blue biker pants and red tank top she was wearing.

"You don't know how appealing you look in black sweetheart," Logan insisted, watching her turn around to face him at the doorway.

"Maybe I do," Max gave him a lazy smile.

"Mommy c'mon!" Jess was tugging at her pant leg.

"Coming baby, coming," Max responded, but not before hitting Logan with a suggestive look. "This isn't over."

XXXXXXXXXX

P.S 12 - THIRD AND WESTLAND

"Mommy you don't have to walk _all_ the way with me?" Jessie complained as they rounded the curved sidewalk that lead to the school grounds.

"Oh but I do Jess," Max insisted, looking down at where he was walking beside her. "It comes with the Momma Contract."

"What's that?" Lexie asked from Max's other side where she was holding her mother's hand.

"It's something mommy made up," Jess said with slight annoyance. "She just wants to treat us like babies."

"Hey I never said that, hun," Max chose to call her son by that pet name instead of 'baby' because 'baby' wouldn't exactly help the current situation. "I just like hangin' out with you guys. Somethin' wrong with that?"

"I like hanging out with you mommy," Lexie said swinging Max's hand.

"Me too baby girl," Max agreed with a smile.

They had finally reached the school grounds of P.S. 12, where Jessie attended Kindergarten, and where on the same grounds was Lexie's nursery school. Due to Martial Law all schools in the city were restricted to two sector to be better protected by the military command stationed in Seattle. The three middle schools and four high schools were crammed together only two blocks away from the lower grades, partially visible from where they now stood through a five-foot high chain linked fence.

Dozens of people were milling about on the gray stone steps that led into the school. Parents dressed in suits and ties, and also torn rags and basic jeans walked with the younger kids to the double front entrance door while the older ones were dropped off by honking cars or faded yellow school buses covered in graffiti. A small playground was fenced in front of the building and a handful of children were crawling all over the monkey bars and swings.

Max watched the kids climb and run around screaming, desperate to get in a few more minutes of play before classes began. _If it wasn't for the harsh military command we underwent Manticore could have very well been a school like this one. _

"Mom," there was a tugging on her jacket from below from Jess. Max looked down at her son, thinking how he had never called her 'mom' before. Probably more of an inkling of what he would be like when he was older. "Can I go play with my friends before school?"

As mature as Jessie was trying to be he was still very young, and Max appreciated still having him there to ask permission to go play on the slide.

"Not until I get a hello Jess," a voice carried from behind and Max turned around to see Tinga walking towards them tucked in a camel colored double breasted fur lined pea coat. One hand was in her pocket and the other one was just releasing Case who took off in a run when he spotted his cousin.

"Hi Aunt Tinga!" Jess called out seconds before he and Case tore off down the sidewalk to the fenced in playground.

"Hey wait!" Lexie called out after the boys. She grabbed Max's arm, pulling her down to kiss her on the cheek. "Bye mommy." "You better not play without me!" Lexie cried, taking off after her brother and cousin, the single braid that just reached down to her shoulder blades slapping against her back as she ran.

"He owes me a kiss when he comes home," Max said watching Jess reach the monkey bars before any of the others following him.

Tinga laughed. "You could always use some kind of three-point-restraint on him next time. Or you could just give into that Boys Club that's cozying up to him."

"Not on your life," Max returned. She had no disrespect for boys wanting to hang out together, but she wasn't about to stand for any 'girl's not allowed' policies. "Girl's kick ass, remember the T-Shirt?"

"I really need to get one of those," Tina stated with a laugh, tucking her hair behind her ears. She normally wore it up in long braids with a few coiled around the back of her head, but she had gotten a late start that morning and didn't have any time to pull it up. Manticore had made them shave all their hair off and after Tinga escaped she swore to herself that she wouldn't cut her hair. Since the escape she had it trimmed back a few inches but it was still very long so the draping mass of black strands were now blowing in her face from the light cool breeze that blew around them.

The kids screaming in the play yard caused quite a frenzied commotion to all the frazzled looking parents desperate to drop their children off and make it out of the yard before they were late for their jobs. One of them was a tall, fair skinned redheaded woman who walked a small girl with auburn pigtails to the play area. Beside her was a very handsome African-American man, her husband. The Pulse had forced many groups together for the sake of survival but as the man and woman passed with their little brown skinned daughter they were the recipients of several muted, but harsh stares. Even an Electromagnetic Pulse and Martial Law hadn't erased years of dinosaur racism from some people's minds.

The girl took off in a sprint towards the playground equipment, her mother watching and waving at her. The woman turned her head for a moment and when her green eyes spotted Max she waved at her.

"You know her?" Tinga asked in a voice that still sounded soldier cautious despite the casualness of it.

"Yeah," Max responded, waving back to the woman. "Her little girl Jenny made friends with Lexie a few weeks ago." Max finished her sentence just as the woman and her husband were walking up to where she stood.

"Hi Max, I thought I saw you up here." The woman – whose name was Alicia– said when she finally stopped in front of Max. "I saw Lexie so I knew you were probably around here somewhere." She laughed for a moment and then turned to her husband. "I don't think you've met my husband Richard. This is Lexie's mother Max, sweetie," Alicia introduced.

"Oh hey," Richard said with a warming smile. "Jenny talks of nothing but Lexie when she comes home so it's nice to finally meet her mother."

"Hey yourself," Max responded by way of greeting shaking the hand he offered. "Lexie does the same thing with me so I say it's a mutual relationship."

"Speaking of greetings Maxie," Tinga all but kicked Max in the shins for being ignored, but in the end she did the talking. "I'm Tinga, Max's sister."

"Hey nice to meet you," Richard shook Tinga's hand in the same fashion he had done with Max. He was one of those men that could hold his weight with the guys in jokes and bits of off color sarcasm, but in reality he was nothing but a nice guy.

"Same here," Tinga responded looking over Richard's shoulder to the swings on the playground where Case was attempting to climb on top of the metal bars that made up the swinging post. "I hate to cut this affair short guys but I see a matter that needs my attention. Hey!" Tinga hurried over to the fenced in play area. "You get down from there right now baby before I come up there and embarrass you!"

"Kids huh?" Alicia said with a laugh after Tinga left on her tirade. "Anyone who thinks having them is a constant blessing is ignorant."

"Sometimes it pays to be stupid girl," Max insisted with a smile. Children were a handful sometimes but Max had grown up with only the love of kids to sustain her through Manticore so to her it was priceless.

"I'd give you an 'amen', Max but Richard and I will be late for work," Alicia said glancing at her watch.

"Actually I am too," Max agreed. "I'd better book it before my boss decides to fire me for running over my maternity leave by a few minutes."

"Max just shut up right now," Alicia insisted playfully. "I saw you dropping off the kids at the beginning of last month and you were huge but now no one would ever know that you were pregnant. How did you drop so much weight not even two months after having a baby?"

"I have a fast metabolism," Max insisted with a slight smile. She checked her own digital watch. "I really gotta blaze you two."

Richard and Alicia said their goodbyes and disappeared back to their red SUV and Max headed back down the sidewalk towards Fogle Towers so she could retrieve her bike from the parking garage.

It was morning's peak hour in Seattle so the sidewalks were packed with people heading to work or whatever it was they did to make money. A group of mobsters all dressed in black leather passed to the right of Max, some of them calling her 'foxy bitch' but she paid them no attention. A flower peddler had set up his shanty stall almost in the middle of the sidewalk and it caused a domino effect of people heading in opposite directions stopping and running into each other to bypass the stand.

Max ran right into someone going the other way. "Sorry," she apologized then she recognized the woman in a dark denim jacket with her blonde hair pulled into a loose ponytail. "Hey, funny runnin' into you here." Max couldn't help herself with the lame joke.

"Hey Max," Asha responded. "Nice pun."

"I try," Max returned with a slow smile, and then eyed the small bouquet of mixed red and white carnations in Asha's hand. "So who are the flowers for? Cause last time I checked, my brother wasn't into the whole sentimental dealio."

Asha laughed at the joke. "No argument there Max. Actually they're for a friend of mine who's in town today. Carnations are cheap and I'm not made of money so it was a good choice." Asha adjusted one of the flower blooms that had gotten pressed together when she ran into Max.

As Asha did this the sun reflected off of something metal on her hand. Max lowered her eye for a moment from the bright glare but she could tell easily from the shape that the object was a ring – a gold band with a wavy etching running over its length. It was Asha's left hand, and she was wearing on her ring finger. The entire observation took only the five seconds Asha spent fixing the flowers she had bought. In those short few seconds Max said nothing, looking back up to Asha's face before the other woman even noticed she was looking at her ring.

"Are you heading into work?" Asha asked stepping off the sidewalk to avoid being slammed into by a group of bikers. "Idiots" she muttered under her breath.

"Yeah," Max answered. "I could only keep up the maternity stand for so long. What about you?" In all her years of knowing Asha Max never knew if the woman _had_ a job. Asha was a member of the S1W, an underground vigilante group. But Max was sure that wasn't a paying job so Asha had to have some other way to supplement her income.

Asha's expression changed at Max's words, "All this time I didn't even tell you what I do when I'm not getting arrested." She said Max's thoughts out loud.

"It's not important," Max concluded. "There are too many people out there already that define themselves by the aesthetics of their jobs. And as a bike messenger that's a philosophy I'm _glad_ I don't take to heart."

"If people work at something long enough it does eventually become a part of them," Asha theorized stepping back on the sidewalk. The crowd on the sidewalks had thickened for the moment, making talking privately impossible. Asha was actually silently glad for it because for some reason she always felt a wave of embarrassment at what she did to pay her bills and appease her landlord. "I do the computer programming, for the hoverdrones." Asha said after the crowd had thinned out. "-One of the black surveillance machines hung suspended in the air at the top of a five-story building. Asha glanced up at it before continuing. "Back when I first joined the S1W one of our first tasks was to take out a series of hoverdones that were conducting illegal data surveillances. The guys I worked with just thought I bribed or tricked a guard into letting me into the company. No one ever suspected that I just walked right in using my own security clearance."

Asha paused for a second, a moment that would give her next choice of words more weight. "They still don't know about my job, and really I don't see it as a problem. Being on the payroll gives you access to things you can't get to on the outside. And I need the money. Being an undergrouder doesn't pay shit." Asha stared at Max, her sister-in-law,-- though the other woman still didn't know that, wanting some form of acceptance from her.

"You gotta do what you hafta do to survive," Max replied honestly. She had never seen the merit in putting other people down for their jobs, so long as they weren't a slumlord or a player.

"I don't know about 'survival' Max. Being on the payroll of the government ensures I can do more then just survive." Asha's words held a trace of malice. Her job was something she did to make money, not because she saw a higher purpose in what she was doing. "Some conversation we're having!" Asha changed the subject off of her because she could see no realistic end to it.

Max let the silence be her response to Asha's question. She knew the other woman was looking for a way out, and Max was willing to give it to her. "I better get going or I'm going to have a seriously unpleasant conversation with my boss."

"Yeah and I got – stuff, to do," Asha responded. "I'll see you around." This line of conversation was new to her. She could talk to men easily, but women were different. Women had insight that would either determine that they liked you or that they wanted to tear you apart.

"Aiight," Max watched her words have a releasing effect on Asha because no sooner had she said them Asha started walking away from her. They were alike in a lot of ways, and because of that reason Max could sense that Asha wanted to tell her something but never got the words to come out past the silence.

XXXXXXXXX

JAM PONY

"The Prodigal Son returns."

Max brushed past Alec and his grin on the ramp that led inside Jam Pony. The place was alive with laughter, milling around, and other ways of wasting time the employees used to keep from actually having to go on runs.

Alec tailed after Max as she made her way to her locker. "I can't believe that with all the cash Logan rolls in you still bother coming back to this penny pinching dump."

"Was there something legitimate you wanted Alec?" Max tacked a picture of Lucy on the inside of her locker door. There were already two other pictures there, one of Lexie and one of Jessie.

"Is there ever?" Alec quipped taking a glance at the picture Max had just put up. "Adding another notch to the Cale belt?"

Max slammed the door of her locker and glared at him. "Want me to add a new notch to your face?" she slipped her pack on and pushed past Alec.

"C'mon Maxie," Alec took the liberty of following her out of the cubby of lockers. "If you can't stand a little friendly slam now and again, then you need to stop getting knocked up."

"And you're about to get knocked upside your head boy," Cindy warned, joining in Alec's one-sided conversation.

"I always love it when you have to resort to using the phrase 'upside your head'" Alec joked, gracing them with a smile that was smug but also sexy.

"You're an idiot." Max returned exasperated.

"Ah but that's why you love me," Alec put an arm around Max and pulled her to him.

Max sighed, but she was smiling. Alec was annoying, idiotic, but he had also become her friend for a reason unknown to her. "You put too much faith in things unseen Alec."

Alec gave her a coy grin and briefly checked her out. "I know."

Max elbowed him in the stomach, making him hiss. He was still licking his wounds when Normal approached the trio with a package in his hand.

"Let's go, this isn't a warehouse for human flesh!" he handed off the package to Max. "Welcome back Max. The next time you wish to procreate there will be an open position for your job."

"I missed you too Normal," Max returned.

"Miss me some other time girlie, right now you have work to do. Bip bip bip!" Normal shouted the last part for the benefit of all his employees that were moving around him like he didn't exist.

"Congratulations on the baby boo," Cindy said. She slung her black messenger bag over her navy blue t-shirt with the lime green sleeves. The bag was weighed down heavily with two packages she had stuffed inside of it. "And welcome back to the grind."

XXXXXXXX

SEATTLE - CHINATOWN

6:55 PM

The open area markets were filled with people standing in front of the stalls, screaming and haggling. One poor woman's makeshift stall collapsed under the weight of the people pounding on it. All her merchandise on display – illegal CD music copies – fell to the dirt causing a scramble of people to descend on it. The woman tried to push them away but the horde was too big and she was shoved aside as people stole half of her inventory.

One of the people – a sixteen-year-old kid – tore through the market's crumbling two-lane road with his bounty. His bicycle was two blocks away and already a small group of Sector Cops were chasing after the looters. Everything they had stolen wasn't even legal to sell, but the Sector Cops couldn't allow the crime to be overlooked, for the sole reason that it made them look bad. The boy came out of the market stalls and onto a paved road where he spied a black motorcycle parked on the curb. The bike was just resting on its kickstand, not even dead bolted to anything.

The kid ran up to the bike and jumped on the saddle seat. He tried to crank the engine but then he realized two things simultaneously. One was that the bike had an ignition keyhole and the other was a hand all but ripped his shoulder out of the socket and wrenched him around the other way.

He stared up into a pair of glaring brown eyes for all of three seconds before he was flung like a toy across the road where he smashed into a pile of cardboard boxes that were stacked against the side of a building.

Zack watched the kid hit the cardboard with satisfaction. He never locked up his bike because it had a specialized lock that wouldn't fit any other device other than the key it was designed for. So if anyone planned to steal his ride they'd have to wheel a big motorcycle away and have to deal with him jumping them. The kid had just found that out the hard way.

Dusk was starting to settle in the sky and the neon lights of businesses were glowing against the backdrop of the fading sun. Zack walked past several exotic dance theatres where woman in refashioned chengosans – refashioned so that they had a huge cut in them exposing the women's middle abdomen and a much shorter skirt – stood outside to attract customers. The women followed his form as he passed. With his brown eyes, tousled blonde hair and toned body he was what some men would call a 'pretty boy' but what women would just call 'sexy'.

One of the women went so far as to run her arm up and down the leather of his jacket sleeve as he passed her. "I show you good time."

Zack turned to face her. She was almost level in his height due to the red satin heels she wore to match her red silk chengosan. Her almost black eyes had been painted a deep smoky color and chunks of her long jet-black hair fell in front them.

"You come with me baby," the woman wandered her hand up to caresses his chest above his shirt.

Zack slid her red manicured hands down off of his body. "I have something to take care of first." He watched her eyes dilate at the prospect of having him in her audience but he knew he wouldn't see her again. He wasn't into exotic dances like Krit, not because he was too snooty for it but because he was a fan of women who seduced to kick ass as opposed who used it to have money slid into their g-string.

He pulled open a glass door a few feet away from where the woman stood and stepped inside the small building, feeling her eyes on him the whole time. The building he entered was small, barely the size of a gas station convenience store. A large wall was covered in designs – mostly Chinese characters, dragons, a few Buddha's, but also with a few erotic poses of women, skulls and roses.

Behind a glass counter was a young Asian woman dressed in a dark blue sleevless scoop neck silk top and black mini with strappy sandals. Her hair was pulled into one long braid that fell past her waist and she was pulling some loose strands behind her ears when she noticed Zack.

There was a flicker of desire that went through her eyes at the sight of him, but it was more muted then the dancers outside. "Can I help you?" she had a trace of a Taiwan accent mixed in her English.

"I came for a readjustment," Zack spoke these words knowing the woman would understand what he was saying. He was standing in a tattoo parlor, not a chiropractor's.

"Jino!" the woman called at someone behind the storeroom. "Watch the front I got a client!" She stepped out from behind the counter and walked over to Zack. "Let's see what you got."

Zack removed his leather jacket, exposing the tattoo on his arm. The woman rotated his arm in her hand to get a better look. "Nice work," she admired the Chinese character on his right shoulder. "What do you want it changed too?"

Zack told her in one word and she went back to the counter to get the appropriate needles and ink.

"Have a seat," she pointed to one of the gray bar stools in a row of five. Zack tossed his leather jacket on an empty stool and sat down in the stool next to it. The woman took a felt marker and drew out the design on his arm to serve as a guide for when she started applying the permanent ink.

"You want any numbing before I start?" the woman asked holding up a tube of lidocane for him to see.

"I'm good," Zack told her.

The woman didn't object. He had gotten a tattoo before so he knew what kind of pain he was going to experience. She loaded the ink inside the needle and changed out the head to a clean one before clicking it on. The needle hummed against her hand as she worked. Periodically she stopped to wipe off the overflow of black ink from his skin with a white rag. It was during one of those times that she noticed the ring looped around his neck. "Your girlfriend give you that?"

"My wife."

This floored her for a second. She worked in silence for a minute. "You don't seem like the type to be married."

"Yet here I am."

He was one cryptic guy, this customer. She wiped more excess ink from his arm. "Is this for her?" He didn't respond so she jumped to a conclusion. "Tattoos outlast marriages, that's why most people regret ever getting them. But it's a hell of a lot more artistic than just a ring." She finished the last section of her design and wiped the area down before covering it with a patch of sterile gauze to keep it from being irritated by clothing until the skin healed. "Price is 30 dollars."

She moved aside so that Zack could get off the stool. He retrieved the loose bills from his jacket pocket, handing her the payment. She noticed that he didn't carry a wallet or any form of identification. Not that he was the first; identity was too undervalued lately.

After he slipped his jacket back on he walked out the door. She watched him leave walking past Jino to put the money in the register, thinking about the manipulation she had just done. His original tattoo was a character that in Chinese meant "_seeking"_ She had changed a few of the strokes and added one more to create the new design, one that, to her, was very fitting way for a man like that to describe his wife.

XXXXXXXXXX

CRASH

7:04 PM

It didn't take long for Asha to spot Dean. He was the only one in the group of people hanging around the bar with a jarhead buzz cut. There was an extreme sports bike competition on the television that was suspended over the bar and a few of the patrons were engrossed in it. Most of the others were engrossed in their drinks or each other.

Dean noticed Asha when she was about a foot from him. He set his mug down and turned around in his stool to face her. "Hey, it's my favorite blonde." He accepted the small bouquet of flowers she offered him. The way he wore the smile on his face was testament to the fact that he had always been somewhat of a goofball, and even the newly hardened Marine look in his eyes did nothing to change that.

Asha rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed, but she embraced Dean. Boot camp had filled him out judging by the hard muscles she felt underneath his clothes. _He's still not as ripped as Zack, but it's nice._

"Dean, get off me," Asha warned after Dean had been holding her a little too long.

Dean pulled away slowly, laughing. "Sorry, I just couldn't help keeping my arms away from your womanly mystique." His eyes were playful. He had played this game with Asha ever since high school. He had always pretended to hit on her just to elicit a response from her. Back then she had been pretty, nice brown eyes, creamy skin. But that had been years ago. The only contact he had with her since then was over the phone or via email. He hadn't seen her since she was eighteen. Now standing here in front of him, she wasn't the same girl he remembered. She wasn't just pretty anymore; she had filled out beyond pretty. Her eyes seemed darker; her haircut was older, her skin glowed more. She had under gone metamorphosis and changed into a woman, and a damn good looking one at that.

"The years haven't been bad to you either Dean," Asha complimented, remembering the slightly bony kid she had seen climb aboard a bus to a training base in Texas. "They probably thought they owed you after riding you as a kid."

"Ooo, ouch," Dean complained. "Damn Asha, that was uncalled for. I deserve better as a Marine then the kid you last saw me as. Just for that you're buying the first round." He reclaimed his seat at the bar.

"Seems to me you already did," Asha stepped up behind him and pointed to the two empty beer bottles next to Dean's elbow. "You started the party without me huh?" She started to pull her hand away but Dean grabbed it and yanked it back.

"Well it seems to _me_, Asha, that you've been holding out on me," He examined the ring on her hand.

His expression was unreadable from her current angle so Asha pulled her hand away and slid into the empty barstool on his right. "I'll have what he's having," she told the barkeep who nodded, uncapped a bottle of beer and laid it down in front of her. She tried to look Dean in the eye but he kept avoiding her. She couldn't tell if he was really mad or if he was just messing around.

"Dean-"

"Congratulations are in order I guess," Dean took a drink from his bottle and all but slammed it back down on the bar. "The thing I can't get is why the hell you didn't see fit to invite me." His voice was somewhat teasing, but it also contained hurt.

"There wasn't a ceremony Dean," Asha corrected, folding her hands atop the bar. "No one was there except me, Zack and a priest."

"So it _is_ this Zack character?" Dean asked a rhetorical question. "I think I liked it better when I thought he was just some fling of yours." There was a protective note in his tone. Asha was more like a little sister to Dean then just a friend.

"Dean stop," Asha warned. She appreciated the thought that Dean was looking out for her, but his words were a different story. "He's a good man. I wouldn't be with him if he weren't. I don't need a big brother type to approve of who I marry." Asha took a drink from the cold bottle of Heineken in front of her. Dean was sweet, but she was a grown woman, she didn't need anyone's approval but her own. "Besides I think you're really just jealous you got beat out of your chance," She was kidding and she let the mirth show in her eyes.

"Can you blame me?" Dean took the bait, letting a smile slowly creep back on his face. "But since I missed the boat I might as well help you celebrate." He pounded lightly on the bar with his hand to signal the bartender. "Another round, my girl here just got married."

Dean's smile remained while the barkeep filled a pitcher with draft beer and set it down in front of them. "Congratulations," the barkeep smiled at Asha as he set two glasses down in front of her and Dean.

"Thanks," Asha said, somewhat embarrassed at being made a spectacle of. She eyed all of the alcohol in front of her. "Are you trying to get me drunk?"

"What? That's not your idea of fun anymore? You've changed Asha," Dean said in mock hurt.

"Looks like I caught you at a bad time."

Asha turned around in her stool at the same time Dean did. But unlike Dean she recognized who was standing there. "Zack," that was all Asha said because she really didn't know how to continue.

Zack was eyeing Dean warily, not jealously, but with a glare Asha had seen him use before with his siblings. It was a look of protection against outsiders with his family.

Dean felt the need to stand up because Zack's glare was so harsh he felt like a kid sitting down. Dean gave Zack a once over. He had brown eyes and blonde hair, a basic pretty boy and he was young, almost too young looking; he looked like a college freshman.

"This is Dean," Asha finally said to Zack to break the tension she could feel mounting. "A friend of mine from high school. He's on leave from the Marines." She didn't introduce Zack to Dean because she had already done so in her earlier conversation.

Zack absorbed the information silently, watching Asha sit back down in her stool. Zack didn't claim a seat, instead he stood leaning on the bar next to Asha's stool. He hadn't come there to socialize with a lost begotten friend of Asha's so he wasn't about to kick back.

"Did you finish that errand you were going on?" Asha asked Zack trying to break the silence. She could feel Dean's eyes on Zack, watching his every move to see if he was as 'good' of a man as Asha claimed he was.

"It wasn't an errand, I avoid the system too much to have bills to pay." Zack returned.

_Ah there's his great Manticore wit. Dean's gonna either love him or hate him for that. But what do I care? I already love him._ "Does it give you a rile to cut down everything I say?" she could fire back with just as much dry wit as Zack, something she had learned to do readily since she had been with him.

"Why do you think I married you?" Zack responded.

Asha rolled her eyes, but a smile came to her lips a second later. She glanced over at Dean. "Feel free to jump in and defend me at anytime old friend."

"You seem to be doing fine on your own," Dean insisted. He finally smiled for the first time since Zack had shown up. There was obvious chemistry between Zack and Asha. He didn't know how long they had been married, but they definitely had been together enough to be really comfortable around each other. "So Zack-" Dean hovered in silence for a few seconds because he really didn't know what to say to the man. "I guess if Asha is taken up with you then you have to be as good as she claims," he laughed dryly, taking a big hit from his beer. "I mean you haven't sent up any of my warning flares." More dry laughter ensued.

Zack glared at Dean with muted hostility. He considered Dean an uneven match to go all out on, but he still didn't like the guy. He was trying way too hard to be Zack's buddy.

Dean happened to glance down at Zack's shirt and notice the gold ring and chain around his neck. The jewelry struck Dean as familiar. "Isn't that your grandfather's Asha?" Dean was sure that the jewelry he was looking at was the same one Asha had shown him three months after her grandfather's funeral. She had said something about him willing it to her.

Asha looked at the ring that was hanging against Zack's neck. "Yeah it was." She had loved her grandfather, but the ring wasn't his anymore. "But now it's Zack's." Asha hoped she didn't sound too angry with Dean, he was still her friend, but she didn't like the line of questioning he was undertaking. Zack wasn't just some random guy she had picked up; he was her husband.

Zack's eyes shifted gazes at Asha's words, and she couldn't guess exactly what it was, but she sensed it had something to do with her clarifying with Dean his position with her. Zack was used to defending people; he hardly ever had someone defend him. But despite how that made him feel he was about three seconds away from throwing Dean against a wall. They guy had more arrogance than he could stand.

Dean caught Zack's glare. "Sorry." His apology was more for Asha then it was for Zack. "I think I've been a Marine too long, the hostility is starting to rub off on me."

"If that's the maximum form of a Marine's hostility, then you're overestimating your prowess." Zack retorted. He erected himself from the bar he was leaning against and walked off.

Asha watched Zack go before turning back to Dean. "I should've warned you about that. Zack's not one to take anything silently."

"I'll bet," Dean tried not to let the sting of Zack's words affect him too much. He had underestimated the man; he wasn't just a smooth talking pretty, boy type.

"Still it's one of the things that attracts me to him," Asha knew she was talking to Dean like he was her girlfriend, but she was comfortable with him in that sense. She turned away from watching Zack and focused her attention fully on Dean. "So enough about me and my life, do you have a secret woman that I should know about?"

Dean laughed; feeling the tension leave after Zack was out of sight. Asha must have gotten harder over the years to marry a man like that. "No, because _woman_ is singular Asha, and I prefer more to one anytime."

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey boo, I didn't know you were hangin' here tonight." Cindy greeted Zack with these words when she saw him pass her table. Zack turned to her, and Cindy got a good look at his hazel- brown eyes. She was an out and out all girl player, but Zack was one of the finest white boys she had seen in a long time. She glanced over at the bar and noticed Asha seated there at a stool. "Is that your suga over there?"

"Yeah," Zack answered. He and Cindy weren't exactly friends, but Cindy had as much wit and character as Max so he found himself liking her. "Is Max around?"

"Mmm," Cindy took a sip from her beer, setting it down on the small circular jigged out table. "She's over at the pool table layin' out suckers. Money never changed hands so much outside of Wall Street."

Zack left Cindy and made his way over to the pool table where Max was currently lining up a side pocket shot. She sank the ball, smiling at the dismay on the face of the shaved head white boy she was playing with.

"If my math is correct, the wager was a dollar a ball." Max informed.

The guy shook his head dejectedly and fished out his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans, slapping twenty dollars in Max's hand a second later. He slunk away defeated into a darkly lit corner to go drink his last few dollars away.

Alec watched him leave from his vantage point leaning against the wall. "You've cleaned out every loser in this bar Max," he caught sight of Zack. "Well almost every loser."

Max turned around and found Zack standing behind her. "Hey, you wanna lose some money?"

"Like you need more money with Logan as your benefactor Maxie," Zack said.

"Whatever you have to tell yourself, coward," Max quipped with a smile. She pocketed her earnings in her leather jacket. "Since you're here, you might as well make yourself useful and order up a pitcher."

"Isn't that what Logan's for?" Zack quipped.

"Logan's at home working on a cable hack," Max returned, laying her cue down atop the pool table. She picked up an empty pitcher from the edge of the pool table and thrust it against Zack's chest. "Get those muscles moving."

Zack glared at her but he went to refill the round. It didn't take him long because the barkeep was in a hurry to get back to talking with the leggy brunette who was flirting with him at the end of the bar. He returned to the table that Cindy and Max had claimed and handed Max the pitcher. "You owe me eight dollars."

"Put it on my tab," Max set the pitcher down on the table and refilled her empty glass. She refilled Cindy's glass as well, though she didn't see much of a chance that her girl was coming back anytime soon. An auburn haired beauty had caught Cindy's eye at the pool table and she was currently wining her over in a game.

Zack took the liberty of claiming Cindy's filled glass, taking a hit of the draft beer and returning it to the table almost half empty.

"Long night?" Max asked, seeing how much he had drunk. Zack normally didn't drink so much unless he was in a brooding mood. He didn't answer her question so Max shifted her eyes lower to the ring around his neck, forming a new topic of conversation in her mind. "I assume that still having that ring on means it's official."

"Official of what?" Zack asked dryly, not fully admitting anything, but not denying it either.

"You tell me," Max could be just as elusive as her brother, although she had already guessed as to what they were both talking about. She picked the ring off his chest and examined it. "What's the street value of this?"

"I didn't have time to get it appraised Max," Zack responded.

"Really?" Max said with a teasing note in her voice. "It looks like a pure piece."

Zack grasped her hand and physically extracted her fingers from the ring. "That diamond on your hand is worth a hell of a lot more then this." He eyed the three diamond anniversary band Logan had given her a few years back.

"I already know the worth of these rocks Zack, I've had enough vendors come up to me with a street value, but we're not talkin' about me, we're talkin' about you. But you probably didn't have time to have any value stamped on that ring. Probably too busy appreciating the reason for having it in the first place." A slow smile was creeping over her face.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dean was pushing his way through the crowd, trying to get to the men's room. But it was slow going due to the amount of people blocking his way, mostly guys who were pulling drunken girls off somewhere to have some action. Dean cursed when someone ran into him, spilling most of their beer on his gray shirt.

"Sorry man," a pale guy with spikey brown hair apologized vacantly. He was obviously drunk by the way he slurred his speech. Dean pushed him aside, wiping with his hand at the wet stain on his shirt. The guy staggered off to the bar with his glass for a refill.

Dean finally broke free of the suffocating crowd and was nearing a set of circular tables, all of which were filled up. He approached these tables without paying attention to the clusters of people sitting at them until he caught sight of Zack at one of them, and he wasn't alone. Across from him was a woman with long brown hair, curvy, very attractive. But Dean – who would normally admire a woman so gorgeous – narrowed his eyes at the scene.

_That son-of-a-bitch._ Dean had known Zack all of five minutes, and he wanted to believe Asha's proposal that he was a decent guy, and he was almost 95 percent there. But seeing Zack sitting just mere feet away from Asha sniffing on another woman made Dean throw out all consideration that Zack was a decent anything.

He worked his way to the tables, hearing complaints from patrons, because he was roughly pushing through them. A glare was already set on his face before he even reached Zack.

He reached the table and stood over it like a warlord surveying mangled goods that someone had delivered him. "What the fuck is this?" When he was angry Dean's voice was gruff and deep, like the rumble from a clap of thunder. Zack and the woman turned at the sound. Now that Dean was closer to her face, he could see that she _was_ gorgeous, but he didn't give a shit about her looks at that moment. Dean didn't wait for a response from either of them. "You think it's fun to be a fuckin' player man? To cheat on something as sweet as Asha and pool up to this cheap bitch-" Dean's words were cut off when Zack leapt up from his seat and locked his hand around Dean's neck.

"You better watch who you call a bitch," Zack squeezed harder, hearing Dean gasp for breath. He had zero tolerance for anyone talking trash against his siblings, especially his sisters.

"Zack!" Max jumped up from her seat "That's enough!" she had no idea who the hell this guy was but Zack could easily kill him if he kept going. She grabbed Zack's arm and pulled him off the guy.

Dean doubled over and grabbed his neck with both hands, choking. His mind was reeling from lack of oxygen and surprise. He knew a lot of strong guys in the Marines but he had _never _felt such a strong grip in his life, and he had a fair share of bar fights under his belt.

Max watched the color drain back into Dean's face. She had no idea what the hell was going on, but she didn't tolerate being called a bitch. But neither did she tolerate Zack trying to snap a stranger's neck over her; she fought her own battles. "You boys wanna duke it out, do it over another girl. Let's go." She spoke the last line to Zack who was still glaring at Dean. "I _said _let's go Zack." she pulled him away from Dean. A few people had watched Zack's maneuver and had clustered around the table like kids at a schoolyard fight.

"Break away people," Max warned. "Show's over."

Zack jerked himself free from Max's grip. "I don't need a chaperone." He walked towards the exit of Crash, Max followed.

"And I don't need a pain in the ass hero," Max returned matching his glare. She turned back to where Dean had stood to see him slowly making his way through the crowd. "You wanna tell me what the hell that was about?"

"It doesn't concern you," Zack insisted.

"It sure as hell does concern me, he didn't call you a bitch Zack," Max retorted.

"Stay out of this Maxie," Zack shot back walking to the exit and left her standing alone with a confused look on her face.

Cindy – who had witnessed the confrontation on the way back from the pool table with her hot girl's phone number – sidled up to Max and watched Zack leave the building. "What was that all about?"

"I have no idea," Max answered honestly.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Dean, Dean _stop_!" Asha ordered, halting Dean's actions to pull her towards the exit of Crash. "You want to tell me what you're doing?" She jerked her hand away when Dean reached for it again and crossed her arms over her chest to keep them out of his reach.

A few people cut through them and Asha let them pass without repeating her question, but once they were gone she started in again. "Dean?"

Dean took in her demanding expression before answering. "We've been friends for a long time Asha, I'm just being a friend to you now."

"Yeah we're friends Dean," Asha clarified, "But _as_ your friend I think I'm entitled to know what the hell is going on."

Dean tried to find a way to tell her the truth without hurting her. "I just don't think Zack's the right guy for you."

"The right guy for me?" Asha repeated his phrase in disbelief. "This is _still_ about Zack?" she couldn't believe that Dean wouldn't just let the matter go.

"I just don't think you've known him long enough to be married to him." Dean stated.

"We've been together for two years, so I think being married for only two weeks hardly qualifies as me not _knowing_ him."

"You also never stopped to think that maybe he's too young for you?" Dean was clutching at straws, trying to find some argument that would open a door for him so he could drop the bombshell on her.

"Too young for what?" Asha retorted, irritated at being interrogated. "Zack is 28, the same age as me." Asha wasn't exactly sure of Zack's age, but she did know from Max that he was most likely twelve when they escape happened in '09 so she just had done the simple math, but she _did _know that Zack sure as hell wasn't an a fresh faced minor.

This threw Dean for a loop. "I didn't know that." He had assumed Zack was younger than that because Zack still looked like a kid.

"I'm beginning to think that even if you did know you wouldn't have cared," Asha snapped. "You've already made up your mind that you didn't like him, and you were just looking for an excuse to back it up."

"I'm just trying to look out for you," Dean insisted.

"I don't need looking out for Dean, I'm a grown woman, and I can look out for myself. You're my friend and I care about you but this issue you have with Zack is going off the table. He's my husband and I love him, and I won't have you back talking him, end of discussion." Asha studied Dean's face, sensing in his expression that he didn't want to end the conversation yet. "What?" the word was said on the end of an annoyed sigh.

"Asha there's something I have to tell you," Dean watched her expression shift from annoyed to super annoyed. He was definitely not in her good graces tonight.

"I've got someplace I've gotta be so you're just going to have to tell it to me on the way," Asha informed and pushed past Dean, walking down the small set of wooden stairs that led to the exit door of Crash. She stepped out side and walked through several puddles of spilt beer and discarded condoms to get to her Jeep parked across the street.

Dean eyed the white Cherokee Asha was climbing inside of. Back in high school Asha had always talked about getting a Jeep. She had saved up money for months from her job as a waitress but all she was able to afford was a used Latura with 90, 000 miles on it. He knew she worked with computers now, and it obviously paid well. "See you finally got your dream ride."

Asha hovered over the driver's seat she was about to climb into and looked at Dean impassively over the roof of her car. "I can go faster than 45 miles an hour in this one so you're going to have to keep up." She slid into the car, her head disappearing from view.

Dean listened to her crank the Jeep's engine and watched her pull away from the building before he climbed inside his red Scion and followed her out.

XXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

8: 15 PM

"Hey," Logan watched Max come through the door of their apartment. "How was the pool game?" He was craned back in his computer chair in his office. The partitions had been left open so he could keep his eye on the kids.

Max slammed the door and didn't answer him, heading into the kitchen.

Jessie looked up from the blocks he was stacking sky high on the coffee table, while Lucy sat asleep in her infant seat on top of the table. He was actually building a replica of the Seattle Business District Skyline to use as a model for a school project. It was a very good scale model and he was adding the last story to the Steklar Multimedia Tower when Max distracted him and made a few of the blocks fall off the top.

"Is mommy mad?" Jessie asked scooping up some of the fallen red block off the table to start rebuilding the fallen story.

"Yeah Jess, I think mommy's mad," Logan agreed standing up from his leather computer chair. Actually he thought 'mommy' looked _pissed_, but he couldn't say that in front of his six-year-old son.

"Can I have a glass of milk mommy?" Logan heard Lexiee's voice when he entered the kitchen. He found his daughter sitting atop the island counter top, swinging her bare feet back and forth over the edge.

"Is something wrong?" Logan asked watching Max pull down a plastic cup from the cabinet above her head. She poured out half a glass of milk for Lexiee in the same silence.

"Here baby, don't spill it." Max carefully handed off the cup to her daughter, making sure she had it grasped firmly in her hands before pulling away.

"Thank you," Lexie said taking a drink, both hands around the cup.

"You're welcome," Max responded.

"Max," Logan said, trying to get her to say something to him. "Can we talk about this?"

"You don't even know what this is about," Max responded.

"And you being elusive on the subject isn't helping me any sweetheart," Logan clarified, sighing the way he did when he was beginning to get exasperated. "Did something happen at Crash?"

"Nothing to write home about," Max insisted, smoothing Lexie's soft brown hair down the sides of her head with both hands.

Logan could tell that she was just trying to keep busy to avoid talking to him. "See, that scenario doesn't seem to fit judging by how upset you are."

"I'm not upset Logan," Max returned, lying with the ease of someone who had done it for years. She took the empty plastic cup from Lexie when her daughter offered it up to her, and set it on the counter.

"Right, so this is you on a good night," Logan wasn't buying it. They had been together too long, he knew how to read her signals.

Max cut him a look and scooped up Lexie, settling her against her hip. She walked out of the kitchen without elaborating on anything that had happened at Crash. She was still fuming from being cut down by a complete stranger, but she wasn't even in the mood to bitch to Logan about it.

Logan followed Max into the living room where she carried Lexie to coffee table where Jessie was still working on his scale model.

"2000 Hours," Max told her son. "Time to halt the construction for tonight."

"Fifteen more minutes mom, please?" Jessie begged, keeping his eyes on his work.

"Sorry hun it's a school night, negotiations aren't doable," Max stated.

Jessie looked over to where Lucy was asleep in her infant seat on the edge of the coffee table. "Lucy's younger than me and she's still up."

"Does she look like she's awake?" Max asked her son. Already Lucy was starting to coo in her sleep and wriggle her feet like she was swimming, signs that she was deep inside some dream.

"But she still isn't in bed yet," Jessie was stalling to buy time.

"I'm coming back for her after you two get going Jess, I only have so many hands," Max shifted Lexie to her other hip. "C'mon, stalling doesn't work on me babe, move it."

Jessie put down his Legos with a sigh that sounded very much like Max when she was upset and climbed up from his knees and walked over to Max who was starting to head to the hallway that led to the penthouse's three bedrooms.

"Do you want me to put Lucy down?" Logan asked Max.

"Why not?" came her response. "I've already got too many troops to move out."

Logan started to pick up the baby carrier's handle when he heard the sound of the doorbell ringing. "Maybe I should get that first," Logan commented, more to himself than Max because she had gone from the room.

But a second later her sarcastic reply still reached his ears: "Ya think?"

Logan sighed quietly under his breath; whatever was bothering Max was obviously something big enough to brood in her for a while, she wasn't a woman who hung onto petty arguments. He stole a glance at his sleeping baby daughter in her infant seat. "I'll be right back." He headed into the foyer and pulled the front door open.

"Hey, Asha," Logan was a little confused to see Asha standing there; she didn't normally pay calls to him at night. And he was even more confused by the sight of a man who wasn't Zack, with buzzed, what looked like it was once brown hair, dressed in a black sweater and jeans, standing beside her.

"Logan-" Asha was just as tongue tied as Logan. "Sorry, is this a bad time?" Asha felt as nervous as if she was picking up a date at his parent's house. Beside her Dean hadn't said a word. She had no idea why he felt that whatever he wanted to tell her warranted him following her up here, but for some reason she hadn't stopped him.

"No," Logan dropped his confusion for reassurment. "Come in," he moved aside so that Asha and the man he guessed was her friend could enter the penthouse. He closed the door and turned back to the pair that was still standing in his foyer.

"Sorry," Asha apologized to Logan, "This is a friend of mine, Dean Miller. He's on leave from the USMC. Dean this is Logan Cale." She said this all rather hurriedly, wanting to get through the introductions and pleasantries.

"Hey nice to meet you," Logan held out his hand to Dean, being as courteous as his upbringing had taught him. Dean looked a little wary when he shook Logan's hand, looking as equally confused as Logan.

"You too," Dean sounded even more confused when he spoke. He lowered his hand from Logan's and let it hang at his side.

Logan could tell by Dean's body language that he really didn't know what he was doing there.

And Asha could tell that she needed to just hurry up and do what she came here for. "Is Max home?" she asked Logan.

"Yeah, I'll get her for you." Logan answered. He walked Asha and Dean over to one of the two leather couches in the living room. "Have a seat," he gestured towards the couch. When neither Dean nor Asha made a move to indicate that they wanted a seat, Logan gave up offering and called his wife.

"Max-"

"Did you put Lucy down?" Max's far reply echoed from the bedroom.

"Not yet," Logan replied, stopping for a moment, expecting a reprimand from her because she was just in that kind of mood tonight. When none came he went on. "Asha's here sweetheart, with a – friend." He hesitated just a second on the last part because he exactly sure what Asha and Dean's relationship was.

Logan stepped over to the coffee table, forgoing picking up the baby carrier this time, and lifted Lucy's small body out of it and carried her up against his shoulder. Lucy turned her head sideways on his shoulder and her warm baby breath tickled his ear. Logan was glad for the small distraction, because there was something tense about three adults just hanging around somewhere not talking.

"Is that your kid?" Dean's question broke the awkward silence.

"She's one of them," Logan answered. "Children have a way of multiplying on you when you're really in love with your wife." Logan could tell his words put a small crack in the tension in the room because of the small smile that Asha now wore on her face.

"She's beautiful Logan," Asha told him. This was the first time she had seen Lucy. She knew that she had already been born but she hadn't been up to see her yet. Plus the last week had been hell. Even with his transgenic genes, Zack's gunshot wound had taken almost eleven days to heal and left him with a thin scar up the right side of his neck, a constant reminder to Asha of how close he came to dying. And she had been too focused on that, plus marrying him the night after the raid, to think about his niece, _their_ niece. It was weird for her to think of herself as an aunt. She had allowed Jessie to call her Aunt Asha before, but now it was official.

Lucy cooed against Logan's shoulder, like she knew that Asha had just complimented her and enjoyed the attention. Logan smiled and rubbed her back in circular motions with his hands to make sure that she didn't wake up. "I think she just said thanks."

Asha smiled again, allowing the silence to linger until she heard footfalls behind her and turned to see Max entering the living room from the hallway.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of a late night visit girl?" Max asked, walking towards the sofa as she talked.

"Hey Max," Asha stood up from the couch. "I was in the neighborhood-" she stopped herself when she realized how lame that sounded. She had been nowhere _near_ the neighborhood that Max now called home. "Never mind."

Max was about to comment on Asha's flustered speech when the person Asha was with fully came into view.

Dean stared at Max in complete silence, wondering why she was here, while Max did the same, only also wondering what the hell this man was doing with Asha. Dean's comment to Max was still ringing in her ears, making her fist unconsciously close in preparation to hit something.

"Max?" Asha looked at Max questioningly; she hadn't seen Dean's confrontation with Max and Zack at Crash.

"Who's your friend?" Max asked, sounding more snappish then inquiring.

There was a low growl emitting from the corner of the kitchen, and Kaja skulked into the living room standing right up against Max's left leg. The dog's body was tense; her ears laid back, tail erect. She could sense the uneasiness in Max's voice and had gone into a protective mode against what she deemed was an intruder.

Dean eyed the dog warily, watching her bare her teeth as she growled. There were German Shepherds all over his Marine base, guard dogs mostly, and Dean knew how aggressive they could be when they felt threatened.

"This is Dean Miller," Asha clarified. She watched Kaja finally back down at a hand signal from Max. It was fairly obvious to Asha that Max and Dean had issues, though she didn't understand why. "A friend of mine. He has a few days off from the Marines so he came down to visit me. Dean, this is Max, Logan's wife, Zack's sister."

After hearing that Max was married, Dean began festering with new rage, completely pissed off by how Zack and this woman could cheat on their other relationships. But that anger only lasted the short half-second until Asha remarked about Max being Zack's _sister._ Though Max and Zack looked nothing alike, short of both having brown eyes, Dean knew that that was the least of his problems. "Yeah, we already met Asha." Dean could feel Max's eyes boring holes in his head as well as the eyes of her dog, which still sat glaring at him a few feet away.

"At Crash," Max agreed, keeping her glare locked on Dean. She realized now that Dean had thought Zack had been cheating on Asha, but that still didn't excuse him insulting her. She _hadn't_ been cheating with Zack, and she sure as hell didn't like being called a bitch. So both faults rested on Dean's head, not hers. Max scratched Kaja's head between her ears, her actions making the dog lay down obediently, but Kaja still kept both black eyes on Dean. Max left her there and stepped over to Logan. "I'll take her baby, she might want to nurse before she beds down."

Logan passed her Lucy, confused as hell as to what was going on, though now he sensed that Dean had something to do with Max's present pissy mood.

Max stood there with the baby in her arms, not making a move for the nursery. Dean still hadn't said anything and she hadn't expected him too apologize immediately; he didn't seem like that kind of guy. But she wasn't about to let him off the hook. "Nice seeing you again Dean. Though I'm glad this time you took a step back to ponder the situation before you slandered me as a bitch again. You saved yourself a trip to the hospital." She watched Dean's face widen in embarrassment as she passed him.

"You mind if I tag along Max?" Asha asked. "There's something I'd like to discuss incognito."

"Knock yourself out," Max answered over her shoulder as she headed back into the hallway with Lucy. She passed by the Rockwell painting – given to Logan by his mother – that hung on the high wooden walls, and was about to open the door to the nursery when Asha stopped her.

"Max," Max turned around to face Asha when she called her. Judging by the clipped remark Max had made to Dean Asha had a pretty good idea what Dean had said to her, and she knew Max was justified in being pissed off. "I'm sorry about Dean. I don't know what's gotten into him." Asha sighed. "He's my friend, but he can be a pain in the ass sometimes. You should've heard him go off on Zack tonight, I practically had to lay him out for that one."

"You don't have to explain about being defensive about Zack Asha," Max explained. "Friend or not, if someone badmouthed _my_ husband like that he'd be missing more then a few teeth."

Asha's face contorted in shock for a moment at Max's words. She had come here tonight to tell Max that she had married her brother, but it seems she already knew. "Did Zack tell you?"

"No," Max responded, rocking Lucy gently in her arms. "I just figured it out on my own."

"How'd you find out?" Asha asked, curious.

"Zack's not one to wear jewelry, until recently."

Asha fingered the wedding ring on her hand; Zack never had told her where he bought it, or perhaps where he stole it. But she thought it was very beautiful. "We did it after the raid, with Father Destry."

"I guess this makes you my first official sister-in-law," Max stated, a slow spreading smile coming across her face.

Asha smiled back, feeling a sense of relief wash over her. She hadn't expect Max to reject her, but Asha still hadn't known how she would react. "I guess so. Though I'm not sure if I want to take Zack's last name, seeing how he _has_ none."

Max laughed dryly. "C'mon, you can help me put your niece to bed."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After Max and Asha left Logan and Dean wound up staring at each other for the better part of five minutes. Logan wasn't sure he had anything decent to say to the other man anymore after hearing Max's remark about Dean before she left the room. He prided himself on being courteous, but he also didn't allow any slander to be spoken against his wife.

Dean could feel Logan's gaze on him beginning to grow hostile. And Dean no longer felt that it was unjustified. Afterall, Dean had called the man's wife a bitch, and insulted her brother beforehand. The dog had moved to sit down next to Logan's feet, resting her large head against his right calf. Her ears weren't laid back anymore, but she had the glint of a warning glare in her eyes, and she was directing that glare at Dean. _I'm not getting on the Christmas list anytime soon. _Dean thought.

"Nice place you got," Dean's voice sounded pathetically weak as opposed to the way he normally sounded. He couldn't tell if Logan would ever forgive him for the slam against Max, so he tried a tactical evasion technique – changing the subject.

"Thanks," Logan was willing to be decent with Dean, so long as he prevented any more snide remarks from escaping his mouth. "So you met Max at Crash?" the question was very rhetorical but Logan couldn't think of any other conversation starters that didn't involve cursing.

"Yeah," Dean drew out an awkward silence. "I caught her at a table with your brother-in-law."

"Oh, I see," Logan returned taking in the bit of information, already suspecting what had transpired between Max and Dean. "Was that before or after you called her a bitch?" Logan couldn't help himself, the remark slipped. Just because he promised he would be decent to Dean didn't mean he couldn't get to the bottom of a few things.

Dean's hardened Marine exterior crumbled under a cringe. He knew he deserved that remark. "Look man, about that I'm sorry-"

"Forget it," Logan interrupted. "It was sort of a mistake on your part. Besides I'm not the one you should be apologizing too."

Dean sighed, agreeing silently with Logan. "How long have you and Max been together?"

"Almost seven years," Logan replied.

"Is she one to hold a grudge?"

"It depends on the situation," Logan answered. "But I would own up to my mistakes quickly if I were the one in that situation."

Dean thought on something silently before speaking. "I guess I should find her and apologize," he made a move to leave but Logan's voice interrupted him.

"Stay here Dean, she's going to come back this way." Logan insisted. "Max doesn't tend to back down from confrontation that easily."

"Tell me about it," Dean returned. The tension in his voice was starting to loosen a bit after he realized that Logan wasn't going to jump him. "That is one strong woman you married."

Logan released a small smile at that. "It's one of the things I love most about her." He scratched Kaja between her ears like Max had done. The dog didn't lay down this time, but turned her head up to his, resting her muzzle against his thigh, sated by Logan's petting.

Dean watched this transaction in relief. Dogs weren't like people. When they don't like you they don't lie, they let you know immediately and Dean would rather not be on the bad side of a German Shepherd's temper. "If that's an inherited trait then I guess Asha's marrying into your wife's family is a better thing then I realized."

Logan stopped scratching Kaja's head and looked up surprisingly at Dean's remark. _Did he just say what I think he did?_ But Logan didn't have any chance to ask Dean to elaborate more before Max and Asha reemerged from the hallway and stepped into the living room.

"Did we miss anything good?" Max asked looking from her husband to Dean.

Dean dared to glance up in Max's brown eyes, seeing the arch in her eyebrows, like she was waiting for something. "Max I-" He had talked to his Drill Sergeant with more poise than this.

"About what I said tonight, I don't even know you and I jumped to some dumb, half assed conclusions, I'm sorry. I know that doesn't excuse what I said, but hopefully it'll defer any attacks on me until a later date."

Max allowed a small smile to creep on her face at Dean's remark. She could tell by what he just said that he was someone who got too caught up in hostilities, but wasn't really a bad guy. "My calendar's kinda full up this year, so you just got lucky."

Dean returned Max's smile. He could tell that she was still a bit annoyed with him, but it was more muted. "I never believed in luck before, but I guess now's a good time to start as any." Dean checked his watch, mostly for distraction. He had made amends with Max but the entire reason he had come up here at all was to tell Asha about the 'slut' cheating on her with Zack. As amended as his and Max's situation was Dean didn't expect Max to invite him to stay.

"I think I've overstayed my welcome, Max-" he watched the woman's dark brown eys, noting that she really _was_ beautiful. "If you see your brother, tell him – I overestimated my prowess." Zack's words sting rang in his ears as well as the stinging pain from Zack's grip around his neck. He would probably be bruised in the morning.

"I'll tell him," Asha answered before Max could. _As soon as I find out where the hell he went._ Asha felt awkward again for a moment; she had run out of relevant things to say. Perhaps if she said some formal goodbyes the tension that was there might vanish.

"Sorry for bothering you so late guys," Asha said this remark to both Max and Logan, but she stepped over to Logan while she talked. She looked up into the face of her old boyfriend and suddenly thought about how different things would've gone had they never split up. Logan would most likely have married her because he was a nice guy, and it was the "right thing to do." He would've treated her well, have been a good husband, but Asha knew that neither of them wouldn't have been happy. Formality was not love.

Logan caught a hidden meaning in Asha's look, finding them as hard to read now as they were when he was involved with her. But despite the secrecy of her gaze he could sense satisfaction in her as well. Despite how Logan sometimes felt about Zack, he was good for her. Logan looked down briefly at Asha's hand and finally noticed the glint of gold clasped around her finger. He never thought of Zack to be the kind of man to make a long-term commitment, but Zack was constantly changing the rules about everything.

"I already have more sisters-in-law than I know what to do with, but one more won't alter the chaos that much." Logan said smiling. "Looks like you became a part of my family after all," He said this last part softly.

Asha looked down at her ring with a muffled laugh before turning back up to meet his gaze again.

"Looks like it."

Logan kissed Asha on the side of her face. "Welcome to the chaos."

xxxxxxxx

Asha and Dean walked out of the penthouse in silence. The glass elevator dinged on the floor a few seconds after it was called and the pair stepped inside in the same silence.

Dean watched the lights on the floor indicator go down. Asha stood a few feet away from him, her arms hanging loosely by her side. He could clearly see her wedding band from where he was standing. One piece of jewelry had turned him into a complete psycho. But it wasn't the ring that had made him go nuts; it was the symbol it stood for. A real world testament that Asha Copland was a grown woman now, with her own life, her own love. Dean didn't care for Asha like a lover. He loved her like a sister, and that was why he had gone so ballistic. He felt that he had to protect her from what he thought was a bad situation. But Asha chewing his ass out told Dean that she could take care of herself.

Asha still hadn't looked at him so Dean instigated the first move and turned his head to her. "Asha I'm sorry - It was pretty shitty of me to think you weren't on the ball with this guy."

"Yeah it was," Asha agreed. She still wasn't looking at him. "There are plenty of little girls who need looking out for Dean, but I'm not one of them."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Dean repeated apologetically, leaning up against the elevator's window. He chewed on his next words before letting them escape his mouth. "You weren't all that together in high school Asha-" He held up his hand before she could comment. "You were smart, but quiet, shy, almost naieve about the world outside your books. _That's_ the girl I remember when I left for Basic. So when I came back and found out you shacked up with this guy who's obviously ran around the life block a few times, I – I just didn't want you to get hurt is all."

Asha finally looked at Dean, a soft, but piercing gaze. "I'm not the same girl that I was in high school Dean, I grew up. I've been through shit that no book could ever teach me about. But Zack's been there through some of the deepest of it. He's hurt me Dean – I'm not going to lie, but that doesn't mean I'm going to walk away. He has deep issues, and that's how he deals with them, but that doesn't make him a bad guy; it just makes him human."

Dean absorbed her words before speaking again. "You really love him don't you?"

"Yeah I do," Asha replied quietly, but fiercely. "And he loves me."

Dean felt a sigh forming in his throat but swallowed it to keep it from coming out. Asha and Zack's relationship wasn't a sham at all; it was real. And he finally had to respect that. He stepped over the short distance of the elevator floor and pulled her into a hug. "I'm happy for you."

Asha returned the hug with her arms around Dean's neck. "Thanks."

xxxxxxxxxxx

Logan raised the wine glass in his hand, leaning over the coffee table to meet Max's eyes. "To Asha and Zack."

Max clinked her wine glass against his causing the Merlot to swish gently inside. She didn't add anything to Logan's toast and sipped the dark alcohol in silence.

Logan observed Max's movements. Although she hadn't spoken a word he could sense that there was something she was thinking about because of the faraway look in her eyes. "What is it?"

"This is just weird for me," Max's voice was low. She set the wineglass on the coffee table in front of her. "For as long as I can remember, my sisters and I were the only women in Zack's life. And now that's changed."

"You don't have to be jealous Max, I don't think Zack will care for you any less just because he's married now," Logan insisted.

"I'm not jealous Logan," Max clarified, somewhat hostile. She _wasn't_ jealous of Asha's relationship with Zack. What she was feeling had nothing to do with jealously. "Zack's been a lone wolf most of his life, but after he met Asha he finally allowed himself to connect intimately with someone else. He's never had that before, not even with us."

"Falling in love will do that to you," Logan agreed hovering his wine glass over the coffee table.

"No matter how many revisionist spins are put on it, love changes your whole perspective. It did with me."

Max smiled gently at his words. "Zack's been through a lot of shit in his life. He deserves to be happy."

"For some reason I can't ever picture Zack as being _happy_ sweetheart," Logan stated.

"Me neither," Max admitted. "But that doesn't mean he can't come close."

XXXXXXXXXXX

FENTAL AVE

9:30 PM

The front door of her apartment creaked loudly as Asha pushed it open. She knew she should really ask her Super to take a look at it but the man was a slum lord and would most likely try to blame _her_ for messing it up somehow. The door squeaked just as loudly when she closed it and Asha was sure that she had woken up the entire floor with the noise.

She slid the deadbolts in their place and then turned to walk into her dark living room stopping briefly to lay her keys down on the end table by her couch. She started to head towards her bedroom but smacked right into a bulky piece of metal behind her couch.

"Shit," Asha rubbed at the aching femur bones in her legs and felt in front of her to see what she had run into. Her hands made contact with sleek metal handlebars. It only took her two seconds to realize that what she had hit was Zack's bike parked right in the middle of the living room. Which mean that Zack was in the apartment because he would never leave his bike unattended.

Still rubbing the sore area over her jeans Asha went around the motorcycle and continued to walk towards her bedroom.

Like the living room, the bedroom lights were all off, but this time Asha flipped on the small three-bulb ceiling light so she could see. The bed was still haphazardly made from the morning and beside it her small nickel-plated alarm clock ticked on the black nightstand.

The room was completely empty "Zack?" Asha didn't expect an answer, but if Zack's bike was here, he had to be here somewhere as well.

A yawn overtook her. It was only nine-thirty, Asha wasn't planning on going to bed but she was wiped. She wanted nothing more than to crash on her sofa and sip a beer while half watching the late evening news.

She slipped out of her denim jacket and hung it on the foot post of her bed before pulling the gray long sleeved shirt up over her head and hanging it in the same place. Standing there in her red lace bra she hunted through her dresser drawers and pulled out a black spaghetti strapped camisole.

She set the camisole down on the dresser top and reached around to undo the clasps of her bra. She got the first hook undone and then felt another pair of hands helping her with the second clasp.

Asha jerked around – holding the unsecured bra to her breasts with her arm – and stared right into Zack's brown eyes. Her heart slowed down to a normal rate after she saw who it was.

"Can't blame a guy for helping out," Zack insisted quietly. He took the camisole down from the dresser and handed it to her.

Asha let her bra fall to the floor and took the article of clothing from Zack. Her bare breasts were exposed for a few seconds before they disappeared underneath the fabric of her camisole. She wondered where Zack had gone after he left Crash, and as much as she hated to sound like a nagging wife she wanted to know. "Where'd you go?"

"X5's are entitled to a little secrecy now and then," Zack responded dryly.

"Secrecy my ass," Asha retorted. "That line only works on fresh out of boot camp soldiers Zack, not your wife."

Zack glared at her for a moment, seemingly about to counterattack her statement, but then the glare in his eyes died down so that he was simply looking at her. "Sorry to disappoint your visions of me hitting the night spots and paying for cheap action, but all I did was drive around the city until every drug dealer was convinced I was one of their couriers and then I came here."

Asha could tell by the inflection in Zack's voice that he was telling the truth. Also she knew that Zack may have been a smart ass, but he wasn't a liar.

"So what happened to your little boyfriend?" If Zack was jealous, his voice gave nothing away. He just stared at Asha, waiting for an answer.

"Dean's gone to Ohio. His mom lives there and he only has a few days of his leave left," Asha replied. "I don't think it'll make you feel any better but Dean apologized to Max for the remark. Apparently he was confused about a few things."

"You're right, it doesn't make me feel any better," Zack said. "Someone saying they're sorry doesn't magically erase them shooting their mouth off."

"He's a good guy Zack," Asha insisted. "Growing up he was like a brother to me, he just gets overprotective sometimes," Asha gave him a 'you know what that's like' look, but it disappeared a second later. "But that doesn't mean he's allowed to slam people he doesn't even know, my husband included."

"I don't need someone to defend me Asha," Zack told her matter-of-fact.

"Well that's too bad," Asha returned. "Because you do the same for me, and I have to live up to the quid pro quo."

She could tell that struck a chord with Zack. Her eyes wandered away from his face, traveling down his shoulder to rest on his tattoo. She traced the Chinese character with the pointer finger of her right hand. "I know for sure that Manticore didn't give you this."

"Manticore already gave me a mark, this one's mine," Zack insisted. The skin around the tattoo was still tender making Asha's touch hot on his arm.

Asha stopped her tracing and rested her hands on either side of Zack's bicep. "What's it mean?"

Zack's eyes moved up to hers, unblinking. "Found."

Asha could feel the intensity of his gaze, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "I thought a super soldier wanted for nothing."

"So did I," Zack's return was soft, his gaze never moving from hers.

xxxxxxxxxx

_Oh my_

_Where do_

_How do I begin?_

_To answer the question_

_I know you've been wondering_

_Where could_

_Why could _

_How could it all be true?_

_These things_

_Who's that?_

_And what's he to you?_

xxxxxxxx

Asha didn't smile but kissed the skin over Zack's tattoo. "And here I thought it was just hot," She found his eyes again, and saw that they had gone liquid, and she felt like she could drown in them. She released her hands from his arm and put one hand behind his neck, but Zack removed it.

Asha was confused, and even more so when nothing on Zack's face suggested that he was mad, or even a little broody.

"You can't initiate everything," Zack informed slipping his hands behind Asha's head and she felt him kiss her, his hands warm on her neck.

Asha moved her hands up to cup the sides of his face, her wedding brushing against the skin of his temple.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

_He is_

_The make you alrighter_

_The get you through the nighter_

_The soul defender of anything I feel_

_The pain remover_

_Bad times undoer_

_The joy bringer_

_The love giver…_

_He is._

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

XXXXXXXXXXXX

This isn't as hard hitting as the previous chapter, but Zack and Asha needed a chapter dealing with the new status of their relationship. I think Asha would keep her last name because Zack _has _none. And if they have any kids most likely they'll take their mom's name. (am I hinting at anything here? You'll have to wait and see, hehe..)

Ahh Dean, he was meant as an antagonist, though it would've been too easy to have him be a complete asshole and have Asha never speak to him again; that's not how things work. He's still Asha's _friend,_ so she has to deal with his attitude.

Finally the song played on the radio at the beginning was: _Suga Suga_, sung by: Baby Bash, and the ending song is _He Is_ by: Heather Headley. (which I use a lot in my fics, but hey, it's a good song.)

R/R please.

Peace

Mystic


	26. Catalyst

Choices 26-"Catalyst"

AUTHOR: Mystic25

RATING: PG13, nothing you wouldn't expect to be in a DA episode.

SUMMARY: One thing can lead to another….

DISCLAIMER: I write this cause James Cameron has issues with sharing..

A/N: Don't hate me, I just was lazy in getting this out….don't hate, just throw rocks…

XXXXXXXX

SAN FRANCISCO

7:00 AM

"Mmm, how about you give me a little something to remember you by for the day?"

In the semi darkness that was the early morning hours, Jondy felt warm breathing on the back of her neck. She rolled over lazily, but determined to stop the love cooing that was being emitted at her. The foggy strands of sleep began to clear from her brain after her waking mind registered that she had a male partner in her bed this morning. _I knew I shouldn't have had those last few tequila shots._ Jondy had been a bit over zealous at her bartending job last night. Being a Saturday night customers were bursting out of the doors and windows. Over half of those customers had been men, attractive men. And they all hit on Jondy throughout the night, offering more than just money in the way of tipping. Jondy wasn't in heat, but she was bored and on the prowl for something to liven her life up. So she had allowed a sexy dark eyed stranger to buy her drinks, and, after she closed up, to come back to her apartment. It had seemed like a worthwhile endeavor last night.

Brown bloodshot eyes stared back at her, pupils completely dilated even in the minimal light. One muscular arm rested limply on the bed, while the other reached out to touch her still naked lower body.

Jondy pulled his hand away before any grabbing of her crotch initiated. _He's cute, but apparently not very tactful. Next time I get drunk AFTER the sex. _"I gotta get dressed hun," she stood up in her queen-sized bed, pulling the white sheet over her legs and ass.

"C'mon baby," her previous night's conquest tugged at the sheet. "There's nothing wrong with calling in late." He managed to get the cloth to pull away from her body and scoped out her bare ass.

Jondy punched him in the chest and snatched the sheet away from him at the same time so that the sounds of ripping from the 200-thread count sheet and his gasping groan intermingled in her small bedroom. She didn't offer him any comments and picked up a hairbrush from her nightstand, holding the sheet closed with her free hand.

"I don't have any coffee," Jondy said while running the brush through her long, straight brown locks, "There's some orange juice in the fridge, drink it on your way out." After a few repeats of the same procedure she returned the brush to the nightstand.

Her date had finally regained his breath, and watched her agile body walk across a threadbare sea foam carpet to the peeling white door that led to her tiny closet. He pulled his legs up on the bed under the blanket, and rested folded arms atop them, the long black dragon tattooed on his bicep flexing at his movements. "Are you going to join me?" A suggesting smile was mixed up in his words.

Jondy removed the sheet from her body and threw it over his head before he got a chance to peak at her body some more. "Get out, I gotta get dressed."

The guy removed the sheet from his head but didn't catch sight of Jondy who had vanished into the closet. "You're joking right?" She was fine as hell and dished out sex as good as her looks, so he naturally expected her to be a little more "open" around him.

Jondy pulled a pair of gray five pocket flair pants off of a hanger, poking her head out of the closet to glare at him. "Yeah I'm joking." She pulled on a pair of red bikini briefs, "And I'm three seconds away from punching you in your balls and making it a really funny joke." She enjoyed the boy's sex but she wasn't in the mood to do any male ego stroking. "Get out."

She slid her legs into her pants and watched the guy pick up his boxer briefs from the floor and walk out the bedroom door with them in his hand. Jondy sighed to herself after he left. _Definitely hot, but that's about it. _ After throwing on a bra and white tank top she walked out of her closet and around to the side of her bed. Sex fluid stained both sides of it in large puddles, making the sheets unsalvageable. _Stupid Pulse, it'll be weeks before I can find another sheet set._ She balled up the sheets and threw them in a pile on the floor. She hunted around for her watch but realized that she had left in the living room last night.

She left her bedroom and walked through the small hallway that connected her bedroom and bath with the rest of the apartment. The living room was a large rectangular room that Jondy divided into two rooms by placing a two seater wooden table and chairs at the end that was closest to the kitchen. The other end of the large room was taken up with a gray leather couch with an unstained pinewood coffee table sitting in front of it. Secured to the wall in front of the minimal furniture was a silver 29-inch I Art Plasma TV that Jondy had won in a game of Chinatown gangster run hi-low. Just to the side of the TV stood Jondy's motorcycle, a silver and orange Kawasaki Ninja ZX-9R with a red motorcycle helmet resting on one of its handlebars. Jondy stopped in front of the bike to check the gas gauge, cursing to herself because she only had a quarter of a tank left.

"Nice bike," Her one-night-stand commented from the kitchen, currently pouring himself a glass of juice from the half carton that had been sitting in the fridge.

"Thanks," Jondy returned. She always respected comments on her bike; it was an awesome machine.

The guy smiled at her. "You sure you don't want any?" he gestured to the glass of juice he was sipping from.

"I'm good," Jondy returned finally finding her watch on the coffee table. She picked up the silver bracelet Seiko Marine watch and clasped it on he wrist. Logan had offered it to her as a gift a year ago, though she didn't know what the hell for. She didn't do birthdays and anniversaries; but she didn't take a big stand against it. If her rich brother-in-law wanted to lay expensive gifts on her who was she to complain?

She headed towards the kitchen where she kept her black cordless phone and picked up the handheld unit but midway through dialing she realized that the guy in her kitchen was completely naked. She didn't say anything to him, just dialed the rest of the numbers and waited until the call connected.

"Hey, is Syl in?"

"_Sure, hang on a minute okay?"_ came the male reply on the other line.

"No prob," Jondy answered, listening to him call her sister to the phone. She barked an order at her date from last night. "Boy put your pants on!"

xxxxxxxx

LAS VEGAS

Syl's eyebrows rose at Jondy's retort. "I could call back later if you're entertaining naked boys Jondy." Across the black table sat her boyfriend Craig; twenty-seven, tanned skinned with short dark brown hair set above a killer set of green eyes. He was currently making a face at Syl's remark while taking a sip from his coffee cup. He and Syl didn't live together; he would just come by some days for breakfast –Syl was as good a cook as Logan – or for a slumber party. Today he had done both.

"_He's entertaining himself already girl." _Jondy stated from the other line.

Syl's eyebrows arched so high that they almost touched her hairline. "You mean to tell me you got some loser masturbating this early?"

Craig choked so loudly on the French toast he had just put into his mouth that Syl got up from her chair and smacked him hard in the back, making him dislodge the food onto the tabletop.

"Please Syl," Craig coughed and took a big swig from the glass of water next to his plate. "No whacking-off stories during breakfast." He accepted the napkin Syl handed to him, ignoring her amused look.

"Thank you Syl for that image before I've even had a cup of coffee," Jondy returned. "Hell if he decided to pleasure himself I'd excuse it. The boy just decided to strut into my kitchen naked." She had lowered her voice on the last remark, making Syl suspect that the man in question was right in the room. 

"Is he hot?" This time Syl ignored the look Craig was shooting her.

"_Hell yeah."_

"Then there's no problem," Syl rectified.

"_Syl you're a little slut."_

"I'm not the one with the naked man in my kitchen Jondy."

The sound of a chair being pulled back made Syl glance up to see Craig standing beside the table holding the plate with the remains of his breakfast. "I'm sure you're enjoying your sisterly conversation baby, but I've got to head down and open up shop, thank god, so I'm sorry but I won't be able to catch the end of it." Craig owned and operated a small motorcycle repair shop near downtown Vegas. He had met Syl there in 2018 when she came in to have Yamaha Shadow serviced. He was intrigued by her from the start and the fact that she knew a lot about bikes made her that much more alluring to him.

Their relationship grew stronger over the years Syl had even allowed him to meet her family; albeit sporadically, and it was a large family. She had a brother in LA; one in Montana, those two he didn't have a problem with but her brother Zack – the oldest of all her siblings– was extremely overprotective and a pain in the ass. But Craig could see how much Syl cared for him so he kept his remarks to himself. She had two married sisters in Seattle, they were cool; and her sister Jondy, who Syl was currently talking to, was a trip. A wild single woman who had beat Craig at poker quite a few times. A few years ago Syl had also trusted him with a very large secret about her past. He had found it hard to believe at first, her stories about how she and her family were super soldiers escaped from a secret government lab. But after he had witnessed armed men chasing her down countless times and her fighting skills to thwart them he didn't deny it any more. In spite all this the thought of leaving her had never even crossed his mind. By the time everything came to light he was in love with her and the fact that she handled really bad shit for so many years made him love her even more.

But right now, as much as he loved her, he didn't want to listen in on a conversation about naked men and masturbation this early in the morning. "Bye," He kissed Syl on the back of her neck, feeling her shiver, it being a sensitive spot for her. He grabbed his black messenger bag off the couch and walked over to the small foyer that led to the front door.

XXXXXX

SAN FRANCISCO

"Did I scare Craig away again?" Jondy asked, not even trying to repress the smile creeping on her face. She loved to mess with people.

"Yeah, you really need to quit that little sister." 

"Hey you don't tamper with the classics," Jondy admonished, scooping out the last bits of freeze-dried coffee from a metal canister. She was finally able to go into her kitchen after convincing her late night boy toy to put his clothes on by pitching a full case of motor oil at his head. She only missed him because his face was too pretty to mar.

"_Was getting your morning ya-ya's out on my boyfriend the only reason for calling or was there more?"_

"Well getting my morning ya-ya's is always a winner Syl, but this time there's actually something else I'd like to dish about." Jondy set the coffee in the ancient coffee maker, added two cups of water, and switched the whole operation on.

"_If you're going to get into how hot you are again I'm not in the mood."_

"Girl I _am_ hot, why do you think I get so much action?" Jondy hopped up on her crowded countertop to wait for her coffee to percolate.

"_The letters 'E' and 'Z' have something to do with it."_

"Because this is so goddamn early I'm gonna let that slide." Jondy grabbed a handful of oatmeal cookies from a half eaten box beside her. _That dink ate most of my cookies._ "Also cause I gotta drop this bomb I'm sitting on before it blows up in my face," her voice was partially muffled by her chewing. "You'll never guess the rumor that's being going around X5 Seattle."

"_Maxie's pregnant again."_ Syl took a shot at it.

"What? No!" Jondy's voice was muffled by another cookie. "The girl has _some _restraint."

"_Either that or birth control pills."_

Syl and Jondy laughed over the phone. Max's three children were testament to the fact that she loved her husband, a hell of a lot.

"_You're gonna have to tell me then Jondy, cause that's all I can come up with."_

"Believe me this is better then that."

In the few seconds that Jondy paused for dramatic flair Syl grew annoyed.

"_Jondy, none of us were born with patience-"_

"Okay," Jondy finally started talking again. "I got this from a _very_ reliable source."

"_What reliable source?"_ Syl cut in.

"Tinga," Jondy answered.

"_TINGA'S your source?"_ Syl didn't sound at all convinced of this. Tinga was reliable but she didn't go around telling everyone else's business.

"Who'd you think it was?"

"_I don't know, Alec maybe."_

"Alec? Why the hell would you think that?" Jondy feigned innocence, like she didn't know what Syl was talking about and that she _didn't_ have any hots for Alec.

"_Cause he's better at shooting his mouth off than Tinga."_

"What do you have against Tinga?"

XXXXXXX

LAS VEGAS

"_Girl, just get on with it!" _ Syl growled, dumping the breakfast plates in the sink to worry about later. She opened the stained white refrigerator that sat next to the sink, pulling out a carton of milk. A rancid odor emitted from the carton after she opened it. She screwed up her face in disgust, and saw that the expiration date had passed two weeks ago.

"I gotta clean out my fridge more," Syl said this to herself, but out loud. She chucked the milk carton in the low trashcan that sat next to the stove on the floor of her blue tiled kitchen.

"What did you just call me?" Jondy stated teasingly. 

"Don't even start with that," Syl warned, exiting her kitchen. "Tell me what it is right now before I come through this phone and beat on your ass." She walked past her small dining table and into the living room. A tabby cat with lustrous pewter gray fur was curled on one end of the couch watching Syl through one yellow eye and one pale white one. Craig had found her abandoned in a ditch a year ago. She had a clubbed back foot and was blind in her right eye, which was probably why she had been abandoned. Her clubbed foot looked like a curled eagle's talon and her blind white eye resembled a bat's so Syl had named her Chimera.

"Shove over," Syl ordered to her cat that only looked up at her, blinking her good eye sleepily. "It's my turn on this spot Chimera." She picked up the cat and deposited it in her lap. The tabby mewed softly and shook her head.

"_Are you done?"_ Jondy could hear Syl going on with her cat.

"Not until you start," Syl said, in more of an order then anything else. She scratched Chimera's ears, practically glaring at Jondy through the phone.

"_Are you sitting?"_

"JONDY!" Syl shouted into the phone, making Chimera cock her head at her. She was tired of playing the mind games Jondy was famous for.

"_Okay, okay, I'll spill. What if I told you that our family just expanded?"_

"I thought you said Maxie wasn't pregnant."

"_Syl would you get off Maxie for a second!" _Jondy hissed. _"It has nothing to do with her, OR Tinga. Now focus, who else has a tendency to hang around Seattle?"_

"Honey, you should've learned a long time ago that Zack can't _get _pregnant."

"_Cute Syl, real cute. Now if you're done disgusting me I can tell you that Big Brother has been spotted around the city with Asha-"_

"So?" Syl interrupted. "I don't see how this falls into the category of 'explosive information' Asha's his girlfriend remember?"

"_Not anymore apparently."_

"You mean they called it off?"

"_Not unless you call them sporting matching rings 'calling it off'."_

"_What?_?" Syl almost dropped the phone. For a second she thought Jondy was just messing around again, but there was no teasing tone in her voice. Chimera sprang from her lap at her latest outburst, done with her owner scaring her. Not that Syl blamed the cat. Her current state was anything but calm.

XXXXXXX

SAN FRANCISCO

"My thoughts exactly girl." Jondy said. "He hasn't been leaving Seattle as much as he used too and for a guy who's not into jewelry he sure likes wearing a gold band on a chain around his neck."

"_You're sure of this?"_

"As sure as I am that I'm hot and transgenic. Zack _married_ Asha."

"_Son-of-a-bitch."_

"I know right? The bastard didn't even tell us. I didn't even get a chance to come out of any bachelor party cakes."

"_I think you're the only one that's upset about that hun. But back to the subject at hand-"_

"Do you know how big this is Syl?" Jondy's coffee pot beeped – or rather it coughed out a dying imitation of a beep since it was so old. Jondy hopped off the counter and filled a white mug two-thirds full adding cream to the top of the rim. She sipped her coffee, scowled at the taste, but knew she couldn't get anything better, so she continued drinking it.

"_Zack has a hell of a lot of explaining to do,"_ Syl agreed.

"Damn straightThere's never been a Mrs X5 before. Forget big, this is unprecedented."

"_Does anyone else know?"_

"Asha knows."

"_You know damn well what I mean."_

"Me thinks Maxie knows, Zack likes to play favorites with her." Jondy had a bit of annoyance in her voice. It wasn't that Zack didn't care for her too, but ever since they were kids he would always single out Max for special attention. If they hadn't been brother and sister Zack might've fallen in love with Max. Jondy's current thoughts were disgusting her and she physically shook herself to get rid of them.

"_So what's the game plan?"_ Syl asked, still digesting the information that Zack had found someone who was willing to put up with him until the day she died.

"You're higher up in the chain-of-command, you tell me." Jondy walked over to her kitchen countertop that jutted into her living room; leaning her elbows on it. Her coffee already was starting to go lukewarm so she settled on swirling her finger around in it instead of continuing to drink it.

"_Well obviously Zack didn't tell us because he doesn't want us to know."_

"Since when have we ever let that stop us-" Jondy's retort was cut short when hands around her waist startled her into dropping her mug and spilling her reheated coffee all over the front of her tank top. In one swift movement she grabbed the arms from around her waist spun around and kicked the body they were attached to the floor. Her entire assault only took five seconds and only after it was over did she realize her date was now sprawled out in a heap in front of her staring at her in complete bewilderment.

"Shit," Jondy meant this curse for herself, but not because she had just pitched her sleeping partner to the ground. She was rather commenting on the brown stain on her tank that had formed on and between her breasts. "What the hell are you trying to do?" She grabbed a napkin from a stack on the counter and wiped at the stain. Syl had gone silent over the phone, and Jondy guessed that her sister wasn't worried; she was just nosey.

"_Me?"_ the guy climbed to his feet. "_You're_ the one who "self-defense class" threw me over your shoulder." He ran a hand through his hair; trying to regain the sense of male coolness he just lost by being thrown down by a woman.

"You ruined my tank," Jondy complained, giving up the futile attempts to wipe away the stain. "And that was _skill _not some amateur YMCA move." Her eyes became apologetic, but internally she was glowering at him and berating herself for wasting her time picking him up in the first place. "Look Rick-"

"Rodger," he corrected her.

"Whatever," Jondy returned. "This isn't gonna work out." Rodger didn't say anything but she could see the look forming behind his eyes at having a girl drop him after the first night.

"What do you mean?"

"This ride was only fun for one night hun," Jondy clarified. She knew he knew damn well what she meant; he was just trying to pull her into a conversation that would bait her to reconsider.

Rodger's look broke for a second, he could sense that she knew what he was trying to do. He was completely surprised. This hadn't been his past experience with women he picked up at bars.

"So that's it?"

"Yeah," Jondy told him simply. She had only known him for 10 hours; she wasn't about to stroke his male ego. "Here," she pulled off her stained tank top and threw it to him, now standing before him in nothing but a white lace bra.

He caught it, looking at it like it was a memento.

However Jondy killed that idea with her next remark. "Toss it in the dumpster, there's no way in hell that stain's commin' out."

"Baby c'mon," Rodger didn't sound entirely convinced that Jondy had just dropped him.

"Be out of my apartment in five minutes." She turned and headed back down the hall to her bedroom with the phone in her hand, ignoring Rodger's gaping look.

She closed the door loudly, listening through the walls to the sounds of Rodger's thudding feet walking out of her apartment door. _No more Tequila for me._

There was no sound on the other end of the phone except Syl's breathing but Jondy knew that she was dying to say something. All X5's were born with a mouth they couldn't keep shut.

"Girl, stop torturing yourself and just say it." Jondy pulled out a shirt from her dresser drawer and slid it on. It was white, short sleeved, form fitting with a scoop neck and had the phrase: _"These aren't my eyes" _written in red across her breasts.

"_Your boyfriend gone?"_

"Syl I don't wanna lose another sister-" Jondy threatened. She walked over and sat down on edge of her bed, avoiding the semen stain drying on her mattress.

Syl laughed into the phone, turn about was fair play, but she was willing to let Jondy off the hook because she had something else that she wanted to say. _"You and your stud muffin's exchange gave me an idea." _

"Which is?" Jondy asked, choosing to ignore the 'stud muffin' remark until she could reprimand Syl in person.

"_Being in your face is a good weapon."_

"You're talking to the girl who invented it." Jondy stated. "But what's your point?"

"_I was thinking we could use it on a certain brother of ours so that he'll spill on a few things-"_

"Like what number Clairol he uses on his hair?"

"_That AND why he never dropped the news about our new sister-in-law." _

A smile crept on Jondy's face. "I'm always in the mood for a road trip."

XXXXXXX

LOS ANGELES

11:00 AM

"Pete, hand me that number three ratchet," Zane issued this order while slid up under a Hyundai XG-340. The car had been salvaged from a junkyard three weeks ago and the man who had done the salvaging was paying Zane 800 dollars cash money to repair it. Zane had torn down the engine completely in order to turbo charge it and was now replacing it back inside the car one piece at a time. The missing parts of the engine created a gaping hole up through the under body by which Zane could see the ceiling of the garage from out of the raised hood.

Almost a full half-minute had passed from when Zane made the request and he was growing impatient "Pete, some time today man." He was about to slide out and get the ratchet himself when a shadow blocked the halogen lamp that hung suspended over the car.

"What the hell man?" Zane complained. He assumed Pete was standing over the car, getting ready to hand him the ratchet through the hood. "Quit blocking the light."

"Light isn't your friend."

The voice that spoke these words didn't belong to Zane's coworker Pete. "Look what the Pulse dragged in." Zane shot back glaring at Zack who was leaning over the hood of the car, staring at him. "You wanna move away from my light before I mar that pretty face?" Despite Zane's words that indicated he was going to continue working on the engine he slid out from underneath the car.

"What's up?" Zane quipped, wiping the oil from his hands on a white rag that was lying on the roof of the car. "Manticore troubles or woman troubles?"

"Why does it have to be either Zane?" Zack questioned.

"Because you didn't come down here just because you missed me." Zane returned throwing the rag over his shoulder. He stared at Zack for a second, analyzing the look behind Zack's eyes. "Definitely woman troubles."

"And you would know _so_ much about that topic," Zack stated.

"Hell yeah, " Zane insisted. "That's why you came to me my brother."

"You put too much faith in your own intuition Zane," Zack returned, a hint of a playful pitch in his voice. Of all his brothers Zack was closest to Zane. Two months after the escape he and Zane met up and lived together for a year in the condemned basement of a skyscraper in LA. During that time their struggle for food and cash created a stronger bond between they had back at Manticore. Zack had returned from stealing food for them one day to find the outside of their hide out swarming with Manticore TAC Team Soldiers. Zack hadn't risked the exposure in trying to find Zane; he figured Zane hadn't neglected his own training and had cleared out when he saw the soldiers approaching. Zack had never learned who tipped Lydecker on their location. Zack was nineteen by the time he finally found Zane again, still in LA, living in a trailer he had stolen. Their reunion wasn't tears and handholds, but the brothers were glad to see each other. Zane still had his trailer, which Zack frequented every few months to just catch up.

"You know that's why you came here pretty boy," Zane teased. He loved to rile Zack on his looks. He'd been with Zack at a bar on many occasions and had been ignored by women because of his older brother. Not that Zane wasn't a looker –with shoulder length brown hair usually pulled into a pony tail, green eyes, goatee, hands used to getting into tight places – it was just that Zack was normally closed off around the women that kept throwing themselves at him. And this just made them want him more.

"Is your super fly chick holding out on you soldier?" Zane removed the rag from his shoulder and pitched it into a bin in the corner of the garage where scrap rags were kept. "Cause you know all I can do is console you on that fact. And by "console" I mean with words."

Zack screwed up his face. "You really need to get out more."

"You still haven't denied my earlier remark," Zane said, crossing his arms above his blue mechanic's jumper, and moving his legs at a stance of 'parade rest.' This was all done to make Zack feel walled in and piss him off enough so he would talk.

"Things are fine Zane," Zack informed. "So you can drop the drill sergeant crap." Zack knew a Manticore learned move when he saw one.

Zane uncrossed his arms and darted his hand towards Zack's chest. Before Zack had time to process what the hell he was doing Zane was fingering the gold band around Zack's neck. "I'll say they are. Unless some call girl gave you this for rocking her world."

Zack yanked the ring away from Zane's hand.

"Man of a thousands secrets huh?" Zane could tell by the weight of the ring it was pure. Defiantly not something that a low paid hooker could afford to give to his brother. And he guessed it was a tall leggy blonde that offered it up to him. "So that makes you Mr. Copland now?"

Zack shot him a look. "And you wonder why I didn't tell you right off."

"You were probably too busy getting it on legally," Zane corrected slyly. He wasn't about to start crying Zack or offer "official congratulations." One, because he was still kinda floored about Zack having a _wife._ And two, he was a Manticore guy; he didn't do things like that.

"Being legal has nothing to do with it," Zack deadpanned. He had married Asha because he loved her, not because he loved the law. He didn't give a crap about things done legally.

Zane caught the meaning behind Zack's words. He held out his hand wanting to give Zack props, and the two brothers banged fists. "So where'd you stash my sister-in-law?"

"I left at five this morning, she wasn't awake." Zack stated.

Zane looked at him, incredulous. "You _ditched_ your bride?"

"I left a note," Zack told him.

"You're the ideal husband Zack." Zane returned, clamping his hand down on Zack's shoulder "Let's go drink to your status change."

"What about your job?" Zack asked. Zane's first love was cars and as such he could always be found around the garage where he worked.

"Screw the damn job," Zane insisted. "My lone wolf big brother finally found a mate, _that's_ something worth getting drunk over."

"Fine," Zack finally gave into his younger brother's request. "But I'm not pulling you off any busty mistakes."

"You do and I'll kick your ass soldier," Zane informed. "I take care of my_ own_ mistakes."

XXXXXXXXX

SEATTLE

FENTAL AVE.

The small bedroom was empty. The dark red comforter had been pulled off the bed, leaving only beige sheets and pillows on the mattress.

The sound of water running came from the bathroom that was connected to the bedroom by a single white door that was currently halfway open. Inside the bathroom Asha stood by the running shower with the comforter wrapped around herself, not for modesty, but because the air inside her apartment was freezing thanks to a broken heating system. She made no attempts to climb under the spray and instead was focusing on a small piece of paper in her hand.

She had rolled over the piece of paper in her sleep and the noise it made caused her to wake up and realize that Zack was gone and that this note was in his place.

Had to see Zane 

_I'll be back when I walk through the door._

_Zack_

It wasn't a love note; it was very short, to the point. Asha should've been upset that her husband had ditched her without even saying anything to her face, had simply left her this note, but she didn't have an issue with it. If he had woken her for an early morning goodbye she would've thought he was crazy; that's not the way he did things.

Asha laid the note on the tank of the toilet and climbed into the heated spray of the shower. She lathered shampoo in her hair and reached for a washrag and the bar of soap that sat in the caddy.

The smell of the soap wasn't over laden with flower perfumes; it was very clean with a hint of male smelling cologne. Asha preferred the smell of bath products made for men. They were more warm and spicy then the one's designed for women.

The smell of the soapsuds lathered on her body made her think of Zack. They had been living together ever since they had gotten married. Zack slept for only four or five hours at night, waking up before dawn. Asha would hear the shower running every morning and imagine him using the same products on his skin that she used on hers. It roused her almost as much as if she had been inside with him. And it wasn't just a pure animal lust. She could picture his well-sculpted body but she could also see the scars that marred his skin, permanent reminders of all the abuse he had suffered for the sake of those he loved.

The shower water had run cold under Asha's thoughts of Zack. She washed the soap and shampoo from her body and hair and stepped out into a fine cloud of steam. She realized that there were no towels on the rack so she left the bathroom to retrieve one from the front hall closet where she kept her linens.

Asha was completely naked as she went to retrieve a towel but she didn't think anything of it. Her door was locked and the window shades were pulled down to block Peeping Toms. She walked into her living room and headed over to the small foyer where the closet was located. She stopped halfway there when she heard footsteps come up behind her from her kitchen.

"Hey I have-"

The voice cut short when Asha screamed. She wasn't scared; she was shocked.

"Alec!" Asha turned around, though she knew she wasn't in a better situation in this position. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"My job," Alec informed. "I have something here for a Ms. Asha Copland." If Alec was surprised at all by seeing Asha naked he gave no indication of it.

"You mean you picked my lock, because I never let you in!" Asha hissed over her shoulder. She shivered, because she was still wet and naked in the middle of her living room. She covered her breasts with her hand and glared at him over her shoulder.

"Cold?" Alec asked.

Asha didn't respond to his blatant remark. "Turn around and face the other way, I need to get dressed. And I swear to God Alec, if I catch you peeping I'm mailing you back to Lydecker in a box."

Alec gave her his world famous smirk but he obediently turned around. Asha grabbed a towel from the closet and skirted past him and into her bedroom. She got dressed in record time, throwing on the first pair of lingerie she found in her drawer and then a pair of gray cargo pants and a pink Henley. She wrapped her wet hair up in the towel and walked barefoot back to her living room.

"I dig the Swami look," Alec remarked when he saw Asha come out.

She stepped over to him without a word "You said you had something for me?"

Alec held a small brown wrapped package in front of her, but when Asha reached for it he pulled it away and placed an clipboard in front of her. "I need a signature first."

Asha snatched it from him and scribbled her name on the line, taking the package from Alec when handed it to her.

"Thank you for using Jam Pony." Alec said to which Asha's response was to remove the towel from her hair and drop it over his head. She walked into her kitchen to get some coffee.

Alec pulled the towel off his face. "Can I get some java?"

Asha gave him a look, her hand stilling on the coffee pot. "You've _got_ to be kidding?" She didn't think that after all that happened that she owed him any favors.

"I'll treat you too."

"You're treating _me_ to _my_ coffee? You're a real gentleman Alec."

"I know," Alec returned. "I meant, I'll pour out. To make up for, ya know."

Asha glared at Alec but it faded after a moment as she gave into his offer. "Fine, cream, one sugar."

"Excellent." Alec said around a smile as he walked into the kitchen draping the towel he was holding over Asha's shoulder. Asha headed over to her small table located in the corner of her living room. She placed the package Alec had given her on the tabletop and hung the towel on the back of a chair before sitting down.

"With all this charm you carry around Alec I'm surprised you're not married." Asha turned sideways in her chair and watched Alec pour coffee into two Styrofoam cups. Asha had been too busy being in an underground organization most of her life to bother buying any dishes.

"Marriage is for people who don't have enough balls to handle a different partner every night." Alec took out a cardboard carton of cream and sniffed it. He made a face at the rancid smell and threw it in the trash and then got out a small carton of milk. "That's why Zack's perfect for it." He finished fixing the coffee and brought the cups over to the table, seeing Asha's surprised look.

"Rings aren't that hard to notice." Alec told her, handing her one of the cups.

Asha took it from him with her left hand, taking in the sight of her ring. She should've suspected someone as perceptive as Alec to notice the new addition to her jewelry collection.

Alec slid into the seat next to her and sipped his black coffee, waiting for her to say something.

Asha came out of her thoughts and stared at Alec, his eyes on her, casually drinking his coffee like they were just having friendly chat.

"Who said it was Zack?" Asha insisted, resting her elbows on the table.

"C'mon Asha, you've had that boy whipped for two years, it's obvious that you'd reel him in at some point."

"You make it sound so romantic Alec." Asha took one sip from her coffee.

Alec scoffed at the remark. "I think you picked the wrong guy for romance. Hell I'm not sure how you even got him to agree to something like that." He put down his coffee cup and leaned back in his chair.

"Maybe it's because he loves me," Asha insisted. "Is that something so hard to believe?"

"With Zack, _yeah._" Alec answered. He could tell he had gone a bit too far because of the protective glare in Asha's eyes. "But I guess even hot headed guys make good long term lovers."

"You better believe it," Asha knew she had scored a point for herself when Alec gave her a look that was part raised eyebrow, part disgusted. She drank more of her coffee.

"Aren't you going to see what you got?" Alec picked up the package he had just delivered and read the label off it.

Asha snatched the package from Alec's hand, "Not after you do." The return address said only _"Building C4"_ She pulled tape off the box and opened the flaps. There was a mound of packing peanuts on top and after digging through it she found a small – only seven inches high – green glazed vase.

"Zack must've gotten it for you while he was out antiquing."

Asha ignored Alec's joke and tilted the vase upside down. Most of the bottom was comprised of a large raised ceramic circle where the vase could be set down on a tabletop. She twisted this piece and it unscrewed like the lid on a jar. Holding onto one end of the removed circle piece she pulled on the other end and it snapped open like a compact revealing a folded piece of thin paper hidden inside.

"You're not by any chance a spy are you?" Alec asked, watching Asha unfold the paper lengthwise. Before she said anything he grabbed it from her. "Damn, how long has this been going on?" The paper he was looking at was a corporate check written out to her in the amount of 500 dollars. "Paper's authentic." He held it up to the florescent light suspended on the ceiling. "Water mark looks good." He looked over to Asha. "Care to explain?"

"Not particularly." Asha grabbed the check back from him.

"You know that's not enough to satisfy me." Alec insisted. "All this cover-up to conceal a check has got me very curious as to what the big secret is."

Asha sighed. Prying into other people's business was something Alec was good at. She didn't know if it was an X5 trait or just an "Alec trait" but he was relentless at it.

"It's my low-low money," Asha told him, borrowing a phrase from Original Cindy.

"Low-low?" Alec repeated, amused at her choice of words. "Did you grow up in the white girl ghetto?"

"C4 is the code name for the Hoverdrone Cooperation's security program section." Asha went on, ignoring Alec's sarcastic remark. She didn't know why she was telling this to Alec, but he wanted to know where the check came from, and as much of a pain as Alec was Asha knew he wouldn't tell anyone else what she was saying. "I'm one of the program writers of that section. All the recorded feed from the Hoverdrones has to run by me and the other techs to check for breaches in security like viruses that could've been uploaded on the system. And every so often the hoverdrones catch some higher up doing something dirty on camera, something that would injure reputations if they were ever found out. So they make us delete the feed of the mayor getting down on his daughter's 16 year old girlfriend against the window of his office-"

"And cut you a check in return for your amnesia." Alec didn't sound at all disgusted with their corrupt government system. In a dirty city people had to expect dirty inhabitants, deals had to be struck, mouths had to be kept shut. "So which one of the higher ups was doing the nasty with a school girl for you to get that?"

"It's called low-low money for a reason Alec," Asha refolded the check and laid it in front of her on the table. She didn't really care if Alec knew about the slimy side of government officials that she was supposed to keep obscure. She didn't give a shit about any of the politicians' reputations; she just didn't want to keep talking about this subject.

Asha stood up from the table with the vase in her hand, walking over to where she kept a cardboard box behind her sofa. She laid the vase inside the lidless box with over a dozen other trinket items – all with false bottoms that had been mailed to her during with bribe money. City Officials got caught doing the nasty with schoolgirls a lot in Seattle.

"Does your husband Zack know about your stash?"

Asha looked over to Alec still seated at the table. Very few people knew of her marriage and it always gave her a tingling sensation to hear Zack referred to as her husband.

"_Yes, _my husband Zack knows about the money," Asha reiterated Alec's words because she liked the sounds of 'my husband' and 'Zack' being used in the same sentence. "We share our stashes with each other."

"What kind of stash would Zack have besides a secret pile of bras?" Alec quipped.

"If it bothers you Alec then quit leaving your lingerie here." Asha spit Alec's joke back in his face, loving every minute of the glare he was shooting her. Being married to Zack gave her plenty of opportunities to perfect her comebacks.

Alec seemed to be digesting her retort and either decided it wasn't worth responding back too or –and this is what Asha suspected more – he didn't want to admit that she got him good.

She watched Alec swallow the last bit of his coffee, tilting the cup completely vertical for good measure before laying it atop the table upside down.

"Fee is five dollars," Asha stated.

"My wallet's in my pants," Alec told her. "You can come get it if you want." A suggestive smile played across his lips.

Asha rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, a silent 'not in this lifetime' response to Alec's proposition. And while she was executing this maneuver something caught her attention in the very far reaches of her vision.

On the ceiling directly by her front door a naked light bulb hung on a gold chain for light. But the circuit for the light was bad, causing the light emitting from the fixture to be very dim and throw elongated shadows against her front door of anyone standing in her entranceway. And just before Asha's quit rolling her eyes at Alec she noticed a human shaped shadow on the door.

She couldn't find the source the shadow belonged too, which caused her to stand up from her chair and stare in confused alarm where the shadow was currently fixed. Alec was up from his seat as well, and the fact that he didn't question her on what she was doing mean that he saw the same thing she did.

Asha kept her gun – a silver Colt Revolver – in a locked drawer by her couch. But in the few seconds she was mentally debating on a way to reach it a blur of activity whirled in front of her. Alec had moved faster than humanly possible behind the partition wall that separated the small entranceway of the apartment from where he and Asha were currently standing. She saw Alec's shadow go down on top of the unknown one and sounds of defensive fighting reached her ears.

Asha was at her front door in under a minute. Her gaze went from alarmed, to plain confused at what she saw. "What the hell is going on?"

Jondy was lying flat on her back on the white tile floor in front of the front door, her hair flung wildly behind her. Alec was straddling her hips, pinning her shoulders down with his hands. "Don't ask me," he directed his remark at Asha not looking away to the woman he was sitting on while he talked. "If you wanted me to be on top Jondy, all you had to do was ask."

Jondy didn't take any time to consider Alec's proposal "Get the hell off me Alec!" She bucked at him with her right leg but it never hit its mark because Alec moved away expertly and stood back up on his feet. He offered her his hand. "Need some help?"

"Don't even," Jondy retorted, shoving his hand aside and climbing to her feet. She straightened out her black parachute material jacket then worked a few tangles out of her hair before lowering her hands and turning to Alec with a glower. "What the hell is up with you trying to take me out soldier boy? Cause I'm certain _you_ didn't knock before getting into Asha's place either."

"What?" Alec said in mock confusion. "I was just brushing up on my skills."

"Yeah, well you better brush up some more Alec because all you did just a minute ago was embarrass yourself."

"I wasn't the one underneath Jondy, which you can't act like you didn't enjoy."

"Guys," Asha interrupted. She didn't care if they were into each other, she just didn't want to hear it. "Turn each other on later. Right now I'd like to ask Jondy what she's doing here."

"It's a mostly free city Asha, I come and go as I please." Jondy informed.

"Oh, so you driving several hundred miles was something purely arbitrary?" Asha returned.

"You know me, Carpe Diem," Jondy insisted, brushing imaginary dust off her clothes as a distraction from having to look at Alec.

"I _do_ know you Jondy," Asha agreed, but didn't stop her conversation there. "You don't just seize the day. You squeeze it by its balls until it gives you what you want."

"And here I thought Jondy only squeezed five dollar things by their balls until they gave her what she wanted." Alec quipped.

Jondy shot a glare at him, but it last only for half a second as her retort came out of her mouth: "If you have five dollars on you Alec I'll show you just how much of a multitasker I am." She was baiting him, daring him to rib her again, but there was also a seriousness in her tone that both Alec and Asha picked up.

Asha didn't know what Alec's reaction would be to Jondy's subtle come on – those two casually flirted with each other enough that she wouldn't be surprised if Alec was turned on by it – but she didn't want to be witness to whatever the two X5's were contemplating behind there eyes and in their thoughts. Also she wanted to know the _real_ reason Jondy decided to come into her apartment without so much as a knock.

"I think Mrs. Zack wants us to move this conversation to the drawing room," Alec said, breaking the silence. His slip up wasn't intentional, though it could very well have been because of the personality he had. However Alec didn't try to backtrack, the news was already out, it wasn't like he could erase memories.

Silence hung in the air between them before it was broken, not by an explanation from Asha but rather by Jondy, in her usual quick wit.

"I think before we retire Mrs. Zack need explain just why the hell none of_ Mr. _Zack's siblings- particularly –_this_ sibling – knew anything about their copulation. You better explain yourself girl." Jondy looked at her new sister-in-law sternly, like a kindergarten teacher reprimanding a student for putting glue in someone else's hair.

Asha felt the sting of Jondy's words, being punished for keeping a secret she shouldn't have. "I'm sorry Jondy, I just couldn't think of the right time to tell you-"

"Damn right you're sorry," Jondy interrupted. "Me getting a new sister-in-law is a _very _big deal, I could've been drinking to you and Zack, I could've been calling during inconvenient moments at night-" her mock tirade fizzled out and the forming of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "But just because I hate being out of the loop doesn't mean I don't think it's awesome," her smile came out fully and she embraced Asha in a quick hug. She pulled back, her smile now down to a mischievous half grin. "No kids though, Zack genes in a child aren't a good thing."

"That warning's a little late Jondy," Asha stated, watching Jondy and Alec's eyes about drop out of their sockets at her remark. She started speaking again before they could comment. "I'm joking guys, I'm not pregnant, at least not that I know of."

"How the hell could you _not_ know you were pregnant?" Alec insisted. "Suddenly you're gaining weight and you just think, what – that your metabolism's just slowing down?"

"You don't show during the first trimester Alec," Jondy retorted. "You just feel like crap for a few months-"

"_Hello,"_ Asha cut in. She seemed to be interrupting a lot of conversations between them lately. "I'm aware of the facts of pregnancy. But I _meant_ that I use protection-"

"Chastity belts are hot," Alec quipped dryly.

Asha ignored Alec's remark. "I never said that I don't want any."

"Good luck getting Zack to jump on the baby train girl," Jondy said. "He's not all fire into procreating after what Manticore did to him," Jondy's voice was still at the same pitch, but the look in her eyes had shifted slightly. Manticore had forced Zack into super ejaculation for interbreeding so many times that Jondy thought he would turn out sterile. She knew he had no problems with sex, but after being made to have a dozen petri-dish offspring she didn't know if Zack could handle having a child.

Asha adapted the same look as Jondy. She knew about what Zack had been made to do at Manticore. It made her incredibly angry at how Manticore could manipulate human life like it meant nothing but what they made out of it. Her gaze changed a moment later though, a look that revealed that she knew something about Zack that could only be learned from by a wife.

"Zack wants kids, I'm sure of it."

"Meaning _you_ want kids," Alec theorized. "I doubt Zack would sit still long enough to be fitted for a Snuggly, he isn't exactly father material."

Asha shot him a 'says who?' look before verbal counter attacking Alec's theory on Zack. "I've seen the way he is around his nieces and nephews to know how he is around kids Alec. So what makes you think he wouldn't be the same way to an even higher extent with one of his own?"

"Calm down momma," Alec held up his hand, a physical sign that went along with the tone in his voice. "No need to be so defensive. We're still talking about _fictitious_ kids remember? Hell if you wanna pump out uber Zacks you have my blessing."

"I'm sure she'll sleep better now." Jondy stated.

"With Zack as a blanket every time," Alec quipped, and then hissed under his breath when Jondy punched him in the shoulder.

"I think it's safe to talk about something _else_ now." Jondy told him, turning to Asha. "What's say we kick Alec back to work and spend some quality sister-in-law time together?"

"Excellent," Asha agreed. Her first reason for taking to Jondy's idea was because – though she valued Alec as a friend – she was a little tired of his smart mouth. But the other reason behind her first was that she was beginning to enjoy having female relations who wanted to be around her.

Asha's mother had fled the scene when she was barely a year old, running off with – off all things – the septic tank repair guy. Her father –then an LAPD Detective who filled in for her mom's disappearance – was a good man and she loved him. But when he remarried Asha felt the attention he used to show for her dwindle. On fourth birthday she got a present – in the form of her half-sister Ayden. Up until that point Asha and her step mom Meredith had formed a pretty decent relationship. But after Ayden was born Meredith pushed Asha aside to concentrate on the daughter who was blood related. Ayden looked up to Asha in the beginning, a little girl with brown scraggly hair who always chased after Asha wanting to do things with her. But after she started going to school Meredith began separating her from Asha, sending Ayden to private schools and dance classes all day after that.

Her father loved both Asha and Ayden but because of Meredith's influence on his youngest daughter, and her lack of acknowledgement of Asha his marriage took a hard beating. He filed for divorce six years later, sharing custody of Ayden with Meredith. When Ayden turned thirteen she began to express anger – almost hatred – towards Asha. Asha had no idea _why_ this was, but she had suspicions that when Meredith went away for her "private weekends" she filled her daughter's head with savage lies about her half sister. By the time Asha left home at 18 on a full scholarship to MIT, Ayden had turned into an angry rebellious teeny bopper, spending all her time out at the mall, or at parties that ran until seven the next morning. On her last day at home Asha caught Ayden sneaking of her room. She later discovered that her sister had stashed half a kilo of LSD inside her luggage, which caused her to be arrested at the LA airport. Her father managed – through angry phone calls, and payoffs – to cut her sentence down to 600 hours of community service.

Asha had become adept at computer skills by this time, and through hacking into the police records had successfully erased her file from the police database. This enabled her to finally head to MIT six months later – a criminal record would have revoked her scholarship. She had never told her father what she did, even over the countless phone calls they shared while she was away. He had too much on his mind already. Ayden had run off with her boyfriend to Seattle three years after Asha left home. The same year Asha started into a Master's program at 25 her father begged her to go to the city to look for Ayden. By then Asha had dropped out of graduate school after receiving an offer from the S1W. With the group's help she tracked Ayden down. She was dealing Meth in Pike's Public Market after hours, living in a condemned parking garage. Asha confronted Ayden, and the girl was so enraged by being tracked down that her screaming alerted cops to her location. Ayden had been in the middle of a deal, but the buyer fled after hearing the sirens, spilling two half-gram Meth baggies at Ayden's feet. Before the first officer on the scene could get to Ayden she had pulled out a five inch serrated knife and stabbed Asha in the chest. The officer managed to subdue Ayden, dragging her off while she screamed a stream of profanities at her sister.

Asha had nearly died from the attack. After she was released from the hospital the doctors who treated her called her recovery "remarkable." She was left with a permanent reminder – a two-inch long raised scar running vertically underneath her breasts. Zack had run his fingers over it one night, and Asha expected him to ask about it but he never did. She felt him kiss the scarred flesh, lingering his mouth on her body while she ran her fingers through his hair. Men she could trust, men like her father who tried to provide for her the best he could. Men like Zack, who, even through all his demons had never intentionally hurt her, and who loved her, in every aspect of the word.

Women were different; women were dirty, conniving, scheming manipulators who would turn anything out for profit for themselves. Up until recently Asha believed in this whole heartedly, that was why all her friends were male, why she never responded to Ayden's calls, even after she had "come clean". But after Asha met Max, and through her all the women of Max's life, Asha finally started to let her guard down around females. These women manipulated yes, but they did it to survive, to keep people from hurting them. _These_ women, once they started liking Asha, let her become their girl, and protected her, accepted her.

So Jondy's suggestion meant more to her than Asha would admit.

"I've been meaning to have an excuse to talk about Zack behind his back," Asha said.

Jondy's smile broadened at the prospect of talking trash about her brother. She knew that wasn't what Asha had in mind. But Asha was Zack's wife, Jondy was his sister, she had a different set of rules. "Lead on Asha."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

LOS ANGELES

12:15 PM

"This place has such an original name," Zack stated dryly. The bar Zane had dragged him too was simply called "The Tavern" The interior– from floor to rafters – was made up of aged beach wood. Even the bar and the tables were made out of it. It had been a thriving place before the Pulse, always filled to capacity with a waiting list a week long for entrance. Back then it had also been more structurally sound. Now the wooden braces on were dark and rotting, and the roof had a five-foot wide hole in it, which was quickly patched up with a window skylight that was pockmarked with bullet holes, and rats had made homes in the walls. Lighting was supplied by one florescent fixture that ran the entire length of the master support beam of the arched ceiling, and it flickered at random intervals.

The place was nothing but a run down bar, but the owner refused to sell it even when he hardly got one person inside in a month. The strategy that kept the place afloat was the owner's hiring of busty, leggy waitresses who wore white halter tops and mini skirts that were nothing more then tiny scraps of fabric that barely covered up their breasts and crotch. This strategy worked – mob bosses, gang leaders, and every male within a fifty-mile radius turned up daily and nightly to ogle and grope the women over pitchers of beer.

A dazzling tanned blonde beauty wound her way through the thick grouping of tables, holding a black plastic tray high over her head. She stopped when she reached the table against the wall where Zack and Zane were sitting. She lowered the tray and passed out the drinks on it.

"Rum and Coke on the rocks, and our special for the night –Rum and Vodka straight up." The waitress looked at Zack through long black massacred lashes after she set his drink – the Vodka/Rum combination – in front of him. "You sure you can handle that handsome?" She rested the tray in an erotic position against her breasts, so that the edge of it was touching her nipples.

"Would I have ordered it if I couldn't?" Zack retorted. The woman's sultry good looks were not lost on him, but he didn't need some buxom waitress to mentally feel him up.

"Don't worry, this is my boy here," Zane told the waitress, who was looking a little put upon at being told off so harshly. "He can handle a hell of a lot more then a two mixed drink." He held out his cash payment for the drinks, but when he went to lay it in the waitress hand, she shook her head, pointing to the white lace garter belt on her thigh, an inch below her short skirt.

Zane slipped the money under the belt, the waitress watching the transaction silently, her full lips resting in a pout.

She smiled seductively after he finished. "You two sexy, sexy gentleman, enjoy your drinks." The waitress departed after these words, slinking back through the menagerie of tables.

Zane followed her retreating figure, roaming his eyes over her shapely, curvy body.

"If you stare at her any harder her ass is going to burst into flames," Zack's words drew Zane's eyes back to his brother.

"I have needs Zack. Unlike you, I don't have a sexy blonde who'd have my balls if I watch." Zane took a sip from his drink. The rum was acidic, it had been aged a bit too long, but he drank it anyway. "Then again she's probably all ready had your balls-"

"I think you better cram that drink in your mouth before I do it for you," Zack warned. He preferred not to have his sex life used as a discussion topic over drinks.

"There's nothing wrong with it big brother," Zane defended. "You took the vows; you can do it until you die with an erection if you want."

"If this is the 'celebration' you wanted me to have I shouldn't have agreed to it," Zack finally took a drink from his glass, feeling the liquor burn hotly down his throat.

"Cut the bull Zack," Zane ordered, taking a long drink from his glass. "You're enjoying this and you damn well know it."

"So you're a psychic now?" Zack asked, taking another drink.

"Would you pay me if I did?" Zane retorted, resting his elbows on the rotting table.

This remark produced a smile from Zack, an action that totally clashed with his next choice of words: "Piss off Zane." His smile was lost behind the glass as he drank from it again. "Save your money for the garter belts."

Zane laughed dryly at Zack's words. "Will do big brother." He raised his glass in a salute to himself before downing the last bit of the drink, the balled ice clinking against the glass. After the drink had successfully been swallowed Zane set his glass back down on the tabletop. "So how come no ring on the finger?" He was looking at the chain hanging around Zack's neck. If Zack was trying to conceal the jewelry's reason for being worn by wearing it around his neck he was wasting his time. It would be noticed and asked about just due to the fact that it was on his body.

"I don't do man rings," Zack responded, resting his right arm on the table. "I wore it the way it was given."

"So the ring was originally Asha's?" Zane theorized.

"Her grandfather's," Zack responded.

"Wow," Zane said with a hint of awe in his voice. "She must care about you a hell of a lot more then I do to hand you over a family keepsake."

"I love you too cupcake," Zack quipped.

"Same here sweetheart," Zane returned in the same smart-alic tone. "So are you two registered anywhere? Cause if not then this drink is gonna have to be your gift." He enjoyed the glare Zack was giving him.

Zane leaned back in the booth seat, silently observing Zack. "You did good Zack," When Zane spoke again his earlier teasing toned had died away. He suddenly stood up from the table, coming around to Zack's side. Wordlessly he leaned over and kissed Zack on the forehead. There was nothing forced about Zane's actions. Zack had fought, protected and bled for Zane since they were children; at the very least Zane owed his brother this simple gesture.

"Sorry, you're just so damn pretty I just can't control myself-" Zane joked, revealing the full spectrum of his personality; a compassionate sibling, and a complete wise ass.

Zack shoved Zane away from him roughly, but also teasingly. He didn't care that every guy at the bar was probably now mentally laughing at them because of macho dogmatic joke they were thinking of. Zack didn't get embarrassed when there wasn't any damn need too, fuck everyone who had a problem with it.

"I'm glad to see that marriage hasn't changed your sterling personality. "Zane walked back to the other side of the table and picked up his empty glass; holding it out. "Congratulations, if anyone deserves to be taken down, it's you."

Zack returned the toast, despite the slam against him. "I can't say that I'm not enjoying it."

"Amen brother," Zane agreed.

XXXXXXX

SEATTLE

CHARLIE AND TINGA'S APARTMENT

Charlie was stretched out on a gray leather recliner, listening to a Kyoto's-Lakers game on an ancient looking silver RCA stereo. The television had broken down two weeks ago, and despite Charlie's numerous calls to every repair shop in the city, no one was willing to fix it without charging 500 dollars up front before even _looking_ at it. So the set stayed broken and unplugged against the only window in the living room, now only being used by Case who had placed lines of plastic green army men all over the top, and would wage daily wars on his battalion with the remaining army men that weren't stationed on the TV.

Charlie fiddled with the antenna on the radio, trying to get the static that had blocked the game to clear. But no matter which way he turned it, the static didn't get any better, forcing him to strain to hear the Sports Announcer through a thick layer of static fog. After another minute of this barely audible broadcast the entire radio cut out completely.

"Come on damnit, not now!" Charlie cursed, hitting the top of the radio with his fist. He fiddled with the dial, but to no avail. He sighed in exasperation, cursing a few more times under his breath.

"Daddy-" Case called over to him, standing beside the television, about to throw a handful of army men on top of the ones he had positioned there.

"Sorry Daddy didn't mean that," Charlie apologized for cursing in front of his son.

"Someone's at the door," Case had wanted to get his father's attention to tell him that, not to complain about what he said.

Charlie glanced at the door and then over at Case in puzzlement. "I didn't hear anyone knock Case."

Case set down his army men and walked to the front door of the apartment. He placed one hand on the brass colored knob, but before he could open it Charlie jumped up from his chair.

"Wait!" Charlie ordered. At first he thought Case had been hearing things, but then he realized that with Case's acute senses he probably _did_ hear something at the door. "I'll get it," He pushed Case behind him and pulled the door open a crack, leaving the chain bolt locked.

He didn't see anyone standing on the other side. Cautiously he re-closed the door and slid the chain out, opening the door completely.

"Hello?" He stepped out into the apartment floor hallway, looking down the carpeted floor in both directions. The hallway was empty and he didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Charlie turned back around to go back inside, when he came face to face with someone standing in the doorway. He gave a startled gasp, but his panic was cut short, when he recognized Syl's form standing there casually, holding Case in her arms.

"Jesus Christ Syl, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Charlie could hear his heart pounding against his hand, which he was resting on his chest while he tried to catch his breath. He stepped back into the apartment and closed the door. "Why couldn't you just knock?"

"It was more fun this way daddy," Case told him.

"It sure was," Syl agreed with a grin, despite the glare Charlie was giving her.

"Sometimes you're really a bad influence on him Syl," Charlie insisted.

"I know; and I enjoy every minute of it too," she kissed Case on the top of the head and set him back on his feet. "Where's your mom big guy?"

"In her room sleeping," Case said.

Syl looked at her nephew confused. "Why is she still asleep? It's almost one in the afternoon." Even though Tinga couldn't function without sleep like Max or Jondy, Syl knew that she never slept for more then four or five hours a night, and especially not in the afternoon.

"Well I'm not asleep _anymore,_ thanks to you._"_ Tinga's complaint reached Syl's ears as the door against the very right wall of the living room opened and she stepped out of the bedroom. Syl just stared at her.

Tinga walked into the living room wearing a long white V-neck sweater, gray track pants and bare feet. Her long black hair was completely unbraided and it fell down her back and over her shoulders. Having just woken up, Tinga looked a bit unkempt, but that's not what Syl was staring at. Syl knew Tinga, both emotionally and physically. And Syl knew that Tinga's rounded stomach peeking out of her sweater wasn't her sister's normal waistline.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Syl stated in utter confusion.

"Women can sometimes get pregnant Syl after sex Syl," Tinga responded casually and matter-of-fact.

"You know damn well what I mean girl," Syl retorted. "Why didn't you _tell_ me about this?"

"I wanted to be sure," Tinga clarified.

"Tinga I'm a midwife. I know it damn well doesn't take until you mysteriously starting to gain weight and fell kicking in your belly to realize you're pregnant." Syl was angry that Tinga hadn't told her, but Syl was more happy than mad. However she kept the latter emotion to herself, opting to make Tinga suffer a little more for keeping this big of a secret from her. "You look about what, five months?"

"Just about," Tinga agreed. She could tell Syl wasn't really angry with her. She was the oldest girl; she could read her younger sisters emotions without them even knowing it. "I was going to tell you Syl. After all, I can't very well leave my midwife out of the loop."

"Oh so that's your angle," Syl threw back.

"Cut the crap little sister," Tinga ordered, but she couldn't keep up the 'stern soldier' façade, and a smile passed her lips. "You don't want to give your nephew a bad impression right from the start."

Syl raised her eyebrows at Tinga's remark. "You know it's a boy?"

Tinga shook her head. "Charlie has three brothers, and his sister has four boys. I'm just going on the hunch."

Syl smiled. "There's probably some 'male dominant' gene in the Smith Family. But hey, three more boys and you'll catch up with us."

"Oh no," Tinga stated. "Two is plenty, thanks. This apartment is too small to live the way we did back at Manticore."

"Does this mean if your hunch is right you're going to name him Zack?" Syl teased.

Tinga snorted. "One Zack in this family is enough to deal with."

"You got my vote on that," Syl agreed. "But on that subject. The entire reason I stopped by is to grill you on a certain item of information you told Jondy concerning our dear big brother."

"Don't tell me _he's_ pregnant too?" Tinga joked.

Syl shot her a disgusted look. "I don't think Manticore's _that_ good Tinga. And I know you know what I mean."

"I wish someone would just explain this 'item of information' to me," Charlie spoke up. "Because I have idea what you two are talking about."

"She's talking about Zack," Tinga told her husband.

"That much I gathered from your conversation sweetheart," Charlie returned.

"He's married," Tinga elaborated more.

There was a few seconds of silence as the information Tinga said was absorbed by the other two in the room. Syl already had an inkling about Zack but to finally know her thoughts were true-"Kind of a big thing to keep to yourself sis," Syl stated.

"Zack's married?" Charlie asked; surprised to be hearing something about Zack he would have never thought about.

"Apparently so." Syl responded.

"What? How? When did this happen?" Charlie knew he was babbling, but he was stunned.

"He married Asha a month ago, after the raid." Tinga said to her husband. "He let the information slip to Max, and Max told me."

"Wait, I thought you said that you saw Zack and Asha together in the city and _assumed_ all of this?" Syl said.

"I did, _after_ I got the information out of Max." Tinga told her. "I never _just_ assume anything."

"My God, Jondy was actually _right_," Syl said. "Now I'm officially scared."

"Does this mean that Asha's my aunt now?" the question came from Case who had been listening in on the entire conversation. He was advanced for his age, but it didn't take super intelligence for the seven-year-old to be able to grasp what the adults were talking about.

"You guessed right Case," Syl informed her nephew.

"Does that make her your sister?" Case asked another question.

"Not exactly baby," Tinga answered. "She's our sister-in-_law_."

"What does 'in law' mean mommy?"

"It means that Asha wasn't born into the same family as we were. She became a part of it _after_ she married Uncle Zack."

Case seemed satisfied with this remark, but he still added something. "But that still makes you sisters doesn't it?"

Tinga silently thought about Case's question. They were related only though an action of Seattle Legality. But Asha was now Case's aunt, and would be the aunt of her baby. Tinga knew that Asha marrying Zack was a hell of a lot more then just a legal formality.

"Yes honey," Tinga said to Case. "It does."

XXXXXXX

SEATTLE

8:55 PM

Jondy had left the apartment two hours ago after taking a bottle of red wine from the fridge, an expensive bottle of red wine that Logan had insisted on giving to Asha as a wedding present. Asha hadn't even opened it yet, but after finding it missing, she really didn't care enough to track Jondy down for it.

Zack's note gave no indication as to when he was returning, and Asha had given up waiting for him hours ago. She had planted herself in the living room watching the old Pre-Post movie "The Green Mile", a DVD she had almost forgotten she owned. The movie was a little over halfway through but she found herself falling asleep. She had liked the movie in the past, but it just wasn't attracting her tonight. She dug the remote out from where she had been laying on it in the couch and switched the movie off. She had the lights off so the television set going black instantly made the living room dark. The darkness only lasted for few seconds before the flip of a light switch brought light back into the room.

Asha yawned, stretching her arms over her head. She checked her watch from her current angle, realizing that it was still early. And though she was tired she didn't feel like going to bed this soon. Though doing so would give her an excuse not to look at the mound of paperwork she had received yesterday but hadn't yet got around to looking at. Half of it was a week's worth of encrypted Hover Drone feed that she had to decrypt and send into the nameless bosses who headed the company. The other half of paperwork was handwritten surveillance taken down by members of the S1W. Asha –with her MIT tech training – unofficially been assigned to hack into computer mainframes to cross check leads the S1W would collect. Ironically, it was because of one of the corporations the S1W was opposed to, that Asha was able to find the information the group needed. Being a security tech for the Hoverdrone Corporation made obtaining government secrets almost laughingly easy.

She never told the S1W about her job, one because it totally went against what they stood for, but more importantly the Hoverdrone Corporation was a high end government run project, and they would go to great lengths to keep people away from information they deemed top secret. Many security personnel had "mysteriously disappeared" after they were suspected of leaking classified secrets and Asha wasn't about to be stupid and hand over her job description to the S1W. Though she trusted the group as a whole, there had been spies planted over the years, and she wouldn't be any good to the "Cause of Seattle" if she were dead.

She was more like Zack than she knew, trust was something they each only handed out to the very worthy. If she were the kind of person who believed in soul mates, he would be hers.

Though right now she wondered where the hell her soul mate was. She yawned again, finally deciding to screw reports, vigil-antis and waiting for her husband in favor of reading the plot-less smut she had under the bed until she fell asleep.

Her plan was halted when the front door bumped open by what Asha knew to be the wheel on Zack's motorcycle. The rest of the bike came through the doorway, pushed by its rider.

"Did you have a good time honey?" Asha said in sugarcoated sweetness. Zack glared at her while parking the bike behind the sofa. But Asha had done that on purpose, he was sexy when he glared.

"Give the adoring housewife act a rest, it doesn't suit you," Zack said, releasing the bike after it was safely resting on its kickstand.

"Even if I'm no Donna Reed I still get my 'Coming Home Kiss'," Asha informed. She walked over to Zack and kissed him, not a voracious kiss, but certainly one with more passion then Donna had ever given her husband.

Zack had accepted the kiss, but after Asha pulled back, he had a look on his face like he wanted to tell her something but his Manticore-groomed restraint stood in the way of the words and his mouth.

"Okay, what is it?" Asha asked. She knew what Zack's reaction would be to this remark, but he sure as hell wasn't about to just start initiating this conversation on his own. "You have that 'I have an earth shattering secret' look on your face."

"What, you're psychic now?" Asha had suspected Zack's' snappish remark. But he wasn't angry with her; it was just the way he responded to the beginnings of an interrogation.

"No, I've just been with you long enough to know when you want to tell me something," Asha returned.

Zack didn't say anything for a long five seconds, five seconds where he either would start doing something else to avoid the question, or just blurt out the information. "Tinga's pregnant."

Asha's eyebrows raised in stunned silence. "Are you sure?"

"She's as big as a tanker truck, it's pretty obvious." Zack retorted angrily.

Asha didn't know why Zack would be so upset about Tinga's 'condition'. She was married, and she already had a son. She had every right to want another baby. "Why are you so upset about this Zack?"

"Who said I was upset?" Zack lied.

"Right," Asha wasn't buying it. "And Tinga's baby is yours."

Zack glared at her, pushing past her and walked towards the kitchen. "She already has enough vulnerability to worry about. What the hell is she thinking having another kid?" Zack wasn't asking Asha, he was just venting his thoughts out loud. He opened the refrigerator, but all he found was a dozen 12-ounce bottles of water, not the alcohol he was wanting. He snatched one of the bottles anyway and slammed the door shut. Uncapping the bottle, he downed half of the water in three seconds. It wasn't alcohol, but he had just wanted something to slug down his throat.

Asha had moved into the kitchen while Zack had been looking in the fridge. "She's a grown woman Zack." When Zack didn't cut in Asha continued. "She can handle having a baby, remember she already has a son."

"And that got her into a hell of a lot of trouble," Zack counterattacked, pushing past Asha again, this time heading back towards the living room.

Asha sighed to herself before following Zack. He had stopped in front of the couch to shed his leather, throwing it down on the cushions. She stopped about a foot in front of him, on the same side of the couch as he was. "Did you ever stop to think for one second what having another kid means to her and Charlie? Most families are excited about birth announcements."

"Yeah well we're not most families," Zack returned. "So I can't exactly get excited about another thing that some shadow tail organization can use against her."

"You're a real family values guy Zack," Asha snapped. "Shadow Tail Organizations aside, she's your sister. She deserves your respect." Zack was over protective with his sisters, and normally Asha didn't have any real issues with it, it was just the way he was. But, like Tinga, Asha was a woman, and having a child with the man you loved was a _very_ big deal, just not in the way that Zack was thinking.

"She's going to have that baby Zack, even if you have an issue with it." Asha laid a hand on his arm, caressing it while she talked. "She's a good mom baby, she just wants to be one again."

Zack snatched his arm away from Asha's stroking. "You're not seriously buying into that maternal love sentimental crap?"

"Even if it's sentimental crap I still believe it," Asha stated matter-of-fact. "Maybe it's just due to the fact that I'm a woman, but I do believe in it. And so should you."

"Why?" Zack shot back. "Just because I'm her brother I'm supposed to jump on board with her need for a life that she can never achieve?"

"I'm not talking about Tinga, I'm talking about _me!"_ Asha practically shouted the last words at him. After they came out, she wished for one insane moment she could take them back. But that was just stupid, why should she? Though she had no idea why the hell she had lied to Jondy. But after Alec's off-color discussion, and what Jondy told her about Zack, she felt like she had too.

After her words sank in the look in Zack's eyes shifted, going from angry to an unreadable void, hidden behind blue-green pupils. "What are you saying?"

Asha had three lines, something she never had even rehearsed, but came tumbling out at that moment. "I'm pregnant Zack."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

To quell the M/L readers, I know that after 8+ months of waiting for an update you're now growling at me in a "where the firetrucks is Max?" kind of way. I appologize, but I couldn't think of a way to work Max into this particular plot, not without only giving her some minor, insignificant appearance. This chapter ended on a scene, that, had the story kept going, would have led _into _a scene with Max. But basically this chapter is a bit of "filler" I guess, which introduces major plots – mainly Asha's pregnancy and Tinga's as well – that will set up a lot of future chapters, including the next one, which will be a more deeply involved installement. And rest assured it will include Max, Logan and their family, and Zack and Asha, _and _their unborn baby. (Zack gonna be a father? Whouda thunk?) There may even some Normal moments, cause heaven knows we need more of that, haha. And I swear on a stack of Eyes Only Dossiers that I will have the next chapter out much _much_ sooner then this one.

So have no fear I'm not abandoning Max or Logan, nor do I plan to do another of these "absentee Max fics" As my beta Sammi put it "the whole series is based on Max." And it would be really stupid to keep leaving out the main character. Which basically means I'm really stupid _now_ for writing this fic. However, I'm going to plead "Zack-lust-induced" Insanity in this case.

Peace

Mystic


	27. Lack of Control

Choices 27 – "Lack of Control"

Author: Mystic25

Summary: A mysterious illness sets its sights on Max and her siblings.

RATING: PG for language, violence and sexuality.

A/N: Here it is guys, what you've been waiting for. And as promised it's got M/L, nice ample amounts of it too. I have been focusing a lot on Asha and Zack recently, but in my defense they both weren't really used that much in the show and have no real history like Max that I can feed off of. So I had to establish a few things. Max is still the main character but she isn't the _only_ character.

XXXXXXXXX

CHEYENNE, WYOMING

2:56 AM

A lone man sat at a computer workstation, the glow from the monitor was his only source of light in the darkened room. His colleges had abandoned him an hour ago because of hunger, not that he really blamed them. They had been working 14 hours straight without food or sleep.

His stomach gave a low growl, like an angry dog craving to be fed. But as hungry and exhausted as he was the Director had called him personally and told him not to move until he had completed his work, _all _of it.

The man stretched arms high above his head, taking a sweeping look over the room of empty cubicles, the computers in them abandoned by their owners in favor of the vending machines in their tiny designated "break room." His final stretch ended on a loud grunt and he lowered his arms. Resting his elbows on his worktable he rubbed at his eyes with both hands in large circles, feeling them water slightly from the stimulation. Finally, he gave up his stalling techniques and focused his weary eyes back on the screen.

The image on the monitor had been his companion for the last 14 hours, showing a virtual a DNA double helix. The software running the image was a highly advanced system. He could zoom out to see the entire set of chromosomes or pull in close enough to see the individual pieces that made up the matrix of a single double helix strand of DNA

The particular strand he was looking at was part of the matrix that made up white blood cells – the immune system. More specifically the immune system of a single person. It was because of the complexity of the DNA of this individual that the man had been sitting at his computer for so long, trying to complete the single task he had been assigned too.

The double helix on screen rotated slowly on a 90-degree vertical plane, allowing all sides of its form to be viewable to the man. To the side of the virtual image was a long list of structures that the man had found inside the sample, and it was a list made up of unusual, almost bizarre contents. One of the uncanniest things about this DNA was a layer protein coating around the helix itself. DNA was made up of amino acids, proteins, but no ordinary human DNA had an _outside _coating on the double helix. Due to the nature of the human immune system a surrounding protein coating would be viewed as a foreign substance and would cause the white blood cells to start attacking themselves. But this coated DNA was left alone by the white blood cells; in fact the coating seemed to provide a high caliber form of _protection_ against foreign bodies.

The technician had experimented earlier by infecting the live blood sample with a strain of Meningitis. As he observed the sample through the electron microscope he was shocked to see that the protein coated DNA had revved up the white blood cell, allowing it to actually destroying the virus almost instantaneously. Whatever remained of the virus afterwards was almost dead, not posing any major threat. This meant that although this person was certainly not immune from contracting viruses and could still carry it to other people, his body attacked it in such a way that he would never develop any symptoms or they would be extremely muted from what they were supposed to be.

It was because of this fact that the man and his colleagues had been working without food or sleep for hours on end. Superiors on the very top of the organization demanded a solution for what the worker deemed unsolvable. But unsolvable wasn't a mindset they were allowed to have. The Director wanted the problem eradicated; there was no other alternative.

The tech's mind was so desperate for sleep that his thoughts started drifting to his high school biology days to find a solution. He stayed on that thought train for only a few seconds because anything learned in a tenth grade bio lecture wouldn't even come close to giving him answers on the complexity of DNA modification he was assigned to complete now. But as his sleep deprived mind drifted to the memory of the short skirt the girl who use to sit beside him always wore, he recalled something about the lecture that occurred the same day he had been busy ogling the girl's thighs.

Though he had only been half paying attention to that lecture when he was 16 he still recalled the important aspects his teacher delivered in a grave sounding monotone voice. His mind snapped awake and his hands began a flurry of activity across the keys, cursing himself mentally for having do dig into his high school past to find this solution. He typed so fast that if had been in a cartoon character, smoke would be emitting form the keyboard. He paused for only half a second to grab the phone next to his computer, punching the third speed dial number. His hand instantly going back to typing the minute the phone was successfully cradled between his ear and his shoulder.

A low electronic whirr sounded over the line, a tracing unit springing into action. Movie producers had it completely wrong when their cop protagonists tried to keep their subject babbling forever in order to get a phone number traced. A trace on a phone line was instantaneous. As soon as the tracing unit detected an incoming call it's multi-system processor had the number in less than three seconds, no one on the receiving end of the trace even had to be talking.

Tracing was standard procedure in the organization, even though the tight security made it virtually impossible for anyone on the outside to call them. It was rather a way to keep tabs on all the association's employees.

The whirring sound of the tracing gear was blotted out when a deep voice came over the line.

"_What is it?"_

"I think I may have solved the problem," the tech still was typing furiously at his computer while he spoke. As he continued to work he became more confident that the idea he had would be successful. "Yes, I'm sure of it."

The person on the other end of the line was happy that there had been a solution, but his voice only portrayed irritation, a sharp tone that, mixed with his already deep voice, was very dangerous sounding. _"About damn time."_ His accent was heightened in his anger, an African enunciation mixed with French, since most of the population of West Africa –where he was from- spoke French. _"Did you fax the profile?"_

"A few minutes ago," the tech answered. "The modifications are fairly simple-"

"_Simple to a undergraduate geneticist_," the tech's phone partner cut in, insulting the other man's knowledge of his work.

"There are only two tags to add to the product to get it's biology working," the tech felt the blow the African had dealt him, but he didn't allow it to show in his voice. "The Director expects it to be in the hands of the distributor tomorrow night."

"_You expect me to have a genetic agent that's never been created before, fully functional and returned back to the United States by TOMORROW night?"_

"Eight PM, Pacific US Standard Time." The technician returned.

"_What you're asking is impossible!"_

"No it's not, because you're _going _to do it or risk loosing the amnesty we've granted you for all the dirty deeds you've been doing recently."

The technician's words had struck a blow with his caller; the man was caught because of a deal his organization had made over a decade ago. A deal that paid off his government to turn a blind eye to what was nothing short of war crimes. But if the technician held every piece of dirty laundry he had, then the same was true for him._ "Amnesty goes both way my friend. What do you think would happen if word ever reached your government officials about YOUR dirty deeds? Crimes against humanity are dealt with the same way in every country, even in your current political environment."_

"Just get the stuff working and at the drop off point on time and maybe your neck will be spared from the noose a little while longer." The technician ended the call there, knowing the hot-temper the African possessed that would have erupted had he stayed on the line. He switched his computer to a lock-down – a mode that only allowed a one shot chance at a password that only he knew. If the wrong password were typed in just once, the system would shut down entirely.

He stood up and stretched, checking his watch again. It was either very early, or very late, but he still knew of a few dives in the city that hadn't closed yet, and would provide the booze that he wanted. He grabbed his black wool jacket from off the back of the computer chair and draped it over his arm before switching off the task lamp that had been lighting his monitor.

He slid out of the cubicle and walked down the narrow space in-between the workstations heading towards the only door out of the large room. He reached the frosted set of glass doors, pushed them open and left down a non-descript white hallway.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

GHANA, WEST AFRICA

U.S. CUSTOMS OFFICE

12: 21 PM

The crowds of people who were standing in the inspection lines were chaotic. Children ran amongst the piles of belongings that had to be cleared by the Customs Agents, while adults grouped themselves against the walls of the office, or chose to sit on the boxes and bags they had brought with them.

The air inside the complex was stifling, even with the whir of the ten industrial sized window fans that had been erected around the building's perimeter. People fanned themselves with newspapers, wiping sweat off their brow with free hands. The air outside was a bit cooler, but no one moved, because doing so would mean that they would loose their place in line.

The throngs of people were all behind a long velvet rope that snaked in front of them, attached to copper colored polls. There were two openings in the rope that allowed access to the Customs Personnel.

At one opening stood a tall woman wearing a light orange-yellow wrap dress; her hair neatly pulled up under a dark brown scarf. Beside her stood her daughter, a girl of six, with pink barrettes and a white square neck school dress. The child was holding her mother's right hand, trying her best to look well behaved in such an official place. But she couldn't keep her eyes on one place for very long, and let them wander throughout the crowd. She eventually settled her gaze on the man who stood at the head of the second opening in the line. He was wearing jeans and a black singlet with a red baseball cap on his head, nothing really noteworthy about him. What had drawn the girl's attention was rather the smile he was flashing her, a very trustworthy warming smile that would make any child smile in return.

This is what the girl was doing when a gruff looking official motioned her mother across the velvet rope. The child waved at the man she had just met, and he waved in return. The smile lingered on his face until a female Customs Agent called him up, and then it disappeared once the child could no longer see him.

"Bonjiour, How are you today?" The custom agent greeted the man in both French and English, allowing the man to choose to speak in whatever language he was more comfortable in. English was the native language of Ghana, but the Customs Office often received clients from the neighboring country of Burkina Faso, where 90 percent of the population spoke French.

"I am fine," the man answered the woman in English, successfully cementing the language that would be used for the rest of their transaction.

The Customs Agent – a woman in her mid thirties with bleached blonde hair – flashed him a closed lipped smile before getting down to her business. The man had placed a brown paper covered box on the counter in front of her, and she slid it towards her to scrutinize. "Is there anything organic inside this package?"

"No," the man answered her with directness, nothing more.

The Customs Agent made a note on a pad of paper in front of her. "Any biohazard or other medical material?"

"No," the man again answered, watching the customs agent mark something else down on her pad. A computer sat in front of her, but recent power surges in the area had fried the mainframe so now everything had to be done by hand.

"Please state the item you are declaring for International Mail for official records Sir."

"A set of pens." The man responded.

"_Pens?"_ the Agent asked, making sure that she heard right. She picked up a box cutter beside her and sliced through the tape that held the top flap of the box closed. Customs Agents were not allowed to take everyone at their word. All packages were x-rayed and bomb searched at the front door as well as being hand searched before being considered for mailing. The Agent poised her hand over the box, one step short of opening it. "Before I search the contents of this parcel do you still claim this item to be only what you have declared here today, and nothing more, under penalty of Interpol Law 102.546, should you be giving false information?"

"Yes," the man replied coolly, watching the agent lift open the box flaps and remove its contents, laying it out on the table in front of her.

"Pens," the man reiterated again, gesturing towards the set of gold plated fountain pens that had be pulled from the package. "A present for my father."

The woman eyeballed each pen; unscrewing them to make sure nothing was inside but ink tubes.

Nothing was off about the fountain pens; there were three, all with dark blue ink canisters. A swab of the pens and the box itself revealed no traces of explosives. Satisfied with her inspection the agent handed the box back and directed the man to a line at the very corner of the building where officials would rewrap his package and get it mailed out.

The person that the man handed his package off too, was a tall, ominous looking man dressed in a charcoal gray suit. He looked like a high-class version of Mailman. He accepted the package, not even bothering to ask where it was going. "I'll take care of it."

"Thank you," the other man responded, satisfied with the Custom Agents very simple remark. He walked away without another word.

The Customs Agent took the box to a cube-shaped back room and locked the door. He laid the box on a table that stood in the center of the room, and lifted the fountain pens out of their decorative collector's box. He unscrewed one of them, removing its ink canister. He then pulled a small plastic vial –filled with an almost translucent liquid – out of his coat pocket, and placed it inside the empty fountain pen. He quickly rewrapped and addressed the parcel before walking out of the room and down a long hallway that led to a huge mailroom.

One corner of the room contained high steel shelves that were loaded with parcels that had failed inspection and would find their way to the incinerator by nightfall. The Agent passed these doomed items on the way to the processing counter in the back. Three employees sat behind the gray granite counter, handwriting records on a white form for all the packages that came in.

"This one needs to go out tonight on the Concord," the Agent laid the parcel in on the counter. The worker nearest to it didn't even bother to look up as he took the box and laid it behind him beside the other packages.

The Agent placed a U.S. 50 dollar bill on the counter in front of the worker, but he kept his hand over the money until he had the full attention of the man behind the counter. "Make sure it gets there on time."

The worker retracted the money from under the Agent's fingers. "Yes Sir." He pocketed the cash as the Agent turned and left the counter.

XXXXXXXX

SEATTLE

THE NEXT NIGHT

8:30 PM

The rumble of a Ninja's 1200 cc engine echoed around the alleyway that served as a parking area for the patrons of Crash. The jet-black bike slowed to a stop behind a chrome colored Yamaha motorcycle with orange detailing.

The rider of the Ninja lowered the kickstand and removed a black-visored biker's helmet from his head. Bits of his blond hair were stuck to his forehead but he paid no notice of it, and dismounted the bike, laying the helmet on the black saddle seat.

Zack cast brown eyes into the darkness of the alleyway. Several people passed through patches of steam that rose from puddles of warm bodily liquid that had pooled on the crack road. Two women dressed in slinky, striptease dresses passed directly by him; the heels of there stilettos tapped rhythmically on the road. They gazed at him veraciously, but paid them no attention, checking the glowing dials of the blue-faced Marine on his wrist.

Two other bikes pulled to a stop behind his Ninja. Their riders were late aged teens dressed in bright baggy colored track jackets and torn jeans. Their motorcycles were cheap Chinese made Kawasaki knock-offs painted in colors as loud as their clothes. As the duo passed by Zack's much sleeker Ninja, hungry their eyes traveled over its metal body like wolves.

Zack glanced up from his watch and glared at them so forcefully that their wandering looks skittered away, and they pretended that they had been staring at something else the entire time.

A car pulled into the narrow alley, the headlights flooding the area with light. The rumbling engine of the Jeep Cherokee cut-off, shutting the headlights off at the same moment. A figure stepped out of the driver's seat, their footsteps sounding off on the pavement.

Zack watched all this from his vantage point, allowing his attention to be focused on the tall, curvy, dark haired woman who continued to walk his way.

"I still don't know why you changed your look."

"Change is good sometimes Zack," Asha returned. Her once blonde hair was now dyed a jet black and cut into short feathery layers, making her pale skin stand out more; but the color and style of the cut also added a rich beauty to her face.

"You're late," Zack stated, not offering any comments on his wife's new choice of hairstyle.

"Yeah well, it took me twenty-minutes to get out of the bathroom." Asha told him matter-of-fact. "You should've thought about time management before you got me pregnant." It had been a month since she found out about her pregnancy. She had forgone paying a ridiculous amount for a home pregnancy test, and instead had gone to a women's clinic in Sector Five. The doctor there had confirmed what she had already suspected, that she was pregnant, seven weeks along. And with her first trimester came a wave of morning sickness. Though Asha wasn't sure why it was called Morning Sickness when it assaulted her at any given moment of the day.

A cool wind blew past them and Asha pulled her leather jacket around her to keep it out. "Can we move this conversation inside? The baby may be half super soldier, but mommy is freezing."

"Hey mommy!" A lazy, but loud catcall echoed in the alleyway, and it was directed at Asha. Across the alleyway a group of men were leaning against a streetlight. It had been a man in a dark red leather jacket and black jeans that had called out. He ran his eyes up and down Asha's body, as scrutinizing as he could get without getting her to strip right there in front of him. "If you're cold I got a way to get you hot."

Asha rolled her eyes at the line, but didn't comment. Guys like this just waited for comebacks from the women they hit on; it was their form of masturbation. So she was in favor of biting her tongue instead of giving them a hard-on.

But Zack didn't tap into Asha's philosophy. He let nothing slide by when it was directed at someone he cared about. "Go jack-off in the dumpster with the rest of the degradation." His words were hard, brutal, a cut down from a Manticore soldier.

The man laughed in his palm, a shrill, mocking laugh. "Ooo, ouch. Don't get so feral man, I was trying to get the _lady_ in that state of mind." His buddies laughed at his joke.

Asha could sense Zack was three seconds away from jumping the guy, not that she would've minded terribly, but she was too cold to stand there and watch any defending of her honor taking place. "Baby, my feet are going numb."

Zack glanced down at Asha after she had spoken, and then back up to the group of losers that were leering at them. In the end he followed Asha as she headed towards the entrance of Crash.

"Don't go away so soon Romeo," the guy taunted to Zack's retreating figure.

Zack left the remark on the ground where it had fallen, not bothering to waste good breath for a retort.

"Apparently knights in shining armor wear leather now," Asha said once she and Zack were through the entrance of Crash.

"You're welcome," Zack returned, walking down the single flight of wooden steps that led to the main floor of the bar. Already it was packed full of partygoers looking for booze, women, or both.

"Don't get too cocky Zack," Asha stated. "Chivalry died out for a reason."

Max emerged from among the throng of people, dressed in her usual casual – but well fitted – attire: a white tank top, jeans and her leather jacket. She stopped in front of Zack. "You're late."

"You know how I like to make an entrance," Zack informed.

"Yeah, too bad it you don't do that very well," Max returned. She held up an empty beer pitcher in front of him. "I'm going for a refill and I need an extra pair of hands, so I'm borrowing your wife." She grabbed Asha's hand and pulled her away walking away from Zack, leaning over his right ear to say her next remark: "Go make yourself useful and mingle."

Zack pushed his way through the crowd of people that were standing around drinking because they were no more free tables left to sit at. Beer had been spilt all over the floor and he stepped through wet patches, working his way to three tables sitting against a wooden railing that overlooked the lower level of the bar.

"Glad you finally decided to show," Tinga said. She was sitting with her chair pushed back from the table she was at because her stomach was now too large to fit comfortably under it. Charlie sat beside her, a half empty glass of draft beer in front of him on the table.

"I'm not the only one," Zack said, taking the empty across from her.

Tinga's lips pulled back into a smile, resting one hand on the roundness under her red sweater. The gathering at Crash was a sort of a "coming out" for her and the baby. Logan and Jondy were seated at the table across from Tinga, an empty seat beside Logan being claimed to Max.

And on Jondy's other side sat Alec, resting his elbows on the circular table. He was currently shooting Zack his infamous look that was somewhere between an inquiry and a joke. "You bring the Missus with you Zackie Boy? It's too pretty of a night to leave her home knitting."

"Knit your mouth shut Alec," Jondy ordered. "That's my sister-in-law you're talking about."

As if on cue Asha and Max walked over to the tables. Max set down the now full pitcher of beer in the center of Tinga's table.

"Miss me?" Asha said, while handing Zack one of two empty glasses she was holding.

"You were gone for three minutes," Zack insisted.

"You're a hopeless romantic Zack ya know that?" Asha shot back, sliding into the empty seat next to him. "But at least I didn't expect that when I married you."

"Not everyone can't be a sentimental lush like Logan," Alec quipped, hissing a second later when Max 'accidentally' stepped on his foot before reclaiming her seat next to her husband.

"Now that everyone's here what's say we get this shindig started?" Max suggested.

"Which basically means she wants us to get hammered guys," Alec clarified. "I mean with the exception of the Breeding Woman." He raised his glass to Tinga.

"Being pregnant doesn't mean I can't kick your ass Alec," Tinga threatened. "So knock off the medieval vocabulary okay?"

"The pregnancy hormones are surging huh?" Alec stated. "No wonder Max became so moody."

"Let's change topics shall we?" Jondy suggested. "Before I have to take Alec down."

"Which I highly doubt you'll mind doing," Alec said, shooting Jondy a very suggestive look.

"Guys get a room," Tinga said. "I'm not getting a 'welcoming baby' vibe listening to your verbal foreplay." She drank the last bits of the Club Soda from the glass in front of her. "I need a refill."

"I'll get it," Charlie volunteered, moving to take Tinga's glass, but Tinga placed her hand on his wrist to stop him.

"I can do it baby," Tinga insisted, pushing herself up from her seat. "My legs aren't broken."

"Honey just let the man do it," Max said to her sister. "There aren't many legitimate excuses we have that allows us to be catered too."

Tinga stood for a few seconds more in silent debate before finally giving in. She carefully lowered herself back down into the chair and let Charlie go refill her drink. "How much pampering did you let Logan give you when you were pregnant Maxie?"

"Well there were those three months when she was on complete bed rest," Logan joked lightly, feeling Max glare at him. He rubbed her thigh under the table to quell her anger. He felt her hand slide on top of his a second later, a silent sign that she liked his hand to remain where it was. "There's nothing wrong with someone you love wanting to be there for you."

"Except for the giving birth part," Tinga stated matter-of-fact. "That's where men draw a definitive line."

"You got that right," Max agreed, drawing on the memories of giving birth to each of her three children. "Pain that intense has to be taken like a woman."

"I'll drink to that," Tinga said, seeing Charlie come back with her drink. She accepted the glass from him. "Thank you baby."

"No problem," Charlie answered with a smile. He kissed the side of her head before sliding back into his seat.

"Easy there Charlie, that's what got you two in that situation in the first place," Alec warned.

"I had no idea," Charlie responded, jokingly. "I just thought it was something in the water."

"Maybe in Max's case," Alec returned, completely out of range for the punch Max wanted to deal his shoulder, but her glare still managed to reach him. "Don't hate Maxie, you're the one who can't keep her hands to herself."

"At least she doesn't have to keep them _on_ herself like you do to find some satisfaction," Asha informed. She could tell her remark had it's desired affect by the way Alec was at a three second loss for words.

"I tell ya, I'm not feeling the love," Alec muttered, taking a drink from his glass.

"Oh but _we_ are hun," Jondy said, slapping Alec on the shoulder. "And that's all that counts."

"I'll start feeling some love if you move your hand lower Jondy," Alec said, suggestively raising his eyebrows at her.

Jondy's eyes traveled down to his crotch briefly, then moved back up to meet his gaze. "Not a big enough handhold."

"Ouch," Alec hissed like Jondy had just physically wounded him. He looked to Zack. "Are you going to let your sister talk to me like that?"

"If you can't handle it you shouldn't be sitting next to her," Zack responded with the hinting of a smile forming on his face. Any chance that he got Alec down a peg he took.

A shadow stood in the doorway of the Crash's storage room. – a huge space crammed with cardboard boxes full of liquor that had yet to be unpacked. The room and the space directly in front of it were both dark, the owner of the bar felt there no reason to keep it well lit because customers weren't allowed back there anyway. The shadow – a tall, pecan skinned man – scanned his gray/green eyes over the rowdy crowd. Manticore had made it's soldiers very perceptive, able to pick up on things so minute that ordinary people wouldn't have even considered them worth noting. The man knew this, so he had chosen this darkly lit place to observing what he knew for a fact to be a group of Manticore soldiers. Even with the obscurity of the location, he only glanced periodically at the table, not wanting to chance one of them looking over and seeing him.

However, their attention seemed to be fully drawn to each other. They had allowed their guard to be lowered because of their public location, and because of the self-accreditation of who they were. There were eight of them total, but he could tell that three of them were regular people, civilians, but it was a detail that really didn't matter. The primary target was there among the group. The woman next to him was beautiful, he could tell even from here. She laughed at some off-color joke one of them would make with the ease of someone who wasn't aware that they were being watched.

He felt a pulsating ache in his crotch as he observed her. She wasn't more beautiful then any of the other women around the table. But she was the closet to his concealed vantage point, and he could see her features more clearly then the others. He had no binoculars, they would be too bulky to hold, and someone might catch a glimmer off their plastic body. The storage room was close enough to be able to see the table without them anyway.

He continued to watch the woman hungrily for several long seconds, wanting so bad to touch the smooth curviness that was concealed under her clothes, but he quickly snapped his mind away from those erotic thoughts. He could ogle women later; he had come here for something else.

He opened the flap of his navy blue down jacket, pulling something out of the right inner pocket. His left hand now held two small metal tube-like structures, each only 5 inches long and 1.2 inches in circumference. The base of one of the pieces contained a coil of metal threads, which he screwed the other piece on. The entire device was now slightly larger then a drinking straw. The metal of the topmost piece curved out in a hollow bell shape, and on the top rested a circular sight. It was into this part that he placed a small clear projectile, a razor tipped dart, which contained a pale yellow tinted liquid.

He slid the dart into the tube, which was simple in design, but still very effective. Inside the tube there was ring of thin rubber that would keep the dart suspended in position until it was forced out, allowing the tube to be loaded like a gun, ready to be fired off at a moment's notice.

He raised the device in the air, gauging the scope of his aim from where he was standing. He had chosen his vantage point extremely well; he had a perfect bead on the side of his target's neck. target wore jeans, too tough of a barrier to try and penetrate to get to the femoral vein in his leg. The exposed Carotid Artery in the neck was his best shot. Everything was in perfect alignment, but he lowered the tube at his side, careful not to dislodge the dart inside it.

He was not worried about being caught. He could fire the dart with the speed of a bullet being ejected from the barrel of a gun, too fast for the naked eye to see if not expected. Nor was he concerned about the dart itself being discovered. It was made of thin plastic-like material that would dissolve in seconds once it penetrated – only long enough for it to empty the contents it was carrying.

The reasoning that kept him from shooting was the setting his target was in. The dart had the feel and sting of an insect bite, one of the things that made it such a covert weapon. Despite the grunginess of the bar there were no wandering insects inside that would make a bug bite something inconspicuous. No, he had to wait until his target went outside. It was a delay, but not a major one. Even though the liquid agent would take two to three hours to reach it's full potency, it would start taking some effect within minutes.

He pulled back into the shadows, keeping watch on his target. The bar had only one exit.

He wouldn't loose him.

XXXXXXXXX

9:45 PM

The door of Crash remained opened for 30 seconds as Max, Logan, Tinga and everyone else in their group left the bar and stepped out into the dimly lit alleyway.

Tinga yawned and arched her back, stretching out the kinks. "Damn, I'm beat." She dug into the pocket of her jeans, searching for her car keys. "Honey, move to your left so mommy can reach her keys," Tinga said to the baby, finding it hard to maneuver around her pregnant stomach.

A hand pushed hers out of her pocket and in a few seconds Zack was dangling her keys in front of her. "That one's going to be difficult."

"Ahh but all things male and Manticore are difficult Zack," Tinga responded, taking her keys back from him. Another yawn overtook her. "If I wasn't so tired, a hot bath would feel so good right about now. But with my luck I'd probably fall asleep and beach myself in there." She smiled at her joke. "But then again I _could_ make Charlie be on ready to help out."

"Nothing like Charlie lugging 20 extra pounds of your weight out of hot lavender scented water to prove he's still hot for you," Zack said to her.

Tinga mentally punched her brother in the shoulder, rather then wasting precious physical energy on the task. "If you ever get that wife of yours pregnant, you'd better keep those opinions to yourself if you want to see daylight ever again."

Zack let nothing slip on his expression that his wife already _was_ pregnant. But he hadn't told anyone yet. Asha was barely into her first trimester; their baby was too small to even be classified as human yet. The only indications of her pregnancy was her constant need to puke her guts out, her body's way of adjusting to its new medical status. There had been no major mood swings as of yet. Her temper with him had been shorter, due to hormonal imbalances. Every woman experienced pregnancy differently and he could already tell that she wasn't going to be one of those women who turned into a blubbering mess when they were pregnant.

Tinga said a quick goodbye to Zack and left to join Charlie who was waiting for her by the driver's side of their car; a pewter Hyundai Sonata with dark tinted windows. Zack could see Logan's tan Aztec parked further down the alleyway and observed his youngest sister and her husband climb into the vehicle, obviously Max had left her motorcycle at home.

Jondy was nowhere to be seen, but the revving of her motorcycle's engine soon disrupted the stillness of the cool night air. People pushed past where Zack still stood in the alleyway, eager to get to the bar before it closed.

Zack watched the Aztec and the Hyundai pull out from the bar. A group of people entered Crash, the sounds of the bar emerging out the front door as it swung closed behind them. The noise was distracting to hear over, but Zack had super human hearing, so he didn't miss the sound of his name coming from a very familiar voice.

Asha was leaning against her Jeep, watching him as he approached. This time he avoided the puddles of spilt body fluid that pooled on the ground. Just because they lived in pooling filth, didn't mean that he wanted to step in it. He was two feet away from Asha when he felt a sharp prick of an insect stinging his neck.

The task had been trickier then the originally had thought. After his target left the bar he had followed him outside, hiding behind a pile of large abandoned metal crates that sat on the opposite side of the alleyway outside the bar. It was dark, pollution from the city kept the stars hidden, but the dim streetlamps gave him enough light to see his target.

He had soon discovered that his vantage point was flawed. First off, a large building jutted out in front of him, giving him only a narrow patch of air that he could shoot from. Secondly, people kept arriving and leaving the bar, and their bodies would constantly block his line of sight, forcing him to wait to get a clear shot. He positioned the shooter completely in front of him, poised a few inches from his mouth. He waited with silent impatience as people moved about his target, and as his target himself kept stepping his form out of his firing range.

Finally the crowd had thinned, he could see his target clearly now, standing in a profile position from his vantage point. He was wearing a leather jacket, but it was unbuttoned, and the flesh of his neck was visible above his sweater. The setup was perfect. His target had turned after that woman had called his name, and her position to him was such that he would have to keep walking at the same profile angle in order to reach her. He positioned the tube at his lips. His heart gave a quickening beat inside his chest as he checked the accuracy of his aim one last time before firing. He didn't have the ability to follow the dart with his sight as it was fired, but he knew it had hit it's mark when he saw his target flinch four seconds later.

Asha saw Zack flinch. "What is it?"

"Just a damn mosquito," Zack rubbed the side of his neck briefly before lowering his arm to his side.

"Nothing a soldier can't handle I'm sure," Asha said; with a light playful smile on her face. The smile slowly disappeared from her face when familiar queasiness started building up in her stomach. She kept it at bay by sheer willpower, determined not to throw up in the same alleyway where dozens of drunks had already been sick. "See you at home," she didn't trust herself to say anything more without spewing more then words out of her mouth. But she still managed to give Zack a long, sensual kiss by his ear. She found herself more easily aroused since she became pregnant. She knew it was due to her raging hormones, but she found Zack even more alluring to her because now he wasn't just her husband, he was the father of her child.

Zack had remained motionless during her kiss but she felt his eyes following her as she got into her car, and she smiled a smile that he couldn't see. This was one man in this alleyway that she didn't have problem with checking her out.

The brightness of Cherokee's headlights flashed across Zack's body, becoming smaller as the Jeep backed out of the alleyway. The tires crunched on pieces of the road's asphalt that had been chipped away with age.

His motorcycle was parked in front of her car, and the alley was too narrow for even a small jeep and a motorcycle to clear it at the same time. So he waited for her to leave.

Zack took his keys out of his jacket pocket and walked over to his Kawasaki. One of the cheap-Ninja knock offs was parked next to it. The other bike's kickstand was barely out, making its body dip precariously towards Zack's more expensive motorcycle. The position of the other bike didn't give Zack any space to back his Ninja out unless he moved it. But that was something he had no problems with doing. He grabbed the handlebars and pushed the bike over causing to crash loudly onto the street, the kick stand on the opposite site not being able to break its fall.

Task completed, Zack slid his key into the ignition slot by his bike's handlebars.

"Why you leavin' Romeo?" The leer echoed in the alleyway. The lamplight lit up the face of the man wearing the red leather jacket, the same guy who had taunted Zack and Asha earlier. "Don't you know it's rude to leave without saying goodbye?" He laughed, revealing a space in his mouth where his front tooth should have been. Behind him, his three friends remained silent, but the smiles on their faces was just as greasy as his was.

Zack removed the key from the ignition and pocketed inside his jacket, turning to face the small posse. He so didn't have time for this. "Is there something you ladies need help with?"

The man in the red leather jacket lost his leering smile, his face now pulled into an angry scowl. He punched a fist into his other hand. "You better watch your mouth Goldie Locks if you want to make it to Grandma's house in one piece."

"That's Little Red Riding Hood jag-off," Zack retorted, meeting the man's glare.

The man's eyes bulged angrily out of his sockets. His hand reached for something inside his jacket pocket – a black handled switchblade – that he released the blade of in front of Zack's face. Behind him, his three friends all pulled out knives, two had switchblades like him, and the other had silver handled bowie knife.

"Enough talk pretty boy," the man with the red leather jacket lunged at Zack with the knife.

Zack expertly dodged the attack and kicked the man's knife out of his hand. He picked it up from the dirt in the street before its owner did, throwing it hard and far onto the roof of a three story building a few yards away. His body was adept for speed so all his actions took under five seconds. But after those five seconds he felt strangely winded, almost dizzy from his exertion.

The man friends threw themselves on Zack before he had a chance to recover from his sudden weakness. The one armed with the bowie knife slashed wildly at Zack, gashing him at the top of his right ear, causing a rivulet of blood to leak down the side of his face. Zack ducked away from the next knife attack, but he was still feeling winded, allowing the first man who had attacked him to knock him down on his back on the road.

Zack's heard the thud as his head hit the hard asphalt. He was already dizzy for some unknown reason, but the knock to the head instantly doubled that feeling.

"You wanna try mouthing off again scut?" the man with the red leather jacket taunted. He was standing above Zack; his hands gripped the edges of Zack's leather jacket. He slammed Zack's head hard against the pavement, and then his friend slapped the bowie knife in his hand

Zack had been trained as a soldier, bred to fight. No matter how hurt or tired he was, there was always a reserve; pain was not an excuse not to give in.

Zack reared his body up off the ground, bucking the man off him with such force that he was flung against a huge stack of metal crates that littered the opposite side of the alleyway. He picked up the abandoned bowie knife and smacked the flat side of the blade across the face of the man's friend who had advanced on him again. The man was thrown off balance and Zack dealt a fierce blow to his stomach, and he crumpled to the ground.

The third man was still armed with his switchblade and he threw it at Zack's chest. Zack caught the knife by the blade and threw it hard enough against the metal crates that the tempered steal broke in half. The third man had been standing right next to the crates when he threw the knife and after the blade had broken the split pieces flew at his face, slashing at his eyelids.

The man screamed, and stumbled backwards half blind by blood pooling into his eyes.

Zack left the three men in their beaten states and half walked/half stumbled to his motorcycle. His head was ringing from the blow and from the dizziness he felt earlier, and blood continued to trickle down his face from the slash in his ear. He wiped it away with one hand. Nausea crept up on him and he spat a small amount of vomit on the road, cranking the engine and raising the kickstand at the same moment.

He maneuvered the bike around the fallen and cowering forms, and onto the main road, pulling the Kawasaki's 1200 cc's into a speed of 95 miles an hour. The visored motorcycle helmet was strapped behind him on the saddle seat. He had left it off, to let the whipping wind cool off the flushing hotness he could feel creeping up on his skin.

XXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

10:02 PM

Max gently opened the wooden door, leaving the hallway light off so as not to wake her kids, relying instead on her night vision and the light from the small nightlight plugged into the bedroom wall.

She quietly stepped into the bedroom picking up a stuffed bear that had been lying in the middle of the floor. She set the toy atop the five-drawer dresser that sat against the west wall.

"Mom?" the word 'mom' sounded almost grown-up, but it was laced with a sleepy innocence.

Max turned at the whispered call to find Jessie sitting up in his bed watching her. "Sorry Jess." She walked over to the edge of the bed. "I didn't mean to wake you up." His hair was disheveled, and sticking out in odd angles, much in the same way Logan's was when he slept. She ran a hand through the unruly strands. "Did you have fun with Nana?" Lucia had been babysitting them while Max and Logan were out at Crash.

"We played Hearts," Jessie responded with a sleep-laden voice. "Me and Nana won three times each, Lexi won once and Lucy tried to eat the cards."

Max laughed quietly. "She's only four-months-old. I think she's a little too young for cards."

"She wasn't playing. Nana had her in her lap and she kept grabbing at the ends of the cards and chewing on them, even though she doesn't have any teeth yet." Jessie yawned at the end of his explanation.

"Sounds like you had a busy day," Max said, ruffling his hair again. "Which means you should probably go back to sleep."

Jessie yawned again, deeper. He had a notorious streak of wanting to stay up past his bedtime. But tonight he was too tired to argue.

Max helped him lay back down and pulled the comforter back over his body. "Goodnight baby."

"Goodnight mom," came his reply behind closed eyelids.

Max smiled again at Jessie calling her 'mom' and kissed him on the forehead. She walked out as silently as she came in and shut the door softly behind her.

She stepped out into the hallway and saw Logan closing the door to Lucy's nursery quietly behind him. He had heard her crying when they came home and volunteered to check on her while Max looked in on the other two. It turned out that Lucy had been hungry, so he sat with her, feeding her a bottle.

"That girl is just plain greedy," Logan said to Max in a low voice so he wouldn't wake any of their children up. He showed her the almost empty baby bottle he was holding. "Thee quarters of the bottle gone in ten minutes." He saw the smile on her full lips, and walked over to her. "What's so amusing?"

"Apparently I've moved up with Jessie. I'm no longer 'mommy'; I'm 'mom'." Max's words had traces of awe in them. "We're now raising a teenager in a seven-year-old's body."

"He still sleeps in camo pjs; I think he's still a ways off from dying his hair and getting his nipples pierced," Logan said.

"I know that baby," Max returned. "Hell _I'm_ still young enough to want to get my nipples pierced." She could see bemusement flicker across Logan's face at her declaration. "I was speaking hypothetically Logan relax."

"Oh," Logan said, drawing out the word like he was letting out a relieved breath. "Actually I thought it sounded hot."

Max shot him a look. "You've got a dirty mind." Her look shifted to dry amusement. "Of course you know if I pierce my nipples you have to pierce your-"

"Hey! Okay, Uncle!" Logan interjected. "Ouch. Don't ever put that kind of thought in my head again Max," his voice was completely disgusted. "I would never take body jewelry to that extreme."

"Wait. You mean you've _had _body jewelry before?" Max returned, digging into Logan's remark, wanting to see if he was serious or just kidding.

"I had an earring in college," Logan answered, seeing his wife's eyebrows rise as high as they would go at his declaration.

"And this was acceptable dress code at your prestigious East Coast Ivy League establishment?"

"I was a very controversial undergrad," Logan returned.

Max cocked her head at him in amusement. "_Really?"_ A smile pulled her full lips back.

"Really," Logan echoed, smiling because hers was contagious.

"Do you still have your hole?"

"No. I let it close up a year after I got it. It didn't mix with the Armani suits Uncle Jonas bought for me. I looked like a corporate player."

"Can't argue with you there," Max said, "Gold bling and rich liberal white guys don't mix. Besides it would throw off the whole sexy stubbled undergrounder look that you've got going."

Her voice had gone lower, and she ran her thumb through his thin scratchy beard.

Logan was now _very_ glad that he had ditched the earring. Her thumb left hot traces on his skin. "It's late-"

"It's ten o'clock." Max informed, interrupting.

"I could stand going to bed," Logan's response was combined with a seducing look that said he wasn't planning to _sleep_ in bed.

Max instantly caught on to his vibe. She lowered her thumb from his face, seeing a shudder emerge from behind his eyes after it's absence. "The kids are all asleep. And Lucy won't be hungry for another four hours."

A lazy smile crept on Logan's face as he leaned over and caught Max's lips in a deep kiss.

She smiled against Logan's mouth, and pulled back with the smile still on her lips. "So this means you wanna have sex right?"

"Hell yeah." There was longing in Logan's tone that overshadowed the dry humor.

Max's smile grew even larger and she grabbed his hand and led him to their bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXXX

FENTAL AVE

Zack pushed the motorcycle through the front door of the apartment very slowly. His muscles strained against the weight of the bike, despite the fact that he had done this same task with ease a hundred times before.

He popped out the kickstand and rested the bike on it. He didn't let go of the motorcycle's body for several long seconds, gripping it while he caught his breath. He could feel warm blood on the side of his face and neck from the gash on his ear and a dampening sweat coating his body that intermingled with the crimson trail.

He removed his keys from his jacket pocket and threw them on top of a pile of mail resting on the small two-seater dining table. He could see light streaming out from under the bedroom door as he pushed it open with his shoulder.

"I thought lately you've been turning in early." Zack remarked to Asha, who was sitting cross-legged on one side of the bed in a pink camisole and dark gray drawstring boxers, an open book in her lap.

"My stomach had other ideas," Asha said looking up from her book. "So I decided to read a while until this kid gave me a break. Only an inch long and he's already starting to act like his daddy."

Zack didn't comment on her remark. He shed his leather jacket, draping it on the end of the bed and walked into the small bathroom that was connected onto the bedroom. His grimy reflection greeted him. Clumps of dirt were stuck to his face with sweat and no doubt some of the filthy liquid that had been all over the road. His ear continued to leak blood, and a reddish flush was evident on his cheekbones. But more then he felt any of these things, he felt a strange off kilter buzz going through his head that made him dizzy and nauseous at the same time.

A hand on his back caused him to instinctively jerk and whirl around.

"Sorry," Asha held her hands up, surprised at such a started response from Zack. She saw the blood on his ear. She put one hand on his neck to wipe some of the blood away, feeling heat under her fingertips. She removed her hand from his neck and placed the flat of it against Zack's forehead. "You're burning up." Her eyebrows lowered in concern. "What happened?"

Zack took her wrist and pulled her hand off him. "Nothing." He pushed past her, walking out of the small bathroom.

Asha followed him, watching him sit on one side of the bed. She watched him run his fingers through his hair and then lower his head in his hands. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you look like hell."

He snapped his head up to look at her, and she could see a fine sheen of sweat coating his face and neck. "Can you not do this now?" He stretched out across the bed, lying on his side, facing her. His actions were slow, with a painful looking undertone that Asha didn't miss.

"Do what?" Asha snapped. "Forgive me for being concerned, I'm only you're _wife_." She didn't hear a response, something unexpected from him. She looked down where he was lying. "Zack?" His eyes were closed; he had fallen asleep. She again placed the back of her hand on his forehead, feeling how hot his skin was beneath her hand.

_What the hell is going on? Zack never gets sick._ His skin was unnaturally flushed. She went to the bathroom and wet a hand towel and used it to wipe the sweat off Zack's face; He didn't wake up at all during her actions. When she finished she placed the rag on the night table beside him, walked to the other side of the bed and lied down beside him.

She spooned herself against his back, lying her head sideways in the space between his neck and shoulder. His breathing was very deep and slow, exhausted.

She watched him sleep in the semi-darkness for a while, her mind whirring on a thousand concerned questions. She wanted to stay awake to keep an eye on him. Despite what he said something was wrong. Testament to that fact was that she had never seen Zack surrender to sleep so quickly. But eventually listening to the rhythm of his breathing was too much for her, and, despite her internal protests, she felt her eyes close.

XXXXXXX

The electronic whirr of the tracing gear hummed over the line before a human voice broke over its monotone noise. _"Is it done?"_

"To the letter," the man with the gray/green eyes responded. He looked briefly behind him from the payphone he was calling from. The noise he had heard was a trio of prostitutes excitedly talking about their latest John's high payment to have all three of them at the same time.

He took a second to scope out the women in their revealing dresses before turning back to the dimly lit booth. "I've wiped down the shooter and mailed it back to you."

"_You're sure you hit your target?"_ The voice on the other end was doubtful, and would remain so until he was satisfied of the success.

"I made my mark," the man responded tersely, not happy about his skills being questioned.

"_When will its effect kick in?"_

"It's already starting, full effect will occur in a few hours."

"_Deadly I hope."_

"That's what it was designed for." The man let out an annoyed breath. He was tired of being question by a deep gruffy voice thousands of miles away. " The technology is the latest in bioengineering. It took some time to work out a synthesis error, but I can guarantee you it will perform."

Silence hung over the line, as his superior absorbed his words, deciding whether or not he could believe him. There was too much at stake for this plan _not_ to work.

"_Make sure it does,"_ the call cut off after those words.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

7:15 AM

THE NEXT MORNING

"Mom, why are you smiling so much?" Jessie walked into the kitchen dressed for school in a pair of jeans and a dark blue pullover, his feet clad in white and blue toned sneakers.

"It's not a crime to smile kiddo," Max informed her son, stirring the scrambled eggs in the pan on the stove. She _did_ know how to cook some things; she just wasn't into making huge gourmet meals like Logan.

"But you don't smile _this_ much in the morning," Jessie insisted, watching her scoop some of the eggs onto a plate. "Why are you so happy?"

"Something daddy gave me last night," Max said, scooping the rest of the eggs onto the plates spread out in front of her on the kitchen counter.

"What was it?" Jessie asked, not realizing it was a seriously loaded question.

Only years of Manticore perfected restraint kept the blush from rising to her face. She spotted Logan entering the living room, and smiled again. "Something I really enjoyed."

"Hey," Logan said to Max, entering the kitchen. "You're up early."

"Thought I'd get a jump on things and feed the troops," Max responded, turning off the stove and placing the frying pan in the sink to soak. She picked up two plates and held one out to Logan and the other to Jess. "Here you go boys."

Logan eyed the eggs he was holding "You made this?" Max rarely cooked. He didn't know if she was bad at it, or that she just not to.

"You'd be surprised at what I can do," Max said.

She was wearing a baby blue long-sleeved top, and low-rise jeans; and Logan admired the curves she had underneath them. "Not really." There was a secretive tone behind his casual words, reminding her of what they were doing last night.

Max's smile grew wider; remembering what he looked like what he wasn't wearing the green sweater and black slacks he had on. "Likewise."

"Mom, you're doing it again," Jessie complained taking his plate to the table and pulling out a chair.

"Sorry baby; you're just gonna have to deal with it," Max poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"Especially if mom keeps putting out like she did last night," Logan said standing right behind Max. His voice was low, his breath tickling her ear.

Max turned and punched him lightly in the arm, the smile never leaving her face as she walked to the table with her glass.

Lexi had come to the table as well and was currently trying to climb into her plastic booster seat, but try as she might, she couldn't get up into it. She looked to Max when she heard her approaching, her voice pleading. "Mommy-"

"I'll do it," Jessie said, getting out of his chair.

"You're bein' an awesome big brother Jess, but I'll handle this one. Lexi weighs almost as much as you." Max said. She picked up her daughter placing her into the red booster seat.

"I don't weigh that much!" Lexi complained once she was settled in her chair.

"Mommy just means you're growing sweetie," Logan said to Lexi, placing a plate of eggs in front of her. "You're getting bigger everyday."

"I am?" Lexi looked up at Logan in excitement.

"Oh yeah, and prettier too." He smiled at her and kissed her by her ear, handing her a fork. "Now eat or you're going to be late for school."

Lexi grinned at being called pretty and began to eat her eggs. "This is good daddy," she said around a mouthful.

"Actually _mommy_ cooked this princess, so you should thank her." Logan responded, taking the empty seat next to his daughter.

Lexi turned to Max, looking as surprised as Logan when Max had informed him that she had cooked breakfast.

"Enough with the looks guys," Max said. "I never said I _couldn't_ cook, I just said I didn't _like _too. There's a difference."

"It's good mom," Jessie informed from his chair. He took a bite of his eggs to show her that he meant what he said. "Almost as good as dad's."

Max smiled at Jessie calling Logan "dad" as well as his remark on her culinary skills. "I'll take as a compliment." A high-pitched cry sounded off on the baby monitor sitting on the coffee table. "There's someone else who enjoys my food." She stood up and headed towards the hallway.

Lucy's crying reached its peak when she pushed open the nursery door. "Guess you don't want the eggs." She picked up the screaming baby and took her to the rocking chair in the corner to nurse.

"This kitchen set up is completely one sided kiddo," Max said, watching Lucy greedily drink her fill of breast milk.

Max rocked her in the chair, listening to her soft swallowing. Her eyes drifted across the nursery, at the pile of toys in the corner. Ever since Lucy had been born everyone she and Logan knew had given the baby stuffed animals, so now she had a very built up collection. There were several teddy bears, ponies, unicorns and the plush soldier that only Zane could manage to track down. He came in full camo gear with a grenade at his side.

Beside him, next to his black stuffed combat boot was something that Max didn't recognize; it was small gray stuffed penguin. As many toys as Lucy had Max knew what all of them were. She hadn't seen this one before. She stood up with Lucy and walked in front of the toy pile, staring at the penguin. Carefully Max shifted Lucy so that she was entirely supported by her right arm, and bent down to retrieve the toy. It had fuzzy white and gray fur, orange flat feet that it could stand on and black glass eyes that gave off a slight twinkle at their corners.

Max didn't know why she was getting a weird feeling about the penguin, it was just a toy. But still –

"Logan?"

"Yeah?" Logan answered back. He was still at the dining room table, drinking a cup of coffee. Max's eggs were surprisingly good. All these years together and she never told him she could cook. He had to let her cook more often and give himself a break. He turned when he heard her approaching footsteps on the hardwood floor. "What's up?"

Max walked over to Logan's chair, stopping about five inches in front of it. "Where did this come from?" She showed him the stuffed penguin she had brought out. "I found it in the nursery."

"Lucy has lots of toys sweetheart," Logan clarified. "Our families and friends did get a little crazy with the gifts when she was born."

"I remember all the stuff she got, and I don't remember anyone giving her one of these." Max said.

Lucy had started to cry because it was hard for Max to feed her standing up. Max set the toy on the table and reclaimed her seat, shifting Lucy's weight back to both her arms. The baby stopped crying, now that she could better reach her food.

Logan picked up the toy and examined it. "Lucia probably gave it to her one time when she was baby-sitting and forgot to mention it."

"Yeah you're probably right," Max agreed, stroking Lucy's hair with one hand. "I know it sounds crazy, but for some reason I get a bad vibe off that thing."

"You're getting a bad vibe off a toy?" Logan said skeptically, setting the penguin back down. "No offense Max, but that sound a little like _paranoia."_

"See, that "no offense" line doesn't work after you've already insulted me." Max informed matter-of-fact. "You're supposed to be a gentleman remember?"

"Yeah, and you're supposed to be a normal girl," Logan teased, leaning over to kiss her before she could get mad, and then kissed Lucy on top of her head.

"What about me daddy?" Lexi piped up from her chair. "Don't I get a kiss too?"

"Where are my manners?" Logan lifted Lexi out of her chair, sitting her in his lap, his elbow bumped the penguin and it fell onto the floor. He gave her a long wet kiss that made her giggle.

Kaja pounced on the toy as soon as it hit the floor. She bit the penguin's face and shook it hard. A very faint noise came from inside the toy after her actions. A sound so quiet that only the dog's acute hearing was able to pick it up. Had Max not been distracted by nursing Lucy and watching Logan with Lexi her super sensitive hearing would have picked the noise as well. It was a very low click followed by a series of two-second interval beeps.

Kaja shook the penguin harder, growling playfully. She sank her teeth in it deeper and padded with it out of the room.

XXXXXXXX

FENTAL AVE

8:15 AM

There was a very gritty feeling behind Zack's eyelids when he woke up. It took him several rounds of blinks to clear the feeling away. He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, wishing after he completed his actions that he hadn't moved at all. His nausea hadn't abated from last night, and seemed to be worse and there was a painful soreness in his back and shoulders, the last two aftershock of the fight he had been in last night. He stopped moving, waiting for the uncomfortable feeling to abate. But when it still remained a minute later he decided that moving or staying still wouldn't make much difference, so he opted for moving.

He touched the top of his ear. The blood had been cleaned off and he felt a sticky coating of salve across it. He was lying on his back; dressed only in a pair of loose black boxers and a white singlet. His jeans and sweater were at the top of a pile of clothes in the hamper that sat near the closet.

He climbed out of the bed; Asha's side was already vacant. The back of his shirt clung damply to his back with sweat and he could feel the same dampness in his hair. Walking out of the bedroom wasn't as easy of a task as it normally was because dizziness hung around him. But Zack didn't stop to give into it and instead simply walked slower out of the bedroom. He could here Asha moving around, and he picked up the smell of the jasmine perfume she was wearing before he ever came into the kitchen where she was.

"Did I miss something fun?" Zack's voice made Asha turn. She had been pouring hot water into a mug with a single Earl Gray teabag resting in it.

Asha couldn't help checking him out. The singlet and boxers he was wearing did wonders for his sculpted body. But her scoping barely lasted two seconds because he looked terrible. His skin and hair were soaked in sweat and he had red rings under his eyes.

"Don't let your imagination run away with you baby, I was just trying to make sure you were comfortable." Asha had woken up at four am with pregnancy-induced nausea and after she had gotten out of the bathroom she checked on Zack, surprised that he was still asleep when he normally averaged only four or five hours a night. His fever had felt much higher then it had before and he was sweating profusely; and Asha was sure that his jeans and sweater were trapping in the heat his body desperately wanted to get rid off. He hadn't woken up at all when she removed his clothes. He had muttered something that sounded like "Max", probably a dream about Manticore, but he never woke up fully. She had wiped his skin down with a wet rag, but it barely made a dent in his temperature. She had tried to go back to sleep but watching Zack's restless sleep kept her awake at after an hour she got up and watched a barrage of infomercials on early morning TV.

"You could have just asked," Zack pointed out.

"You had a fever last night Zack, it kept you under. I couldn't have woken you up if I wanted too."

Zack didn't challenge her after that remark. He arched his shoulders, stretching out the soreness in his muscles.

Zack didn't come out and say that he was in pain, but Asha could tell by watching his movements. She wanted to rub his shoulders to alleviate the soreness she knew he was experiencing, but Zack had a thing against coddling, even when he was sick. And she cared about him enough to not do anything that would make him uncomfortable. But resisting the urge was damn hard; she couldn't stand to see him like this.

"I made some tea," Asha told him. "It's the only thing I could keep down. But I know how X5 genetics are turned off to anything herbal and decaffeinated so there's coffee in the pot."

Zack turned to the coffee pot, where three cups of the black steaming liquid sat inside the molded plastic. "I'm passing on ingesting anything." The smell off the coffee was making him feel queasy.

Asha eyed Zack critically after he said that, he usually drank coffee like water. "Damn, you sicker then I thought if you're turning down caffeine."

"Include yourself in that remark too Asha," Zack said. "Besides recently, I've never seen you touch herbal teas."

"My excuse for changing my morning beverage is called being pregnant. Now unless Manticore modified you more then I thought, _you_ not wanting coffee is a cause for concern."

Zack lowered his head and raked a hand through his blonde hair, sighing behind a closed mouth. "How can you be so analytical this early in the morning?"

"Your traits start to rub off after a while." Asha responded, watching him pull his head back up to face her. She could see something behind his eyes, an aching tiredness that she didn't like. "You still don't look too hot. Why don't you go lie down for a while?"

Zack glared at her, through fever-reddened eyes. "Are you my mother or my wife?"

"Zack you never knew your mother. And as the latter of your two choices I'm worried about you."

"Well don't," Zack snapped. "I'm fine."

"No," Asha objected. "You're sick, a blind man could tell that."

Zack glowered at her. Being sick was a weakness he didn't want to associate himself with; it was that fact he was angry with, not her. He turned slowly and left the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Asha asked, following him out.

Zack turned back around to face her when he talked "Much as this look is turning you on I'd liked to dressed."

"Don't flatter yourself," Asha said, injecting a bit of teasing into her words because she could see how tense he was, like newly caged wild animal. "I never said I was turned on."

"You don't have too say anything," Zack told her, walking the few steps over to where she was and standing in front of her. He laid his hand on the flat of her stomach. "This is proof enough."

Asha looked down at his hand on her then up to his eyes; this was the first time he had verbally acknowledged their kid. She knew he knew it was in there, but to hear him say it was on a whole different plane.

His contact lasted for only a few seconds before he removed his hand. She had a mental image of him holding their baby. With the same hands that he snapped necks and cracked skulls with, he would love his child with those same hands. She watched him enter the bedroom and close the door, a sign that he didn't want her to follow him.

Asha rested her hand on her stomach where Zack's had been, caressing it with her thumb. She smiled quietly to herself and went to retrieve her tea from the kitchen.

Zack pulled out a pair of clean jeans and a dark maroon sweater from the dresser that sat in a corner of the bedroom. He put on the clothes, but after he pulled on the sweater violent surge of dizziness crept up him. He braced one arm against the wall, placing the other hand on his head where a throbbing pain was pounding behind his temples.

His vision blurred and pulsated with the throbbing in his skull. He blinked and the image of the bedroom evaporated into a long gray hall with steel doors. Lydecker stood in the center of the passageway – in the charcoal black suit he wore when Zack was a kid – his hands deep in his pants pockets, his legs, in a stance of parade rest.

"_Zack,"_ Lydecker's voice was pissed, echoing off the corridor _"What the hell do you think you're doing?"_

Zack was still lucid enough to know that he was hallucinating. But the image of Lydecker was so real that he felt compelled to answer him._ "What?"_ His voice echoed like Lydecker's. He could feel his knees buckling, but he tightened his grip on the doorway to keep from falling.

"_I never gave you authorization to come here soldier,"_ Lydecker's words were a growl. _"You're disobeying a direct order."_

"_What the hell are you talking about?"_ Zack screamed. The pounding in his head grew much more intense, making him grab at his head.

"_There will be hell to pay if this situation is not rectified immediately!"_ Lydecker shouted.

The pounding exploded into a flash of hot white pain. Zack cried out, letting go of the side of the bathroom door in the apartment. His consciousness disappeared at the flash's climax and there was nothing to break his fall as he hit the floor.

Asha almost dropped the mug in her hand when she heard the echoless bang come from the bedroom. She set the mug down on the counter, burning herself on the hot tea in her haste, and ran over to the bedroom door.

She bypassed knocking and pushed the door open. She was going to ask Zack what happened, but that thought fled her when she spotted him lying motionless on the floor. She ran to him, kneeling next to his head.

"Zack?" He was lying on his side partially in bathroom doorway. She called his name, but it didn't arouse him, neither did shaking his shoulder. His face bright red with fever and the sweater he had just put on was already becoming soaked with sweat. She checked the pulse in his neck and found that it was racing.

His head was resting haphazardly against the edge of the doorframe, and there was a gash near his hairline, no doubt from where he had struck the doorframe when he fell. Asha braced his neck in her hands and carefully lowered his head to the ground. When she pulled her hand back a streak of blood was on one of her hands; the gash in his ear had started bleeding again. She wasn't a doctor, but she knew that both the wound on his ear and the laceration on his head were just superficial. He had passed out from the fever; his body wasn't strong enough to keep him conscious; and that was the real danger.

Asha was freaking out. She had no idea what had made Zack so violently sick, so she didn't know what the hell to do. She couldn't take him to a hospital; it would be too much exposure. But she also couldn't do anything for him here.

She grabbed the cordless phone off the nightstand that sat against the wall that paralleled the bathroom. She pulled Zack's head into her lap as she frantically dialed a familiar number.

XXXXXXX

JAM PONY

8: 25 AM

"Let's go people, undelivered packages are burning holes in your salary!" Normal didn't know why he bothered threatening his employees; they never listened to him. He seriously considered firing them all and purchasing some sort of automated delivery system robots.

"Wanting to lower our slave wages isn't a threat Normal," Alec informed, flipping through a magazine titled: _Jugs and Camo_, while leaning up against a concrete support beam next to Normal's dispatch desk. "You should really consider cattle prods. They might make your tirade more effective."

Normal glowered at Alec from behind his thick, black-framed glasses. "And you should consider looking for another line of employment if you don't quit wasting company time!"

Alec didn't even look up from his magazine at Normal's latest outburst.

Max wheeled her bike up next to Alec, scanning the cover of the magazine in his hands. "_Jugs and Camo?_ " She grabbed the magazine from him, disgust on her face. "You can't be serious."

"This is art," Alec let her know. "I'm just taking in a viewing."

"A silicon enhanced Double D breasted women straddling a Bazooka in a camo g-string isn't art Alec."

"There are no limitations Maxie," Alec informed. "Art is in the hands of its creator."

"So's male masturbation, unless you honestly believe that she's actually a real soldier."

"She would be if I were her C.O," Alec returned, wagging his eyebrows.

"You always seem to have more balls then brains Alec," Max pitched the magazine at his chest.

"It's called being male boo," Cindy informed, walking up to Max and Alec, with her gray messenger bag slung across her shoulder. "That's why strip clubs roll in so much business, they understand the facts."

"See this is why men dominate industry," Alec stated, ducking when Cindy reached out to smack him upside the head.

"Speaking of males, I mean ones less second brain minded," Cindy shifted her eyes to Max. "Congrats on Zack's commitment to his girl. Love is a high art when a man has the guts to make it permanent."

"Or it's just a way to show that Asha finally roped Zachary in," Alec commented. "It was bound to happen to him sooner or later. The weak ones always hit the water first."

Max rolled her eyes at him "You're an idiot, and you wonder why you're still single."

"Too many people after the merchandise," Alec let her know. "It wouldn't be right to deny all but one woman the pleasure." He ran his eyes over Max's body. "Unless of course you wanted to go exclusive Maxie."

"Alec, take your eyes off me before I hand them to you," there was only slight annoyance in Max's voice. Alec was an oversexed idiot at times, but he was still a friend. Her cell phone rang from where it was clipped to her waist. She checked the caller ID – which revealed the number to be Asha and Zack's home line – on the outside display.

"Speaking of Jugs and Camo," Alec quipped, after he recognized the number.

Max ignored him and answered the call. "Hey."

"_Max!"_ Asha was practically screaming over the other line.

"Asha? What 's wrong?" Max could hear the raw, edgy panic in her voice.

"_It's Zack. He collapsed and I can't wake him up."_

"Is he hurt?" Max asked; she didn't mean from passing out, she meant did he have an injury that _made _him collapse. Her mind was racing for more information. Asha's panic had become her own.

"_He's been sick since last night, bad. I don't know what the hell's wrong, and I can't just call EMS."_

"I'm on my way," Max flipped the phone closed, ending the call.

"What's up boo?" Cindy had picked up on Max's side of the conversation and saw the concern flashing across her friend's face.

"I don't know," Max answered honestly, sliding the phone back inside her bag. "But I gotta go, now." She dropped her bike, where it thumped loudly on the concrete floor. She ignored the loud noise it made started for the doorless exit.

"Hey!" Normal came out from behind his desk and headed over to Max just as she was walking up the bike ramp that led out onto the street. He grabbed a hold of her right shoulder. "The time clock's still rolling, where do you think you're going?"

"Family emergency," Max shot back, shaking his hand off her and running the rest of the way outside.

"That excuse is wearing _very_ thin girly!" Normal called out.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

SOUTH MARKET

The man from Crash – the one who had targeted Zack – hung outside a fruit stall, fondling a bruised peach like it was a woman's breast. He caught site of the stall's owner – a small round-bodied Chinese woman in dressed in a old plaid house coat – and she was eyeing him suspiciously for what he was doing to her merchandise.

The man brought the peach to his nose, sniffing it. He really needed to sleep with a woman soon; he was reduced to getting hard-on's with produce. The peach's scent was overpoweringly sweet, on the verge of rotting. But the man smiled, like it was good, and paid the woman the dollar she asked for it. He felt her eyes follow him as he left her stall, no doubt she thought he was a perverted freak, but he didn't give a damn about a fruit carter's opinion of him.

He threw the peach onto a heap of filthy rags pilled up on the side of the market street. To his surprise the pile moved, and he realized that the rags were really the tattered clothing of a man and a woman who were sleeping huddled together. The woman's dirty, weather cracked hand snatched the peach from where it landed, and split it in half with her fingers, giving one piece to the man who was still lying down, looking like a heap of garbage.

The cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He ducked behind an abandoned stall with a pink Sector Cop seizure notice tacked to it. He didn't check the caller ID; there was only one person who knew the number. He flipped the phone open. "Hello?"

"_Status report?" _

"It's been over four hours; the full effect should be taking place," he responded, knowing that his boss was already getting angry. Words meant nothing to him; he needed physical proof that the plan was working.

"_This agent was created without the luxury of a live laboratory test subject; can you guarantee its effectiveness?"_

"The DNA samples that were tested produced sufficient results of its lethalness," he was quick to reassure his boss. He couldn't allow anyone to doubt the work he had just completed. "Trust me, the product will perform." In truth he knew very little of what the compound actually did to its subjects. He knew it was deadly, and a little about it's production, but the geneticists kept him in the dark on everything else as a security measure. In the event of the deal going sideways he wouldn't have enough evidence to blackmail them with.

"_What will be your proof of that?"_ The boss's voice was impatient; trust was something he didn't just give out.

"I said trust me, this product leaves a very evident kind of proof." the man said, checking the time on his watch. "I'll be in touch." He ended the call.

XXXXXXXX

FENTAL AVE

8:45 AM

"Asha!" Max called out her name as she ran into the apartment, slamming the door shut.

"In here!" Asha's voice called out from the half open door of the bedroom.

Max hurried to the bedroom and flung the door all the way open. Her heart beat tripled when she saw Zack lying on the floor next to Asha.

"What happened?" Max knelt down next to Zack, placing a hand on his neck to check his pulse.

"I don't know," Asha responded, panicked.

Zack's pulse was way too rapid under Max's fingers. She felt his forehead with the back of her hand. "God, he's on fire. Feels like his temperature's past a hundred."

"What do we do?" Asha asked; she wanted Max to think up something she hadn't already.

"We can't take him to a hospital-" Max cut off her own words, and thought for a frantic second. "I'll call Sam – we'll take him back to my place; Sector Cops play around too much in this Sector It will take too long for Sam to get here." She tore her eyes away from her unconscious brother to look up at Asha. "Where's your Jeep?"

"It's down in the second level of the garage," Asha responded.

"Go bring it around, I'll meet you there."

"Max there's no way you can carry Zack down there by yourself!" Asha insisted, now way past panicked.

"We don't have any time to waste!" Max retorted, her voice shifting into full commanding mode. "I've got Manticore genetics and adrenaline coursing through me, I can manage; go!" Max could see that Asha was reluctant to leave her husband lying there, but she also knew how critical the situation was. Asha removed Zack's head from her lap and jumped up from the floor. She snatched her keys from an end table by the couch and ran out the front door.

Asha slammed the Cherokee to a stop in front of the elevator doors that connected the parking garage to the apartment complex.

The doors to the elevator slid open and Max came out with Zack. Asha was shocked to see that Max was carrying Zack in front of her body, one arm on his shoulder the other hooked under his legs. Zack was 6'1" and outweighed Max by at least forty pounds; even with her superhuman strength his weight had to be almost crushing her.

Asha jumped out of the Jeep and ran around to help Max get Zack in the car.

"Do you need some help?" A young brown haired man came out from behind a gray Saturn and ran up to the Jeep. He watched Max and Asha carrying Zack between them to Asha's car.

"We're fine," Max threw over her shoulder. "My brother just got carried away at the party. We're taking him home to sleep it off." She opened the Cherokee's back door and together she and Asha laid Zack in the back seat.

The man looked over at Zack's pale face, which he could see through he open door. "Are you sure? He doesn't look that good."

"We got it covered," Asha shut the door, and turned back to look at the man staring at them, opening the door to the driver's side at the same time. "Get the hell away from my car so I can back out." She meant it in every way as a threat. She was glad when – after a moment of him looking baffled at her – the guy walked away. Asha was high strung with tension right now so that had he stayed she would have most likely run him over.

She jumped in the driver's seat, hearing Max shut the passenger side door beside her. The Cherokee's tires squealed on the concrete as Asha backed out of her space and speed out of the garage.

XXXXXXX

JAM PONY

Normal left his dispatch desk and walked over to Cindy, who was drinking a soda at the break room tables on the small second level of the building. "Did Max say anything to you about when she would bother coming back to work?"

"She was in a rush to leave boo," Cindy took a drink from her soda after speaking.

"That I gathered by her rudeness," Normal returned. "I don't know why I didn't fire her right then."

Cindy turned her head up to Normal, a glare evident in her eyes. "She had a family _emergency_. You wanted to fire her cause she didn't act all calm and collect when one of her boys is in trouble?"

"One of her boys?" Normal raised his eyebrow at that. "Just what is that supposed to imply?"

"She has brothers Normal," Cindy told him. "You have a dirty mind." She was getting irritated at his line of questioning. "I don't eaves drop on people's personal times like you, but it seems like Max's _boy_ is sick, and she's checking up on him."

"A cold is not a reason to leave in the middle of your _work. _Next time you tell her to give her brother chicken soup after her shift, _understand_?" Normal leaned over in Cindy's space and glared at her. He backed away a few seconds later muttering: "You can't handle a tiny virus you need to live in a bubble," as he walked down the steps beside the tables.

XXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

9:38 AM

"How bad is it?" Logan asked this question standing in his living room.

Dr. Sam Carr leaned over the black leather couch holding an otic scan thermometer to Zack's ear; who was lying unconscious across the couch's leather cushions.

Sam pulled the thermometer out of Zack's ear after it beeped, alarmed at the reading. "His temps 103; and from the way he looks it hasn't hit it's highest yet." Sam clicked off the thermometer, and stood up to face the group that was watching him.

Max was standing at the head of the couch, her eyes darting between Sam and Zack's motionless form. Asha stood next to Max, one hand on the couch's arm, gripping the leather nervously. Her face was drawn, and pale.

"How long has he been sick?" Sam didn't ask one-person specifically because he didn't know who to ask.

"Since last night," Asha answered.

Sam turned to her. "Was his fever as high as it is now?"

"I don't know," Asha responded, taking her hand off the couch to rub her arm. She was still wearing the pink camisole she slept in, no jacket, and a pair of wrinkled jeans she had thrown on before ruining out to get her car. "I didn't have thermometer to check, but he was burning up." The back of her wedding band sent a cold sensation up and down her arm as her hand moved her hand across it.

Sam watched Asha's restless movements, noting the ring on her left hand. He still remembered her from the night he had operated on Zack in the church. And the look in her eyes was as pleading as it was then. Sam set the thermometer on the coffee table. "His fever's too high; it's ravaging his body, we need to bring down his core temperature."

"I'll fill the tub with ice," Max said starting to head towards the kitchen but Sam's voice stopped her.

"No. Make ice bags and place them on him atop his clothes. If we cool him down too fast he could go into shock."

Max headed towards the kitchen to get the ice and Logan followed to help her.

Sam looked back to Asha. "Are you his wife?" he asked.

"Yeah," Asha responded quickly, looking at Zack. His skin was pale in places and red in others from the fever; Asha had never seen him look so worn before.

"Did he have any other symptoms last night Mrs.-"

"Asha," Asha cut in. She knew Sam knew about Manticore, but he obviously wasn't aware of the fact that all the X5 escapees had no surnames.

"Asha," Sam corrected. "Did he complain of anything else?"

"Just some offhanded remark about being nauseous this morning. Zack doesn't admit to anything when he's sick."

"Malaise is a common side affect from fever," Sam remarked, then his face took on a much more serious note. "But you and I both know that your husband is not common Asha. From what I know of Manticore genetics, there is no way a simple flu bug could ravage him this much."

"So what is it?" Asha asked, feeling her heart trying to escape her ribcage. She knew that something was terribly wrong about Zack last night. He had never been this sick in all the years she had been with him. His immune system was revved up and could kill any virus almost instantly. For something to attack him so suddenly and with so much force meant that it had to be something very deadly.

"That's what I need to find out." Sam said as Max and Logan came back with the ice in three large plastic bags. Max set two of the bags against the sides of Zack's neck, and Asha took the last ice bag from Logan and laid it on Zack's collarbone, moving her other hand up to caress his hair.

XXXXXXXX

CENTERS FOR DIEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

ALANTA, GEORGIA

12:30 PM EST

The laboratories of the CDC were the most advanced in the U.S. Before the Pulse the CDC had been on relations with a small group of government labs in locations such as South Africa and Beth, Israel; sharing their research with top international science moguls. But in 2013, the CDC barred its doors to the international arena; to prevent backlash infiltration due to the devastation of the Pulse. And because of this fact there was bioresearch equipment in the CDC that existed nowhere else in the world. Some of this equipment was enormous, taking up entire rooms, standing alongside highly powered super electron microscopes and the most high tech of genetic analysts equipment.

There was one long hallway of such laboratories on the second level of the compound. Armed military MP's guarded the only entrance to that hall – a steel bulletproof door with an encrypted security card clearance, fingerprint and retinal scanner.

One of the MP's on duty that day raised his head in suspicion as he saw a figure coming towards him and his partner. It was a person he didn't recognize, and that automatically sent a warning through his brain. He unsholdered his black M-20 and pointed it at the approaching person. The first thing he had been taught when he took this post was that some of America's most classified bioresearch went on behind the doors he guarded; which meant that all questions must always be asked from over the barrel of a gun.

"Stop right there please," the MP drew a bead on the person, poising his finger on the trigger. "Show me your photo clearance pass, or I will have to escort you back out of the building." He watched as the person – a man – pull out a Level One Government Clearance ID. It was not a CDC Clearance, but that kind of ID was only issued out to very high-ranking individuals, giving them access to virtually any government agency in the country. Still the MP hesitated; he was told that only Official CDC Lab Security Clearance would allow anyone access past his checkpoint. But the possession of a Level One Government Pass actually canceled out the need for any other kind of identification. Whoever this man was, the MP knew he was a very important Government player, and throwing him out for an uncertainty would be a very bad move.

The MP scanned the ID, which cleared instantly, as well as the man's fingerprint analysis and retinal scanner. The soldier handed the ID back to its owner, reshouldering his weapon.

The man didn't say anything as he pocketed his ID, watching the MP punch a code into the security keypad on the wall next to the steel door; a few seconds later the door opened automatically.

"Security Protocol only allows one admission into this area per day Sir," the MP informed. "So

make sure you've completed everything you need to here before you leave."

The door to the lab barely made a sound as it opened, but it was enough for the lab coat clad man to look up from the eyepiece of the electron microscope. "You're late." He switched off the microscope's light.

The person entering the room – the man who had just been cleared by the MP – clicked the door shut. "The guards at the door insisted on being thorough. Security in the country is really becoming tight-assed," his words were sarcastic, laced with his West African accent.

"Formalities have to be kept up in order for people to believe they're still secure," the lab coat said.

The other man crossed the room over to the long metal examination table where the man in the lab coat was standing. He removed a zip disc from the inner pocket of his single breasted navy blue suit and threw it on the counter. "The modifications made were successful, at least according to the Super Computer analysis. But our man completed his work last night, and can verify that we didn't waste our money."

The lab coat picked up the disc, examining it like he expected it to reveal its information in his hand as well as it would in a hard drive. "Do we have other conformation that the antigen is working as it should?" He didn't want to rely entirely on the word of a street level hit man.

"The bug we planted is painting the same picture. The subject became symptomatic almost instantly. That's the great thing about this retrovirus, the incubation period is so short we don't have to wait forever to get the results we want."

The man set the disc back down on the counter. If the other man was telling the truth, then he didn't have to look at the contents of the zip files to know what was on them. "This doesn't guarantee that our plan will succeed. Yes, we infected the first subject with the virus, but how can we be sure that this doesn't just stop with him?"

"This is the reason we chose Seattle; our men know of three X5's in the city," the Suit returned. "These transgenics value each other as brothers and sisters. Trust me; there will be no question as to whether or not this just affects one."

XXXXXXXX

SEATTLE  
FOGLE TOWERS

Sam checked the reading of the thermometer after it beeped. "It looks like his temperature's stabilized, but it's still dangerously high." He turned the device off and laid it down on the coffee table.

Asha was sitting on the edge of the couch, wiping Zack's forehead with a damp towel while Max placed a fresh bag of ice against his neck. Zack hadn't regained consciousness yet, but after the ice touched his skin, his head jerked.

Asha stopped wiping. "Zack?"

His eyes snapped open and shot around the room wildly.

"Zack it's me," Asha said, laying a hand on his forehead.

"Asha?" Zack's eyes settled on her. "What the hell happened?" his voice was weak, but still authoritative.

"You collapsed," Asha told him. "Max and I brought you here."

Zack shifted his gaze, until he found Max standing at the back of the couch watching him.

"Don't worry about it. I got Sam over here, I know how much you hate exposure." Max answered the question looming behind Zack's gaze. His eyes were glazed slightly from his fever, but he remembered the doctor from the church and he cast a quick glance at him.

Sam looked at his patient from where he was standing beside the couch. "How do you feel?"

"How does it look like I feel?" Zack snapped back.

Sam ignored the harsh retort, and placed the end of his stethoscope under Zack's sweater. "Your Heartbeat's still up, but that's because his temperature hasn't dropped yet."

"Don't talk like I'm not laying right here doc," Zack retorted. Even when he was sick, his tone was commanding.

"Sorry," Sam said, removing his stethoscope. "You're still not out of the woods Zack. A temperature of 103 is very dangerous, even for someone with your genetic makeup. But fever is the result of an infection; the real danger is not knowing what that infection is so I can treat it."

"So what are you going to do?" Asha asked, looking up to Sam.

"Right now getting his fever down is the main priority," Sam returned.

"Guess this means the second priority is out," Zack said.

Asha turned to him. "And what's that?"

"Getting the hell off my ass." Zack wasn't someone who enjoyed being sick. He saw no advantage laying around and having people have to wash your hands for you.

Asha gave him a small smile, caressing the side of his face with her hand. "I'm kind of enjoying my Florence Nightingale moment thank you."

He rolled his eyes at her. "If you start crooning love songs I'm throwing myself out the window."

Sam let the couple have their playful spat before speaking. "Since you're awake Zack, I'm going to try some anti-inflammatory medication to try and bring your temperature down." He turned to the coffee table where he had placed his black doctor's bag and pulled out a packet of generic acetomophine. "These are only 500 mg each, but you're metabolism is high, so I'll start you off with one, and add more if it's not affective."

Zack eyed the packet of medication. "That sure as hell better be an oral drug."

Sam laughed dryly. "Trust me, if it wasn't I wouldn't be giving it too you."

"I'll get some water," Max announced heading towards the kitchen. She came back a few seconds later with a glass half filled with tap water. Halfway back into the living room she stopped, "I just remembered; the kids have only half a day of school. Tinga offered to pick them up today. I need to call her and tell her to take them to her place."

"I'll do it," Logan said. He didn't think it was the best situation for their children to be shut up in their rooms while everyone's attention was focused on Zack. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Tinga's cell number. After a short call he hung up. "Charlie said she was in a hurry and left her phone there. I'll have to tell her when she gets here." A check of his watch told him it was nearly one, Tinga would be there in a few minutes.

"Sorry we're out of the good stuff, " Max kidded to Zack, handing him the half glass of water.

"You're not a very good host Max," Zack swallowed the water and the pills Sam had given him.

"Well you did kinda come here unexpectedly," Max returned. "So I'm virtually blameless."

"Virtually doesn't mean no," Zack said, his voice still weak sounding.

"Baby are you cold?" Asha had started to take the glass from him. "You're hands are shaking." She touched his right hand, feeling it vibrate under hers. She heard his breath catch in his throat. "Zack?" This time the hitch in his breath became a gasp and the glass shattered on the floor. "Zack!"

Sam pushed Asha to the side, when the shaking in Zack's had escalated to the rest of his body. "He's seizing, is he allergic to acetaminophen?"

"No," Asha answered quickly. "I don't think he's allergic to anything."

Zack's heartbeat was wild under Sam's stethoscope. "Does he have an epileptic disorder?"

"He had seizures when he was a kid," Max answered. "We all did. He keeps tryptophane pills like me just in case, but I've never seen him have a seizure as an adult."

Zack had gone unconscious from the violent force of the seizures. Sam quickly removed his stethoscope and hung it across his neck. "The fever's doing a number on his system, it's made his seritonin levels go haywire and triggered a seizure."

"Oh god," Asha gasped. She never believed in God, but it was a cry you said when you were scared out of your mind.

Sam turned to Max. "Do you still have the liquid Tryptophane Dr. Janston prescribed for your last pregnancy?" He spoke quickly because he could see Asha was starting to freak out, and he needed to have her grounded because he needed everyone's help in order to treat Zack.

"In the bathroom," Max answered.

"How many?" Sam asked.

"A full vial and half of another one."

"Bring both and a clean syringe."

Max ran down the hallway that led towards the master bedroom and bathroom to get the medicine.

Sam turned to Asha. "Keep as many bags of ice as you can against his neck and head, it will constrict the blood vessels in his brain and keep them from rupturing."

Asha was so dazed that it took her several seconds to hear what Sam was telling her. She seized two bags of half melted ice from where they had been thrown to the floor when Zack started seizing. She placed one of the bags against the front of his neck and pressed the other too his forehead, holding his head still as best she could. She could feel each tremor from his body coarse up her arm; and she bit the inside of her cheek hard to keep herself from crying, because it wouldn't help anything; she could break down later.

Logan watched Zack seizing on his couch; feeling completely inadequate because he wasn't helping in anyway. He and Zack were never really close; but he was his brother-in-law and over the years he had grown to care about him as family. Max still hadn't returned with the Tryptophane and Logan decided to go help her find it when he heard the sound of the front door opening.

"Logan-" Tinga's voice carried into the living room, as the kids, Jessie and Lexi, and Case behind them, walked ahead of Tinga through the door.

Logan had completely forgotten that Tinga was almost to the penthouse. As soon as he caught sight of them he was going to tell Tinga to take the kids back to her apartment, but he couldn't get the words out because Lexi had gotten of the group and came into the living room.

"Daddy, why is Uncle Zack sleeping here?" She stared at the scene in front of her with the innocent curiosity of a child, holding the shoulder straps of her pink backpack.

Tinga saw what was going on a few seconds after Lexi did. "What the hell?" Tinga hurried into the living room, careful not to knock over her niece in her hurry. She watched in shock at Zack still seizing on the leather couch. Like Max, she hadn't seen Zack have a seizure since they were all kids. "Logan what happened?"

"I don't know," Logan answered. "Asha said that-" the last few words never came out of his mouth because he heard a crash from down the hallway, originating from the master bathroom.

"Max," Logan said in alarm, taking off down the hallway. When he reached the bathroom, the door was wide open, and a gasp sprang from his throat at what he saw next: Max had collapsed on the floor, and she was in the middle of a seizure.

"Max!" Logan's shoe crunched on fragments of glass when he came into the bathroom. Max had dropped one of the vials of Tryptophane on the ground when she started seizing. "Max?" Logan pulled her upper body against him. Unlike Zack, Max had seizures as an adult, but over the last few years they had all been around her pregnancies, not randomly like now.

"Logan?" She was still conscious, but barely and her eyes were glazed. "What's happening?" She gasped in pain as her seizures increased in intensity, her head dropping against his chest.

"Max!" Logan couldn't tell anymore if she was awake, but she didn't respond to him anymore. Her face was flushed and he could feel sweat seeping out from under her clothes.

"Sam!" Logan shouted as loud as his voice would carry, lifting Max into his arms.

"Logan?" Tinga started down the hallway when Logan had screamed Sam's name. "Oh god, Max!" she cried out when she saw Logan coming down the hall, carrying Max out back to the living room.

Sam immediately jumped up from where he was kneeling beside Zack and came over to Logan. "What happened?"

Asha kept her hands on the ice packs, but her gaze shot over to where Logan was holding Max, and her heart stopped beating.

"I don't know," Logan answered Sam, as the doctor placed his stethoscope under Max's clothes. "I found her seizing in the bathroom."

Tinga placed a hand on Max's forehead. "She's burning up."

"Mom?" Jessie came forward towards Max, but stopped a few feet short of where she and Logan were, out of fear.

"Her heartbeat's erratic," Sam said listening to her chest through his stethoscope. "Her symptoms are the same as Zack's," Sam hung the stethoscope over his neck. "What the hell is going on here?" He went silent, a doctor racing through diagnosis in his head in a critical situation. "It's viral, it has to be. It's already transmitted to two people," Sam went quiet again, thinking. He had to act fast. "I want her packed in as much ice as there's left, and I need those vials of Trypotophane."

"Daddy, what's happening?" Lexi's voice cracked.

Lexi's words echoed Max's when Logan found her and he had to take a minute to compose himself before answering his daughter. "Mommy and Uncle Zack are sick, they need to be taken care of."

"Someone take the kids out of here," Sam ordered, not harshly, but urgently. "I don't know how this virus transmits, so everyone here is under full quarantine, but I want the kids as far away as they can be."

"Logan, take care of Max," Tinga said. "I'll handle the rest of the stuff."

Sam turned to Tinga, remembering her from the night of the raid. "No, you're pregnant. You need to stay in one of the rooms with the kids."

"Like shit I am," Tinga snapped, in a full Manticore domineering voice. "There's no way in hell you can handle everything on your own Doc. Max and Zack are my siblings, I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing."

Sam was going to argue with her more, but he realized that it wasn't going to do any good. "Fine, but you do only as much as necessary."

While Sam and Tinga were talking Logan had laid Max down carefully on the other couch in the living room, She was still seizing and he could feel the tremors against his arms when he touched her.

"Jessie," Logan turned to his son, who was still standing in the same place he had been since he came home. "Mommy is very sick, I'm going to take care of her, but I need your help. I want you to grab the blanket and pillows off my bed and bring them out here, okay?"

Jessie hurried out of the room and came back in a few minutes, with the comforter and two of the four pillows off Max and Logan's bed. "Is this enough dad?"

"That's fine," Logan said, laying the pillow under Max's head. The blanket he placed at the end of the couch by Max's feet. Her fever was so high that he knew covering her up wouldn't prevent her body from getting rid of the excess heat. Logan cupped Max's forehead and turned back to his son. "Jess, take your cousin and sister into your room."

Jessie stared wide-eyed at his mother and Zack lying so still on the couches, looking very ill. "But Uncle Zack, Mom- Dad what's wrong with them?"

Logan was afraid to answer because he knew his son was old enough to be told the truth. "I don't know Jess. I just need you to do what I asked okay?"

Jessie locked eyes with his father, but turned two seconds later to do what Logan asked. He took Lexi's hand and started leading her to the hallway. But the girl was defiant, and kept pulling, crying to be let go.

"Mom?" this was Case, standing by the front door. He was eight-years-old, the oldest of all the kids; but he didn't feel like it, he felt terrified. "Will they be okay?"

"We'll make sure of it baby," Tinga told him, hearing her reassurance sounded weak even to her. "Just listen to Uncle Logan."

Case didn't need to be told twice; he crossed the living room and joined his cousins. He turned back to Tinga a second later. "What about Lucy? Aunt Max can't feed her if she's sick." Since learning he was going to be a big brother Case had read a lot about babies and their needs; wanting to be ready to help his parents out with his new sibling.

"There's bottles in the fridge Case," Logan reassured his nephew, stroking Max's forehead at the same time. "Lucy will be okay."

Case accepted the answer silently. He could feel Logan's eyes on him; and could tell that he really needed the kids to leave the living room. Case didn't know exactly why, but he had his mother's sense of perception and knew it was something very important. He took Lexi's other hand and between him and Jessie they managed to lead the girl down the bedroom, even though she fought with them all the way.

Sam measured out 15cc's of the Tryptophane into the syringe. Thankfully the vial that had shattered in the bathroom was the one that was only half full. He knelt in front of Zack with the needle. The fastest way for the Tryptophane to be absorbed into Zack's bloodstream would be the large Jugular vein in his neck. But the surgery to Zack's neck had built up a thin layer of scar tissue over the vein; and Sam knew it would make it hard for the needle to penetrate. So with Asha's help, Sam maneuvered the needle around to inject the Tryptophane into the Femoral artery in his left leg.

"Here," Sam handed the syringe to Tinga. "There's 15cc's left in the tube; and take this too,"  
Sam held out a round paper mask. "This thing could be airborne, I don't want you breathing it in."

Tinga took the syringe from Sam, as well as the mask, but she didn't put it on. She had already been in close vicinity with Max and Zack, if this virus was airborne, a mask wouldn't do any good now.

Tinga walked over to the couch and sat on the edge, touching the side of Max's face with the back of her hand; and looked up to Logan. "She's still consciouness Logan, hold her so she doesn't jerk from this."

Tinga waited until Logan had a firm grasp of Max's shoulders and then pierced Max's jugular with the needle. Her sister's reaction was more muted then she expected; but Max did jump like she's been electrocuted when the needle made contact with her body. In Manticore they had been routinely knocked out in their barracks only to awaken in a lab for medical testing; most involving painful needle piercing; inoculations, spinal taps. So Tinga knew what Max's reaction would be like when she was semi-conscious and felt a needle prick.

The Tryptophane started to take effect almost instantly, but Max and Zack's seizures tapered off slowly.

Logan had retrieved the last of the ice from the freezer and laid it across Max's chest, wiping her forehead with a rag he had wet in the sink. She was awake, but barely, her eyes opened to only half slits. "Logan?"

"I'm right here baby," Logan reassured, wiping down her neck with the rag. "You're going to be okay."

Sam felt the pulse in Zack's neck. The Tryptophane had stopped the seizures, but his pulse was still abnormally high. Sam's fingers brushed against something on Zack's skin. At first he thought was the scar tissue from Zack's emergency surgery. But the skin didn't feel rough like scar tissue. He pulled his hand back and saw a tiny circular inflammation right over Zack's jugular. "What is this?"

"What?" Asha was still beside Zack on the couch and she turned to see what Sam was looking at.

"This," Sam brushed his thumb against the mark on Zack's neck.

"A mosquito bite?" Asha took a guess. "Zack got bit by one outside of Crash last night."

Sam turned to the coffee table and started digging through his doctor's bag, and pulled out a magnifying glass. He held it up to Zack's neck, looking more closely at the mark. "It's a round inflammatory ring with a pinpoint mark in its center. There's no way that this could be a mosquito, they're suckers are too tiny to leave visible marks on the skin." Sam experienced a moment of clarity, facts starting to fall into place. "This is a needle mark, he's been injected with something."

"But I was with him when he said he got stung," Asha said. "I would've noticed if someone injected him with something."

"The injection site's on the scar tissue on his neck," Sam stated. "It's too thick for an insect stinger to penetrate. What ever it was it had to have been manmade."

"It could've been a dart. I've heard of a design that disintegrates after it comes into contact with the skin. And it's designed to feel like an insect bite." Tinga said, remembering hearing about these darts when she was still back at Manticore; but she had never used them because Lydecker insisted that they were there own greatest weapon. "Militants use them in covert biowarfare attacks." Tinga was realizing the possibility that Zack's illness wasn't just something that was in the air. "But that still doesn't explain how Max got sick too."

"It's some kind of virus," Sam said. "Zack transmitted it to Max. But I still don't know how; it can't be airborne or more people would've gotten sick by now." Sam set the magnifying glass down and turned his gaze up to Asha. "Did Max show any symptoms when you were bringing your husband here?"

"She was fine," Asha's voice was almost a shrill cry, but she kept it under control. Losing it wasn't an option right now. "I think, I don't know. I was concentrating on getting here; I could feel how hot Zack was and I wasn't even touching him."

"This doesn't make any sense!" Sam said frustrated. "I've got two people infected with the same virus. There has to be some connection between-" Sam broke off. He swiped his thumb across Zack's forehead, feeling the sweat that came up with his movement. He stared at it for half a second; realization almost knocked the wind out of him. "God-"

"What is it?" Asha cut in; scared at the doctor's panicked outburst.

"Sweat; Zack had it all over his body when Max carried him out to the car. The virus is spread by dermal contact."

"But I've touched Zack too," Asha said. "Since last night, that's longer then Max has. How come I haven't gotten sick?"

"I don't know," Sam's answer was honest, but laden with confusion. Viruses weren't prejudice with whom they infected. "But that's the only thing that connects Zack and Max in the last twenty four hours; it can't be anything else." Sam ripped open a pack of sterile alcohol wipes and wiped down his stethoscope and then his hands before slipping on a pair of latex gloves. The alcohol would do little to stop the spread of the virus, but it might be able to slow down its incubation.

"There's another connection you over looked Sam," Logan said. He had been thinking on something; something that had been gnawing at him for the past few minutes. But he didn't say it out loud, because voicing it would make real.

"What connection?" Sam asked; turning to Logan, puzzled, trying to think of something he would have over looked.

"Max and Zack are genetically related. Maybe the reason that none of the rest of us have gotten sick is because the virus wasn't mean to infect us. What if it's only meant to infect Manticore DNA?"

Sam Carr had been a doctor for twenty years. In that time he had gone through hundreds of stressful, live threatening moments in saving people's lives. But all those moments quickly paled in comparison to the scenario Logan had just given him. "Damn!" Sam's eyes shot from Max to Zack in a rapid three seconds. "You're right Logan. It's a designer virus engineered specifically to attack X5 genetics."

"Oh my God," Tinga looked down at her hands like they were attacking her body; suddenly realizing what this meant for her, and for the baby. "Logan-"

Tinga's next words never came out of her mouth because Sam jumped up from the couch and walked hurriedly over to her. "Have you had any symptoms since you came in contact with Max? Fever, headaches?" He removed his stethoscope and checked her heartbeat, and then moved it over her stomach to check the baby's; Tinga didn't object to either.

"No, none. Only Tinga's soldier learned restraint on her emotions kept her from screaming her answer.

Sam moved his stethoscope on different parts of Tinga's belly; checking for both fetal heart beats and noises of the baby moving in the amniotic sac. "The baby's heartbeat's still normal."

"But that doesn't mean I'm out of the woods." Tinga didn't ask this, she stated it as cold hard fact.

"I don't know," Sam responded. He replaced the stethoscope around his neck and stood up to meet worried look looming behind her eyes. "This thing has a very fast incubation period to begin with; but it also seems to speed up with each new infection; Max got sick much faster then Zack; but by that kind of viral pathology you should've been symptomatic by now."

"Sam what the _hell_ does all that mean?" Tinga barked out. She was scared; but anger overrode all other emotions at the moment.

"Your husband, he's not Manticore is he?" Sam asked, but it was rhetorical, and he went on speaking a second later. "That means your baby's genetics are only half Manticore; the infection can't spread like it should; and it's keeping the virus in check in your own body. But I don't know how long that will last."

A muffled dog bark cut through the living room. Kaja ran out of the hallway; her teeth deeply embedded in a stuffed toy.

"Kaja!" Jessie's voice trailed after the dog. The German Shepard skittered to a stop in front of the coffee table. Her black eyes settled on Sam; a person that rarely came to the Penthouse. Her animal protective instinct kicked in and she dropped the toy and started to bark angrily.

"Kaja stop! Be quiet!" Jessie ran to the dog; coming in-between the coffee table and the couch; inches from where Zack was laying.

"No, stop!" Sam yelled. His tone was so forceful that Jessie immediately stopped moving, turning his head towards Sam. "Keep the kids away from here. They're DNA is half Manticore, this virus can infect them too!"

"Manticore?" Jessie repeated the word in confusion; he had heard the word tossed around by his parents before, but had no idea what it meant.

Logan came around to his son and pulled him away from the couch. Logan had never been so physically forceful with one of his kids; but didn't have time to judge his actions right now; he couldn't have another member of his family infected.

"Dad, is Manticore a kind of virus? Is that what mom and Uncle Zack have?"

"No Jess," Logan answered. "Mom and Uncle Zack have something that's catching, we don't want you to get sick."

"Then what's Manticore?" Jess was as persistent as his mother, wanting all his questions answered on his timeframe.

With all the things Jessie had seen in his young life his parents had never told him about Manticore on a real world level. He had been too young to grasp something that complex; but Jessie asking that question meant that he was old enough to know the truth.

"I can't tell you about Manticore right now Jess," Logan said. His son deserved an answer; but it couldn't be now. "Right now you have to listen to me without questions; it's important? Okay?"

Kaja had stopped barking, but she was now whining in the back of her throat and pawing at the toy on the carpet.

Logan came over and picked up the torn up stuffed penguin. It was the same toy that Max had questioned about earlier. Kaja had ripped the belly open and polyester stuffing stuck out of its chest. The stuffing was white, but Logan could see a peaking of black in the center of the mound. He grabbed hold of the black object and pulled it out of the fuzz – it was a flat plastic compact zip disc.

"Where did this come from?" Logan was talking about the penguin, not the disc. The disc had come _inside _the toy; he wanted to know the origins of the stuffed bird.

"I found it," Jessie spoke up from where he was standing across the living room next to the black leather bar stools. "When Kaja ran out in the hall last night, I found it by the door. I thought it was one of Lexi's or Lucy's that she had run away with, so I put it in the nursery."

"Jess, remember what I said about listening to me without question? I need you to take Kaja and go back in your room. I'll check on you later, but I don't want you to leave from there again, am I clear?" Once again Logan was being forceful with his son, but the boy didn't fight him on it and nodded doing what he said a few seconds later.

"Logan what is it? Tinga asked after Jessie and the dog had left.

"It's a zip file. It was inside one the toys in Lucy's nursery, Max said she'd never seen it before." Logan walked the short distance to his office and grabbed his white IMac laptop, setting it down on the coffee table. He slid the disc inside the zip drive and typed commands to bring up the contents of the disc. "Damn it," he cursed when he received a warning window. "It's got a virus shield." A virus shield on a disc was calibrated to upload to a virus that would infect the computer before the file could be read unless it was cleaned up in the two minutes before the infection took place.

Asha knelt down next to Logan and looked at the commands on the computer screen. "Let me see," she turned the laptop to her without asking permission, but Logan relinquished it willingly. Asha typed in a new set of commands, reading the new results. "It's not a virus shield; it looks like it but it's a cryptex blocker, 25 bit encryption I think I can override it." She never thought her MIT learned computer abilities would be tested like this. She typed a series of numbers – manual override commands that would reset any encryption under 50 bits, turning all the cryptex numbers to zero. "I'm in." She brought up the file contents, scanning them quickly. "We need a computer with speakers; it's a sound file."

"Wait," Logan said. The file they were looking at contained a high level of protected encryption. And if he tried to close the programs and reopen them somewhere else it could very well lock him out all together. He stood back up and walked back over to his office. Beside the rectangular soundboard sat a single black high resonance speaker. He unplugged it from soundboard and brought it over to the coffee table; plugging it in to the media port on the back of his laptop.

A burst of static shot through the speakers, but after Logan adjusted its dials the static stopped. He turned the volume up as high as it would go and Asha opened the wave file.

A man's voice, medium in depth and with a pronounced African accent came through the speakers. _"I know that this file has come into the right hands because there are few other people with enough knowledge to break the access code."_ The sound was very clear, indicating that it was created over a very high tech connection.

"_I will not mince words. I am part of an Organization that has synthesized a very advanced designer virus. Its purpose - to infect an elite genetic group of people, known as Manticore Class X5. The virus is highly sophisticated; once symptoms occur, it spreads immediately by dermal contact; attacking primary body immune and nerve functions; resulting in extremely high fever loss of consciousness, and convulsions. _

_Our organization has one purpose alone for this virus. However we are aware of the personal connections of these Manticore prototypes and are willing to offer a compromise-a kill switch. This file contains the location of a laboratory where we have comprised an antidote serum. It must obtained and brought back to your location by only two individuals; and they must be unarmed and unmonitored. Be advised there is no other cure for this infection; death will occur in 48 hours if no treatment is given. Our rules must be followed to the letter or the deal will terminate, which will mean the termination of lives as well."_

The message cut off in a burst of static. Silence filled the room and not one of them moved for almost a full minute as they tried to absorb what they had just heard. The standstill in action was finally broken when Zack started seizing again.

Sam immediately ran to the couch and placed his stethoscope on Zack's chest. "Damnit! His tacicaridic. He's going to rupture an artery if we can't get the seizure under control." Sam filled a syringe with the liquid Tryptophan. There were no more clean needles available so he was forced to use the same one he had earlier. There were numerous infections that could occur with using a dirty needle; but that wasn't the biggest worry on Sam's mind. There were only 20 cc's of Tryptophan left in the vial, not excluding the 5cc's he had just extracted; at this rate the medication would run out before the seizures did.

It took two tries to inject the medication because the seizures jerked Zack's body relentlessly.

But Sam didn't have time to ask for assistance. He held Zack's leg down with his forearm and stabbed the needle hard through his jeans to get it reach the artery in his leg.

"Oh God," Asha wanted to move to the couch, but her legs wouldn't move. She stood frozen in complete fear watching her husband convulse as a deadly disease wrecked havoc on his body. Nausea suddenly gripped her stomach She didn't know if it was fear or her morning sickness that had brought it on, but she didn't have any time to ponder it and ran out of the room to the nearest bathroom.

She ran down the wood walled hallway. Vomit rose into her throat and she almost choked on it as she crashed through the partially open doorway of the kids' bathroom. She retched into the toilet; she had nothing in her system but tea, which came up with clear noxious stomach acid. Another spasm hit her stomach, but her body refused to loose anything else and only a dry heave escaped her mouth.

She flushed away the evidence of her sickness, and started to climb up off her knees. "Asha?" She heard Logan's voice and felt his hands on her arms helping her up.

Asha turned around so that she was facing Logan, making him release his hold on her arms. But then she gripped his right forearm with her left hand and let him help her pull her to her feet, letting his arm go the second she was standing upright.

"Logan I'm fine." Asha answered the question she saw behind Logan's eyes as she pushed past him out of the bathroom. She didn't need anyone to be concerned about her; she wasn't the one who needed to be worried about.

When she came back into the living room Sam was leaning over Zack's body with his stethoscope. Zack had stopped seizing, but his stillness scared the hell out of Asha.

"What happened?" Asha asked her question as she pushed her way between Sam and her husband, sitting on the edge of the couch.

"The Tryptophane wasn't enough, the seizures only stopped because his body is trying desperately to preserve what little energy it has left." Sam's words were very grave, almost panicked.

Asha half listened to what the doctor was saying. She cupped Zack's forehead then moved her hand down the side of his face. His fever was still very high, but she was touching him to comfort him, should any part of his consciousness be able to detect it.

"What about Max?" Asha shifted her gaze over to the other couch where Max was lying as still as her brother.

"She seems okay." Tinga said, speaking with more conviction then she felt. She was sitting in the black leather armchair sat at the head of the coffee table. Her feet were propped up on a matching leather footrest in front of the chair. So far Tinga hadn't presented with any of the symptoms that were wreaking havoc on her siblings; but that didn't mean that she wasn't infected. Sam had her elevate her legs to slow down the virus's progression through her bloodstream. Tinga wasn't happy with this position; she was only compiling with Sam's wishes to protect the baby as much as she could from the infection.

Tinga bit her lip to keep from uttering any curses at Sam; he had to do what was needed to help them. But right now Tinga felt fine, and extremely useless just sitting there. She was a soldier, doing nothing wasn't something that she did. She focused her attention on Max.

Max's cheeks were flushed a scarlet red; and her breathing was deep, but she wasn't asleep. It was like she was trying desperately to rise to a conscious state that her body wouldn't allow.

"She's stable for now," Sam agreed, moving off the couch so Asha could have more room to sit by Zack. "They both are. But I don't know how much longer it will last."

"Sam what are you saying?" Logan asked. He was mimicking Asha's position; sitting on the edge of the couch beside Max. He took her hand in his and stroked it, turning to face Sam. He hadn't asked a question, it was a demand.

"This virus is killing them," Sam said, the detached doctor tone had been taught to use completely absent; in its place was real human emotion. "It was designed too. They're bodies can't take this kind of havoc indefinitely; eventually they will shut down." Sam hated every piece of medical knowledge he knew that forced him to say this.

Asha's heart thudded a long painful beat against her chest, and she knew that same feeling was echoed in Logan and Tinga. "What about the kill switch?" Her mind was too shocked to completely absorb what Sam said; and more importantly she refused to accept it.

"Most likely it's a fake," Sam said, feeling the anger behind Asha's eyes attack him. "These people engineered this virus to kill its subjects; they wouldn't create an antidote to reverse it."

"Then why the hell would they bother advertising it?" Asha's anger transferred from her eyes to her voice. "All they had to was infect they're targets and then sit back and watch them die; not blast out some damn monologue!"

"It has to be a trap," Logan stated. He was three seconds away from screaming in anger like Asha; this was happening to all of them. But anger would cloud his judgment; and he needed a clear head as much at this moment as he needed air to breathe. "These men knew where to find Zack, knew that there were other X5's in the city to spread the infection they gave him. That's too much knowledge to just pick up arbitrarily. They'll know what our response will be, and that means they've planned for it."

"At least someone has fucking _planned _for it!" Asha yelled, her voice filled with as much venom as Zack's when he was angry. It was as if all the rage that Zack couldn't express at the moment was being channeled through her. "But I don't give a _shit_ if they've planned out their victory party afterwards; I'm not just going to sit here and watch my husband die." Asha leaned way over the coffee table and snatched the laptop off the coffee table.

"What are you doing?" Tinga screwed Sam's orders to remain seated and climbed out of the chair, walking over to where Asha was.

"This disk is formatted with an encrypted IP address." Asha's typing was as furious as her voice. "I'm going to break it, get this guy's location and shoot his dick up his ass."

"Make sure you keep him alive long enough to learn if this antidote is more then just BS," Tinga said.

"I'm not planning to kill him Tinga; he's not getting off that easily." Asha's typed a series of commands into a file execution box and brought up the formatting codes of the zip disc. The longest one of these codes was a 15- bit encryption; that she knew after looking at it she knew the IP address was encrypted into the code. It was a string of numbers, letters as well as random generated symbols; a code meant to look intimidating.

"Even if you crack it's probably a dead address." Logan said. He didn't want to tell Asha what not to believe; but he was realistic. "This shadowy organization engineered a designer virus; I doubt that they were stupid enough to leave a breadcrumb trail."

"Logan, I'm a hacker. Trust me, there's no such thing as a program that doesn't leave a trail; at least not one that people think about." Asha responded, not looking up from her fast paced typing. "This address is a 36-bit encryption; a coding system that only shows up when there's continuous active use of a database. The eight at the end are the IP coordinates of the system that created this file. They get encrypted when the file is transferred outside of the main location." She typed a set of numbers into a command box – a sequence command that she hoped would break through the encryption – and held her breath waiting. Nothing happened for five long minutes, then a new sequence replaced the encrypted address.

Asha's eyes darted over the new code, "Damn it!"

"What's wrong?" Logan asked. "Did you get the location?"

"Yeah, I got it!" Asha's retorted. "It's in Burkina Faso. Which means there has to be a middleman here in the states. But wherever they are; they have no secondary server location. Their systems just echo off the ones in Africa; any trace will just link back to the main system. It gives them total amenity-" Asha slammed the laptop closed and angrily swiped it across the coffee table.

"Asha stop!' Logan managed to catch the laptop before it hit his hardwood floor. She glared up at him, but there was more pain then anger in her eyes. A pain that he could very well relate too. "Let's print out the coordinates of this laboratory the deal's supposed to go down at. Once we have a definitive location I can run a resonance trace-"

"And what makes you think they haven't blocked their systems from interception?" Asha retorted.

"You said it yourself: there's no such thing as a program that doesn't leave a trail." Logan insisted. "We have to try-" he looked over at Max lying on the couch. "I can't live the consequences if we don't. And neither could you."

Logan's words left a heavy feeling in Asha's chest. Like a leaden weight was pressing against her ribcage. She sat once more the edge of the couch, caressing Zack's forehead with her hand. His skin was still unnaturally warm from the fever; and he was coated in what seemed like gallons of sweat. She had never seen him look so vulnerable, so beaten – he was running out of time.

Asha didn't take her eyes off her husband when she spoke her next words. "If you're going to do something Logan, you better hurry the hell up."

XXXXXXXXX

They're might be some inquires about the kids ages, but I screwed it up when I first wrote the fic, Case was about four when Max first met him, technically he should be 11 if Jessie is 7, but I've already established in several chapters that he's only a year older then Max's son so I just kept it that way.

More to come…just check out the next part!


	28. Lack of Control Part Two

Choices 27 – "Lack of Control"

Part Two

Before we get things rolling, I hope everyone is enjoying the ride. They are? Good…

XXXXXXXXX

CHEYENNE, WYOMING

"There's no need to be worried; we're very pleased with the progress you're making." The voice was calm, reassuring, but not human. It was a robotic computer tone.

It was being transmitted through a headset receiver that was being worn by a dark haired man dressed in a white business shirt with the top three buttons undone, and a thin sheen of perspiration clearly visible on his neck. The person he was talking to was in the same vast concrete room as he was but a completely black four-inch thick glass wall separated them. The glass was soundproof so he could only hear whom he was talking too via the headset. As well as being soundproof, the glass was also a two way, and even though he could see nothing from his side, the man knew he was being closely watched. The computer-simulated voice that transmitted through his headset gave the Director a completely anonymous voice.

"Thank you," the man responded to the Director's praise, feeling the lacking end to his remark. He could not used "Ma'am" or "Sir" because no one knew except a few top members knew what the Director looked like. Secrecy – even from its affiliates – was top priority in the establishment. "The drop off occurs tonight. We've taken the necessary precautions to ensure totally privacy of all involvement."

"Good," the computerized tone masked any emotion in the Directors words; but the next words spoken were backed with such fierceness that they seemed to break through the monotony of the voice machine. "The precautions you've taken, they must be flawless. I am no someone who takes reassurances lightly."

Another bead of sweat unconsciously sprang up on the man's neck. He made no movement to wipe the perspiration away because doing so would allow the Director to see a weakness. He worked in a cooperation on paper, but nothing more. The workers were only responsible for themselves; weakness was something that wouldn't be tolerated; it would be exploited.

A loud high toned beeped emitted from a speaker hidden in the gray wall. It was the signal that the Director was done with the conversation.

The man stood up from the metal chair he had been sitting on, not saying anything more. He knew the Director's receiver was off now, and nothing he would say would be heard. He felt the sweat start to slide down his neck and back, but he still restrained himself from wiping it off. The Director didn't wish to converse with him anymore, but he was still being watched from the other side of the double sided mirror. He stood up and walked across the room; standing in front of a seemingly solid wall, but after a few seconds the gray concrete parted revealing the metal interior of an elevator car. The solid concrete, the lack of any windows, or clocks all made the briefing room intimidating. But what made it the most foreboding was that it was fifty feet below the main complex; accessed only by the single elevator the man was now walking into. It was in reality, a subterranean interrogation room.

The elevator doors closed heavily, and the man leaned against the steel wall, letting the stress from the meeting finally express itself. The phone in his pants pocket rang shrilly. He answered it; despite the almost complete lack of signal from how far underground he was. He already knew who would be calling and his words would be short.

"The Director just finished the review. It's a go." He flipped the phone closed and was silent for the rest of the ascent.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

JAM PONY

"Hey!" Normal had just watched Alec come down the ramp – having just returned from a run -and carelessly dropping his bike in a pile next to the dispatch desk. "Company property! Treat it with more respect!"

Alec picked up the bike by its handlebars, but he didn't move it anywhere, and instead grabbed a scrap of paper that had been trapped under the spokes of the bike's wheels, then letting the bike fall back to the concrete floor. Normal began another round of insults at Alec for his total disrespect his 'equipment'. Alec, however, chose to ignore him and unfolded the piece of paper – a phone number from the curvy single blonde he had just made a drop too –grinning at the remembrance of the low cut red halter she wore that did nothing to cover her ample breasts. Alec always had respect for his equipment; it just wasn't the same equipment that Normal was thinking of.

"The next piece of paper you get is going to be pink mister if you don't start doing your job better!" Normal said to Alec's retreating figure, muttering: "Why I thought he was a golden boy I'll never know," as he watched Alec disappear down a cubby of metal lockers.

Alec spun the combination of his locker without even looking, keeping his eyes focused on the 7 digit number written on the piece of crumpled paper. Being bred to multitask never had so many advantages before. The lock disengaged and the metal door squeaked open on it's own. Alec removed his messenger bag from his shoulder and shoved it inside the locker, taking out the set of keys to his bike. The door to the locker suddenly slammed shut and Alec – even with his fast reflexes – barely had time to move his arm before it got caught.

Jondy stood beside his locker, her hand on the now shut door, showing that she had executed the earlier maneuver. "Let's go big boy; I need you."

An amused look flashed over Alec's eyes. "I knew you'd come around eventually-" his words were cut off when Jondy grabbed his arm and slammed him against the group of lockers on the opposite side from his.

"I don't have time to indulge whatever fantasy is playing through your mind right now Alec!" Jondy's voice was low, but commanding. "Now shut up and move you're skinny soldier boy ass right now!" Jondy was part Manticore, part Zack's sister, and the results of that combination were very threatening. She didn't wait for Alec to respond, she grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the lockers and back into the 'main area' of the delivery service.

Alec had allowed her to pull him out of the lockers. He was just as strong as Jondy; had he not wanted to follow her he wouldn't have made it this easy for her.

"Can I at least ask where we're going?" Alec asked.

"No time," Jondy didn't look back as she released his arm. "Just get your bike and-"

"Excuse me girly," Normal's voice interrupted Jondy's retort. He came out from behind the dispatch desk, a brown clipboard held high against his chest. "Since you obviously don't work here, I'm informing you of our policy against stealing my employees before their shift is over to go be dirty behind a trash can."

"I so don't have time for this," Jondy said in more anger then annoyance. She turned back to Normal, hitting him with a hard, X5 look. "And since it's that obvious that I don't work here I don't really give a shit about your regulations. So I suggest you take _that_ behind a trash can and get dirty with it." She turned back to Alec, ignoring the stunned, angry look on Normal's face. "Let's go."

Alec followed her up the ramp, knowing that now Normal was probably screaming about his being fired from inside.

Jondy was already straddling her bike when Alec came out of the building into the rainy Seattle afternoon. She obviously wasn't going to answer his question of where they were going with words; she was going to show him and expected him to keep up. So he didn't ask again and climbed onto his bike – a lime green Yamaha NX-600 – and followed her away from Jam Pony.

The corridor was stone gray, and long, seemingly endless. There were no window and, no doorways leading off of it. Max walked down it, but she couldn't tell how far she had gone because each part of the hall was the same as the last.

_She walked for what felt like 10 minutes, before resting her hand against one of the concrete walls, pressing the side of her face against it. She felt dizzy, but not like she had back at the apartment, it was an otherworldly sensation, a feeling that told her she didn't belong in whatever place this was. _

"_Max?" _

_Max raised her head from the wall, and turned around. Zack was standing about a foot in front of her. "Zack?" her voice cast just the faintest echo, and she moved towards him. Walking felt more like she was floating, and she seemed to hover, not stand, in front of Zack once she reached him._

_He was dressed in the same clothes she saw him in at the apartment, and a quick look down at herself told her she was wearing the same clothes she had on that morning. Everything felt like a dream, hazy, and shadowy in places. But despite the dreamlike qualities, the place felt too real, not like a dream at all._

"_Zack are you okay?" Zack didn't look as sick as he did before she blacked out, but there was something off about him, as if he wasn't fine-tuned enough. She looked around the silent gray hallway they stood in. "What is this place?" _

"_I don't know," even Zack's words seemed to lack the vibrancy she was used to hearing and his voice gave no echo the way hers did. "I don't know how I got here, or where 'here' is."_

"_You were sick-" Max began, trying to connect something from what had happened earlier to where they were now. "-convulsing. I went to get some Tryptophane, but something happened, I blacked out with, seizures-"_

_Zack was staring intently at Max, looking very much concerned at what had happened. What had happened to her was exactly what had happened to him. He looked down at his hands, touching the flat of one palm to another. He felt the touch, but it was cold around the edges, fading. He wasn't dead; something, some pull inside him told him that. Wherever he and Max were was somewhere in-between death and life._

"_What the hell is going on?" Max demanded. "Where are we?"_

"_Someplace you have no business being in!" the words were angry, but spoken in a normal pitch. But it was the loudest most vibrant sound in the bleakness so Max found herself unconsciously clinging to it. _

_At the visual end of the hallway stood Lydecker, dressed in an expensive charcoal black suit, every aspect of it immaculate. "I told you that you had no business being here Zack!" Deck didn't raise his voice any higher or moved from his position but the hallway echoed his tone loudly. His eyes were locked on Zack and even with the distance Zack could feel the intensity of the gaze. Not only did you disobey a direct order, but you brought Max down with you-"_

"_Shut up!" Max screamed loudly, but only a small echo was all that trailed after her words. Seeing Lydecker suddenly made her realize that the hallway looked liked the ones at Manticore. "What the hell is this place?" _

_Lydecker started walking towards them, but each step seemed to take him no closer then where he started. "I told you that you have no business being here!"_

"_You think we had a fuckin' choice in the matter?" Zack snapped. "Answer the question old man!"_

"_You do not issue out the orders Zack," Deck's voice had lowered, but his voice was steely. _

_Zack didn't have a chance to offer a retort. A loud cracking noise boomed above their heads. Zack and Max looked up to see a huge chunk of the ceiling give way and drop. _

_Zack pulled Max away a second before the concrete crashed to the ground. He and Max had no time to ask what was going on before a much louder rumble pierced the hallway. The ceiling began to cave in on itself, dropping huge pieces of solid concrete to the ground. _

_Zack pushed Max in front of him and they ran, but no matter how far they got the crumbling roof still rained down on them. A piece of concrete that almost as big as a door knocked into Max, throwing her sideways into the wall. She only felt a very muted pain despite how heavy the piece was that hit her. She heard Zack scream her name. Then an intense feeling was crushing through her chest, like someone had tied a rope around her heart and was pulling her somewhere with it. She tried to answer Zack but her voice was gone._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

A desperate gasp emitted from Max's mouth, her eyes snapping open.

"Max!" Logan had been in the kitchen, but was at her side in less than five seconds. Max turned her eyes to the sound of his voice, but her eyes were, glazed unfocused.

Sam was at Max's side as well. Max had been unconscious for almost two hours. "Max, it's Sam Carr, can you hear me?" While Sam talked he placed the end of the stethoscope on her chest. Her heart was still racing. A check of her neck revealed that her lymph glands were swollen to the point that they were rock hard under his hands a sign that the infection was ravaging her body. "Max?" Sam shined a pen light in Max's eyes, to check her pupils and to try and rouse her more.

Max turned her head at the sound of the voice, her brows dipped in confusion at seeing Sam in front of her. "Zack."

"He's okay," Logan said, knowing that his words lacked any real truth, but he fought hard to keep it from showing. "You'll both be okay," he caressed her forehead.

Max seemed to meld into his touch, but it only lasted an instant before a painful cry escaped her mouth and a seizure overtook her.

"Damnit!" Sam checked her heartbeat with the stethoscope, having to hold her chest down with his free hand because of the spasms that shook her body. "Her heart's beating so fast it's almost not registering, it's going to burn out if it's not slowed down." He snapped his head up to Tinga who was standing behind the couch. "We have to risk moving her to the tub. She needs to be packed in ice to slow down her metabolic rate. Grab as much ice-" Sam's words cut off when Max's violent seizures suddenly stopped, and she went completely limp.

"Maxie, _Maxie!" _ Tinga cried in alarm, bending over the couch to see her baby sister's face. Her back was killing her from being in that position, but she shut it out, her eyes locked on Max. "Is she okay?"

Sam checked Max's heart again; it had slowed down but not by much. "She passed out. Her body can't deal with the strain so it shut down everything that isn't vital to keep itself alive."

"Max," Logan looked down at his wife, she looked completely spent, nothing like her normally vibrant self. He looked back up at Sam. "How long can this go on?" The tone of the question demanded nothing but the truth.

Sam locked eyes with him. "If there is an antidote, it needs to be found, _now_."

A shrill ring made Logan jump because of all the tension that was in the room. It took him several seconds to realize that the ring had come from his cell phone that was lying on the coffee table.

He picked the phone up and flipped it open, "Yeah?"

"_Logan we're here,"_ Jondy's voice came over the other end. _"The door's locked, but I figured picking it isn't something to do in this situation." _

"Wait one second," Logan's response was clipped, but this wasn't a friendly conversation, and he knew Jondy knew that as well. He switched the phone to its walkie-talkie feature, tuning the frequency to the same one on Jondy's phone, which had the same two-way radio feature. "You still there Jondy?"

"_Where the hell else would I be Logan?"_ Jondy retorted, none of her usual humor in her voice. She was too tense to joke.

"I've printed out the map to the drop off point, wait outside and I'll give it to you." Logan picked up a glossy satellite map from the paper tray of his laser printer, and then slowly walked towards the front door, keeping part of his gaze on Max the entire time.

Jondy picked up the faint sound of Logan's hand grasping the doorknob before he even turned it, and she opened the door before he did. Logan looked startled, but only for an instant, then closed the door behind him and stepping out into the hallway.

"Here," Logan handed Jondy the map. "The drop's southwest of here."

"What Sector?" Jondy asked, scanning the layout of the map, which showed an aerial view of the very end of a city's business district and the beginnings of a partially cleared forest dotted with factory buildings and warehouses.

"It's not in Seattle, Logan answered. "It's on the outskirts of Cheyenne."

Both Jondy and Alec snapped their heads up to Logan at the mention of the capital of Wyoming. Before it was disbanded, Manticore's location was in Gillette, a small city-town only 20 miles outside of Cheyenne. And Jondy and Alec already knew that the fact that these two locations were so close together had nothing to do with coincidence.

Alec moved to take the map from Jondy, but on an afterthought he retracted his hand and turned his attention back to Logan. "You've been around Max all this time-"

"The virus is only communicable from direct contact between people with Manticore DNA, I can't transmit it." Logan answered Alec's question before he fully asked it "So you two should be okay." His reassurance was lost in way the words came out of his mouth.

"Oh yeah, we'll be great," Jondy returned in dry sarcasm. She then looked at Logan, taking full stock of the worried, weary expression in his face. "How are they?" She watched Logan's expression deteriorate even more at her question.

"They're alive," Logan's words were quiet, painfully honest. He seemed to keep from falling apart by only a thin thread of his stubbornness. "You need to go, traffic is still thick, it'll take at least 18 hours just to drive there and back– and they may not even have that long." His voice cracked at the very end, but he quickly masked it with a stolid faced look; the same expression he had made Eyes Only famous for.

"Here, you'll need these." Logan held out twp small, black circular items, electronic two-way communicators. They were no larger then coat buttons –designed in order to be concealed in plain sight – but they were still highly sensitive They had a receiving range of up to 500 yards. Touching the top of the device activated transmission back and forth.

Both Jondy and Alec wore black leather jackets and after they affixed the communicators –via magnetic clips – to the outside of their jackets, they were affectively camouflaged.

The silence that followed was deafening, a quiet that threatened to crush them all if something wasn't said.

"Alec," Logan said. "I know there's no love loss between you and Zack. But that's my wife in there, and that's her brother-" His gaze on Alec alone at that moment would have made him an honorary X5. But it was also backed up with a low, fierce tone that made him very intimidating.

"I'm not about to let them die Logan," Alec's words were completely serious, a soldier's word of honor. "Not like this." He wasn't Zack's best friend, but he realized in that moment, all jokes aside, Zack _was_ his friend, and so was Max. And Alec wasn't about to let them be taken down by people who were so cowardly they had to have a designer virus do their dirty work for them.

Jondy slapped the map against Alec's chest and walked the three-step distance over to Logan. She hugged him, feeling his hands in her long hair as he returned her embrace. "Take care of our family." She pulled back, and turned to face Alec, a hard look of fierce determination in her eyes. "Let's go give those sons-of-bitches what's coming to them."

XXXXXXXXXX

PUGET SOUND

2:00 PM

The sands along the water were disturbed every few seconds by small waves lapping at them, washing up years of discarded trash to the already dirty shore. There had been a time when Puget Sound was beautiful, with the smells of warm gray sand mixed with salty seawater and the gentle clanking noises of fishing boats moored to nearby docks echoed off the water. But now, it reeked of decay from discarded garbage and was enclosed by a ten-foot high perimeter chain linked fence, making even curious teenagers and tourists shy away from it.

But a handful of people still came to the shores of the Sound. Men who had once fished the open water in their boats climbed through weak spots in the fence, casting homemade lines from the sand, hoping to find enough fish still living in the polluted waters to either sell for profit or feed to their families. Even in the daytime they built fires along the beaches for warmth and their orange glows were dotted all along the shoreline.

Next to one of these fires – sitting with his legs folded in front of him – was the man who had infected Zack with the virus. He drew one hand into the inner pocket of his jacket removing two leather bound items, a Passport and an Alien Seattle Sector Pass, both under false names. He threw them both into the fire, watching them burn. He would receive a new set of identification tonight to avoid leaving a trail. The owner of the fire, who sat on it's other side, paid his actions no attention, keeping his eyes on the empty beer can buoy tied to his fishing line. It was an unspoken rule with these men that the less they knew about somebody else's business, the better. That way, if anything went bad, they could deny ever knowing what went on.

The man removed another item from his coat pocket; a second tipped dart created in case the first one didn't hit its mark. He held it carefully to avoid being pricked and dropped it into the fire as well. The chemicals inside the dart exploded in a loud pop and turned the flames light blue while it burned out.

This time the fire's owner turned his head; his bushy black brows creasing over green tinted eyes set into a face made more of curly gray whiskers then flesh.

A quiet vibrating danced across the man's breast. He stood up and brushed the grains of sand from his pants. He then looked at the former fisherman, and – speaking in French – told him: "Early fireworks for you old man." He flipped the phone open, but didn't say anything while he walked away from the small fire.

The fisherman rolled his eyes, upset that he had wasted time turning his head for nothing spectacular, and cast his gaze back out to his line.

The man walked back up to the fence that surrounded the Sound, standing right along side the massive aluminum enclosure while he listened to the voice on the other line. This was a phone call where he wouldn't need to make conversation; all he was required to do was listen.

A sarcastic smile crossed his lips when he recognized the computer synthesized voice used only by the Director; something he always found annoying. But it disappeared seconds later. The Director held such invisible force over the entire organization it felt as though this person had the power to kill people from anywhere.

He listened for several more minutes, before flipping the phone closed and placing it back in his pocket. A crease of confusion – not unlike the one on the fisherman – crossed his brow. The Director had just given him a new order, one that he didn't understand. But he was smart enough not to question things. He knew very well that he only a pawn in the organization; and he valued his life more then he valued answers to his questions.

He bent low and squeezed his way through the same small hole in the fence he had come it, biting back a gasp when a sharp end of a link tore through his jacket sleeve and sliced him across the arm. He shook off the barely-there injury and walked the short distance to where he had left his bike – a lemon yellow Kawasaki Motorcross Hybrid with gleaming silver spokes. He was very glad that his superiors were letting him keep the bike for the duration of his mission. The machine was a magnet for women and he intended to take advantage of it whenever he got the chance. He climbed on it, gunned the engine and pulled out into the one lane road that led away from the Sound.

XXXXXXX

7: 45 PM

Jondy was regretting ever taking her bike. At first it had been purely for practical reasons – her motorcycle had more power then Alec's; and they would cover more ground by only having to keep track of one vehicle.

But after over a hundred miles of sitting behind Alec in the saddle seat - listening to him pop and revv her poor motorcycle's engine to the point that it sounded like things wee ripping loose inside the engine – she was seriously wondering what the hell she was thinking.

Though her current situation had one plus – one that she would never admit too – holding onto to Alec for leverage was nice. Nice in the sense of what she was feeling through his clothes. Manticore made it a point to make everyone they created attractive; it was useful during mission strategies. And Jondy could see why. But she threw the thought away in anger; her brother and sisters lives were in danger; she could get off later.

The double lane road they were traveling on was paved, but weathered and cracked; and around it was a forest of evergreen trees, dense in places, but also with large clearings created from where trees had been cut down long ago. The sun was low in the western part of the sky, but the trees blocked out most of this light, casting the road in a gray light with elongated shadows.

They had cross the border into Wyoming an hour ago; and as Jondy observed the forest around her, memories of Manticore struck her whichever way she looked into the trees. She had trained in a forest like this, loaded down with weapons, weapons they used readily because Manticore was secluded and the forest was thick, so no one could hear what went on.

Jondy removed one hand from Alec's waist and unrolled the satellite map she was holding. The Ninja was going 90 mph but she was equipped with a keen sense of balance and it didn't faze her. She scanned the map for a few seconds; then rolled it back up, signaling Alec with her hand a second later to stop. The motorcycle cut to an abrupt stop, making the tires squeak loudly from the friction.

"Damnit Alec, watch that!" Jondy hissed at him. "I just got those tires, and we're supposed to be going for a covert approach remember?"

"We're way the hell out in the middle of nowhere Jondy," Alec returned, looking over his shoulder at her. "You planning on setting up on some woodland creatures?"

"We're not that far out there dipstick," Jondy snapped in a low voice. "The map shows a road that intersects with this one twenty yards ahead, and it doesn't lead to more forest."

Alec shut up after that and cranked up the bike, but just enough to turn the engine on. He coasted the motorcycle to the right edge of the road, stopping after it cleared the first line of trees.

Jondy dismounted, and pulled down low lying branches of pine needles from the trees closest to them, laying them across the across the bike's body for camouflage.

Alec unstrapped a black nylon bag from the back of the motorcycle. He unbuttoned the top flap and pulled out two guns, a .45 caliber Vector and a handheld Colt .65 caliber semi-automatic. He held them both out to Jondy. "Choose your candy."

Jondy took the Vector from him as well as the extra clip of bullets he held out afterwards, placing the gun in the waistline at the back of her jeans and tucked the clip in next to it.

Alec cocked the semi-automatic, popping out an empty bullet shell from the chamber, before placing the gun at his back like Jondy had done. He closed the nylon bag and shouldered it on his back with the two straps that were sewn into the back. He glanced over at Jondy, "You ready?"

"We were born ready Alec," was Jondy's response.

"Right answer," Alec returned, not bothering to repress a smile at her cockiness. Here was a woman after his own heart. He walked out of the clearing, erasing the tire tracks in the dirt with his foot as he walked. He came to the edge of the tree line and scanned the area in all directions. There were no noises except for the faint calling of birds getting ready to bed down for the night.

Alec turned back to Jondy. "Ladies first."

Jondy glared at him, but let her next words express how she felt about his retort: "Then go ahead."

Alec let her remark slide and stepped out onto the road, Jondy coming up next to him. They skulked the twenty yards down the exposed road to where the satellite map said there would be an adjoining road. And sure enough it was there. The new road was narrow, made of crumbling asphalt like the other one. Ten feet down stood a huge fallen tree trunk stretched out across the entire length of the road. After Jondy and Alec came up to it, they could see that, the edges of the trunk were clean, most likely cut with some kind of high-powered chain saw. This tree had not fallen on the road on accident; the width of the trunk was almost fifteen feet high, effectively blocking out whatever lay behind it; it had been cut purposely to keep curious onlookers from seeing too much.

On either side of the road where the tree had fallen were huge, seemingly bottomless trenches, completely black in the half-light of evening, making going around the trunk impossible. The entire setup was a created security measure. But it was one that Jondy and Alec conquered easily by leaping first on top of the tree trunk then back down on the other side.

Jondy checked to make sure the gun at her back hadn't been dislodged, then cast her gaze to what lay ahead of her.

The road kept going for five or so more feet then ended to a man made clearing where a large two story concrete building stood surrounded by a barbed wire fence. There was one lookout tower on the west end of the fence, and a bright halogen spotlight swept slowly across the perimeter of the clearing.

Alec took in the sight of the building. "Feels like home huh?" It was much smaller, but everything about that place was almost structurally identical to Manticore.

The halogen searchlight began moving towards the fallen tree trunk where Alec and Jondy were standing. They both ducked low, pressing their bodies as close to the tree trunk as they could. The beam was too large for them to avoid being caught in it; but they remained completely motionless, and it was obvious they went undetected because light continued on its rotation.

Both X5's remained in a crouch, watching the searchlight move far enough away from them; then they ran silently up the remainder of the road, stopping at the fence. Jondy took a moment to gauge it. It was only 10 feet high – they could easily jump it – but all along the top ran a twisted coil of jagged barbed wire adding an extra two feet to the fence's overall height; making the scaling extremely more difficult.

Jondy went first She backed up almost four feet, took a running head start and jumped, landing just below the barbed wire on the same side. She then flipped over backwards with enough momentum to clear coils of barbed wire. She landed silently on the other side, looked around in the darkness, and then turned to give Alec an "all clear" signal. Alec jumped over the fence the same way she had just done, and landed just as quietly beside her.

They tensed when the loud barking of a dog sounded off from somewhere behind the complex. Alec aimed his gun into the night, pushing Jondy behind him. The latter of his actions was only done because she was physically small enough to be hidden behind him, allowing for a sneak attack should anyone come.

The dog's barking grew louder, and soon a large black German Shepard rounded the east corner of the building followed by a guard dressed casually in a dark blue security uniform. The dog raced ahead of the guard and leapt at something in the grass, coming back up with a chunk of raw steak. The guard had thrown it to the animal, both for food and to keep its senses alert for tearing flesh.

Alec and Jondy watched the dog tear apart the meat while the guard looked on in amusement. After a few seconds of this being the only sounds they heard, a clicked sounded off a foot in front of them. They were both soldiers, and even if they weren't it wouldn't be hard to mistake the cocking sound of the M4 rifle that was now being aimed at them.

The person who held the gun was a man, tall, dressed in a long gray trench coat, making him look a little ridiculous, like a businessman handling a soldier's weapon, but his hard expression made him formidable. "I'm glad my directions were easy to follow." His words were laced with a thick African accent. analysis of them. "His word was a cue for after he had spoken it; the sounds of footsteps came out of the dark as a group of five men also armed with M4's circled Alec and Jondy. He looked over the pair – looking more over Jondy then Alec –The night air isn't good for one's body."

Even though all the men surrounding them were armed, Jondy and Alec could have fought their way out, their abilities as soldiers more then making up for their lack of weapons. But they had come here to find the antidote this group of militia claimed they had; fighting them now would no doubt cause them to lock down any information they had. So they had to offer no resistance, for now.

The man in front of them smiled, like he had just invited guests into his home. "Shall we?"

XXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

"_The virus is very well made; there seem to be no weak spots to exploit." _ The tone of Sebastian's voice box lacked any emotion, but the message of his words was clear.

"None at all?" Logan stared into the face of his old friend through the television screen. He had called Sebastian, hopping that he would have some lead, or even a theory on how to kill the virus without having the antidote. Logan didn't trust the men who created it to honor their deal and he wanted a Plan B.

"_The Africans are experts in the designer virus field. This one looks to be one of their best creations." _ Sebastian paused, _"I'm sorry Logan, I know that's now what you want to hear."_

"It's not," Logan agreed in frustration.

"_How is Max doing?"_ Sebastian asked.

"Not good." Logan rubbed a hand across his eyes. "Keep looking for some kind of way in; there's no such thing as a locked box." He pulled out the earpiece and switched off the computer screen. He stood up from the chair and walked over to the couch where Max was, sitting slowly on the edge of it.

Sam lifted the stethoscope from Tinga's back after she jumped. "Does your back hurt?"

Tinga was sitting on Logan and Max's bed resting her head against the mahogany headboard and holding a pillow against her stomach; her back was to Sam. "My back's been hurting for the last month doc," Tinga responded over her shoulder. "Those things are just always so damn cold."

"Sorry," Sam apologized; normally he would rub the stethoscope end on his clothes to warm it up, but he was taking no chances with spreading the virus; so he pressed it against Tinga's back without this move. He listened to her heartbeat from her back because it was easier to distinguish her heartbeat from the babies. And without a sonogram to pinpoint the position of the baby, he wanted to make sure he got an accurate reading of Tinga's vitals.

"Your heartbeats elevated, but it isn't critical yet-" Sam couldn't see Tinga's face but he could sense the shift in her gaze when he said that last part. "In your situation your body will do all it can to protect the baby; including safeguarding you from the full effect of the virus."

"This kid can't tell me later on that I never did anything for him," Tinga said. She meant it as a joke, but her words were lacking real humor and only a single dry laugh escaped her mouth afterwards.

Sam echoed her dry laugh, but his was much quieter then hers. "Did you call your husband?"

"Case did," Tinga said. "Some things are easier to hear from a kid."

"You need to talk to him," Sam told her in quiet force.

This time Tinga turned her head and looked at Sam. "And say what? 'Sorry I'm so late baby, this group of whack jobs infected me with this bio-virus that plans to kill me very slowly?" Her voice was angry but tired. The virus was starting to take its toll on her. She wasn't nearly as sick as Zack and Max, but she was starting to feel winded, exhausted.

"If he loves you, he has a right to know what's going on, so he can be there for you." Sam said. He himself had never been married but he had years of experience in treating married patients. The ones that faired the best had their partner by their side, even if all they could do was hold them. He saw Tinga's back rise in a sigh, she knew what he was saying was true.

Tinga sat up from the headboard and reached out for the cordless phone that was on the nightstand but the sound of the bedroom door being open stopped her from dialing.

"Mom?" Case stood in the doorway; slowly retracting his had from the knob. He stepped partway inside the room.

Tinga was going to reprimand him for being in there, because she feared for his safety, for his life. But her son held such a dead serious look to them that she didn't say anything.

"Mom," His voice was strong, but there was an underlying tremble to it. "Mom are you going to die?"

Tinga only allowed herself to succumb to sorrow few times in her life. When Eva had been killed, after she had gone back to Manticore to save Case, and now. When her baby boy asked her this heartbreaking question. "I'm still here Case," she knew her response wouldn't satisfy him because he was her son, so she added, even though she was painfully unsure: "I'm not going to die."

"What about the baby?" Case sounded so desolate, wanting to go back to the days when a soothing word from Tinga would calm him, when he wasn't so aware of how life could play out.

"The baby either," Tinga reassured, "He's got as much stubborn will power as me; he'll be okay" she paused, a silence where she could have cried, but she went on talking, showing her strength. "That's going to be his name Case – Will," she smiled through the pain of emotions she felt, at having picked a name for her child. "Because he's got the strongest will to do just more then survive."

Case returned her smile, and she could see how he wanted desperately to hug her, but he stayed away. And it ripped her apart to know that she couldn't even touch him. "You have to go back now honey, okay?" her voice grew softer on the last word, sadder.

Case nodded "Okay --I love you."

"I love you too baby," An embrace was wrapped up in the words she spoke to him. She watched him turn around slowly and walk out of the room. She didn't take her eyes off of him as she picked up the phone again and dialed her home number.

After two rings it picked up.

"_Hello?"_

"It's me," Tinga said.

Sam laid his stethoscope on the nightstand walked quietly out of the room to give the couple privacy to talk.

"_Hey,"_ Charlie's voice broke on the last syllable, his voice clogging with emotion.

"Hey," Tinga repeated; all the torrent of emotions she had been holding back coming out in that single word and a tear traveled down her face.

_opening guitar chords of "Broken" begin_

Logan picked up the rag he left on the arm of the couch and wiped it across Max's forehead. Her fever had spiked so high that he doubted that it was doing any good, but he had to do something to help her. He set the rag back down after half a minute; replacing its presence on her forehead with his hand; caressing her in long slow strokes.

Seether

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away

Max had long ago become his other half, his best friend, his soul mate. And it physically hurt him to see her like this, so pale, so worn out. He was a grown man, but he felt like a helpless infant right now, not being able to do anything but sit there. He loved her so much and it was torturing him to see her hurting from something that he couldn't do a damn thing about.

I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

He leaned over and kissed her, first on her mouth, then the hollow of her throat, right above her pulse, feeling it's faint beating; a beautiful sensation of life that was ebbing slower by the minute. A small splash of tears escaped Logan's eyes, dropping onto the skin of Max's neck.

'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel like I am strong enough  
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

Amy Lee

The worst is over now and we can breathe again  
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away

Asha held Zack's right in had in both of hers, pressing her face into it; clinging to the warmth that still lay underneath the skin. She kissed the top of his hand deeply, turning to gaze at his face. Zack had the skills to completely hide his emotions; she had seen him do it many times. But when he looked at her she saw a deep adoration for her in his eyes despite his soldier's mask; it was one of the things she loved most about him. And more then anything else, she wanted him – her husband, her lover, the father of her child – to open his eyes and pierce her with that gaze.

There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

Asha leaned down and kissed him, biting on her lip to keep a full sob from escaping her mouth, but three or four tears still escaped and dropped on his face. She intertwined her fingers into his and laid her head down on his chest.

_Seether and Amy Lee together_

_'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away_

You've gone away  
You don't feel me here anymore

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

CHEYENNE, WYOMING

Alec and Jondy had been lead at gunpoint down a long gray concrete corridor to an equally gray room with no windows. The guards who had escorted them had searched them and removed the weapons they had on them before closing the door, leaving them alone.

"So I guess no welcome baskets," Alec quipped, looking around the room they were in, which was bare except for a single table and one fold out chair that sat at a haphazard angle on only three legs.

Jondy also surveyed the room, walking around its perimeter, checking each wall for any surveillance equipment. The only one she discovered was a blatantly exposed silver speaker set high up in the corner of one of the walls. Jondy listened, tuning in her ultra heightened hearing, but could detect no trace of noise coming from the speaker.

She and Alec had yet tried to contact Logan on their communicators. When they had been searched the guards had failed to discover the devices on them but it was still too risky to attempt until they knew exactly what they were dealing with. But when they were out in the yard – before they had been found out – Jondy picked up the faintest clicking noise, which was a signal from Logan that he had begun listening in from his end.

"_Please have a seat,"_ the monotone sound of a computer voice simulator emitted from the once silent speaker, loud enough to startle both X5's.

Alec turned his head up to gaze at the speaker, like it had just spoken instead of the person behind it. "We'd rather stand if it's all the same to you, your dime store furniture looks a little shaky."

"_Fine,"_ though the voice was robotic, a sense of annoyance emitted from it. _"The pleasantries have all been used up, so I suggest we begin. You can start by telling me your names."_

"Names aren't part of the deal," Jondy retorted, moving to stand beside Alec. "Not unless you plan to spill yours too."

"_You two have all the workings of a soldier's mind. I knew that the two sent to transact this deal would be Manticore. Who else to try and save an X5 but one of their own? Fine then, I'll allow the anonymity."_ An electronic whirring was heard, causing Alec and Jondy to turn around. A small section of concrete lifted up from the wall behind them – in reality a hidden compartment door – and tray slid out with a glass vial filled to the top with a yellow tinted liquid. _"The antidote."_ The door snapped shut. _"Take it."_

Both Jondy and Alec hesitated, after all the secrecy, the armed guards, they didn't believe for one second that the antidote would just be handed to them without any strings attached; it was too easy.

"What are you getting out of us just walking out of here with that?" Alec asked, turning back around to face the speaker. "Don't tell me you all brought us all the way out here because your conscious got the better of you?"

"Your skepticism is understandable, but in fact, we are gaining plenty. We created this virus years ago; but until recently had not the assets to test it's effectiveness completely. Our subjects would simply burn out before the virus ran its full course. We needed genetics that could withstand the virus long enough for it to cycle so we could isolate the deadliest part of it and mass-produce it for bio warfare sale. And thankfully, your kind fit that profile to the letter."

"You were using us as guinea pigs?" Jondy was livid, shouting up at the speaker. Had it been a real person she would've jumped it.

"Don't blame us; blame your genetics; we only used what was already created. And this virus is only the beginning-"

"So the antidote?" Alec asked an unfinished question, beginning to understand things clearer.

"We are constantly creating new germ warfare, and for that we need viable test subjects. If we let them die off, well, that would be bad for business, plain and simple."

"And we're supposed to just believe this load?" Jondy snapped.

"If you don't your Manticore groomed skepticism will only get your family killed. We know more about you then you realize. I suggest you take the antidote." There was an ominous pause. "Time is running out." There was a quiet crackle as the speaker cut out.

Jondy walked over to the wall with the compartment. She swept her hand over the air in front of the tray, testing the space for any silent alarms. When nothing happened she picked up the vial and raised it to eye level. It had a slightly cloudy tint to it; she opened it, sniffing the contents, which were odorless.

She screwed the cap back on the vial and turned her head to Alec. "What do you think?"

"I think we don't have a choice if we're going to save Max, Zack and Tinga." Alec responded. "Although I don't think for one second that this is all there is too it."

"Neither do I," Jondy agreed. "But like you said we don't have a choice." She placed the vial on the outside breast pocket of her jacket, because it was the only one with a buttoned flap that would keep it secure.

Alec again looked around the room, noting its lack of any exits. "Any ideas on how the hell we get out of this concrete tomb?"

"Yeah, like this." Jondy pushed the small table over to where the speaker was set in the wall, She climbed up on top of it and – by digging her nails around the speaker edges – ripped it off from the wall. The silver casing came out with a tangle of multicolored wires behind it. Using her nails again she stripped two of the wires, pulling them apart from the others. "Say something," she told Alec.

"Okay," Alec said confused. "What the hell are you doing?"

Jondy listened to the pitch in Alec's voice echo around the room, the she twined the wires around themselves and placed them way in the back of the hole the speaker had rested in. The speaker had a fat main cable that connected it with all the other sound surveillance in the building; and it was through this cable that things such as pitch and volume control were controlled. She twisted the wires in her hands around that main cable, replaced the speaker back on the wall and then removed the communicator from her jacket.

"Sorry Logan," After listening to the reverberation of Alec's voice bounce off the room Jondy was able to calculate the pitch of the concrete the walls were constructed off. and if she matched it, it would shatter them. She had looped the speaker feed to amplify itself five times louder then before; and when she touched the top of the communicator – it's quiet 'function on' click a perfect pitch match to the walls – a monotone, but very loud sound poured out of the speaker and the room began to shake.

Seconds later chunks of the wall in front of her began to crumble, a huge section of it dropping loudly to the ground.

Jondy jumped down from the table, hearing Logan's voice through the communicator. He had picked up her activation signal.

"Jondy what the hell is that?"

"I'll explain later," Jondy told him. The broken chunks that had fallen from the wall created a small gap where noises echoed behind it which meant that there was a much larger room behind the one they were in. She dealt the wall several roundhouse kicks and the hole in it grew large enough for them to move through.

Alec gave her a very impressed look "I so want to have sex with you."

"Save it," Jondy told him. " The only cocked gun I want is the one those idiots lifted off me. Let's go." She squeezed through the opening, having to turn sideways in order to fit.

After Alec made it through the hole he glanced around the room they now found themselves in, which wasn't a room at all, but rather a long corridor with no doors or windows. It seemed to go on forever in both directions.

Jondy listened, but couldn't hear anyone coming down the hallway in either direction, so she turned to the right, but after walking about 15 feet she stopped, turning her head around like she heard something.

"What?" Alec asked looking behind him as well, but he didn't see anything.

Jondy looked back in the direction they were originally going, then back to the left side of the hallway. "This way."

"How do you know?" Alec asked.

"Do you want to ask questions Alec or do you want to get the hell out of here?" Jondy snapped. She had no idea what had made her change directions; it was like an invisible force telling her to go the other way. She started down the left end of the hallway, leaving Alec to follow her.

The hallway went on in a dulling gray similarity; but after 200 feet or so, the right wall abruptly vanished and became a gaping jagged hole. A Huge chunk of concrete that had fallen from the ceiling blocked the hallway. Alec crouched at the end of the hole, peering through it. There was a dim light emitting from the other side. "Your explosion shock waved down here."

"The plaster crumbling looks really worn," Jondy corrected. "This happened before today. But who the hell cares? Let's just do a sweep in there before our luck with being undetected wears off."

Alec stepped over pieces of fallen concrete, and went through the hole; Jondy following close behind.

They were now standing in a laboratory. A long steel counter ran along the North wall and to the right of it – also a long the same wall – was a row of steel lockers. The laboratory counter was empty except for a single six-rack test tube tray and a desktop hp computer. Two lines of hooks on the wall next to the counter held white lab coats.

Alec walked over to the row of lockers – four in all – and by pressing his ear against the door was able to crack the combination of the locks. The first two he opened were empty; but the third one held a pair of faded green scrubs, and what he had been looking for, the two guns, plus Alec's bag. He pulled them off the top shelf they were resting on; checking the ammunition in the guns, both were still fully loaded.

"You'll have to accept my cocked gun this time," Alec said, throwing Jondy the Vector, which she caught with one hand. Her other hand was busy typing on the lab's computer. He saw a look pass over her eyes as she was reading what was on the screen. "What is it?"

"It's the analysis of the virus," Jondy was looking at a 3D model of a viral strand.

"Are you sure it's the same one?" Alec asked. "A place like this could have manufactured hundreds of viral agents."

Jondy pointed on the screen where, next to the virtual virus model, there was a written analysis describing its pathology. "Look at the name." At the very top of the analysis was the viral agent's name: 86X5.

"Cute," Alec retorted in quiet anger. He read over the analysis hoping to find something useful, something about it to exploit. The first half of the analysis described how the virus was transmitted, the symptoms – things Alec already knew first hand. Further down the screen was a section about the antidote.

"Damnit," Alec cursed after reading it. "They were on the level about the antidote being real, they just failed to mention a few other things-"

"It's a private organization Sir, we do have our secrets."

Alec and Jondy both whipped their heads up at the sound of the voice. The man who had the M4 outside the compound was standing outside the room, in the hole in the laboratory wall; aiming the same M4 at them. He stepped closer to them, keeping them at all times within the scope of the gun.

"I'll risk a monologue in order to tell you both that the antidote must be merged with the uncontaminated DNA of the first carrier in order for it to be activated; otherwise it's just useless liquid." The man kept walking as he talked, and now he was two feet in front of the table; his face set in a smile of superiority.

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Jondy cocked the gun at the man; moving so fast that in three seconds she had the maw of the Vector pressed against his throat. "I have had it with your fucking games!"

"There was never any game ma'am," the man addressed Jondy politely, but his words were completely cold. "It was never our intention to let any of you survive this virus. We knew you would discover our identity; and we simply needed another way to carry on the infection."

Movement came from behind the man, as another person stepped behind him. The nameless man who had infected Zack walked silently into the room, a silver dart gun poised in his hand. The first dart he had fired had microscopic nano-sensors in it that would read the DNA of the initially infected X5. This readout would allow the bioengineers to recalibrate the remaining strands of the virus; speeding up the incubation time of any new injections; meaning that if infected, Jondy and Alec would only have as much time left to live as Zack, Max and Tinga. The man slowly raised the gun to his lips.

"Don't consider this unfair treatment," the man Jondy was aiming her gun at spoke in a very calm manner; despite the weapon shoved into his neck. "You and your friend broke the rules; this meeting was inevitable."

The man with the dart gun was aiming at Alec; and Alec could see his quick intake of breath as he fired the dart. A dead center shot into the jugular in Alec's neck was what the man was aiming for; but Alec had followed the dart from the second it was fired and moved causing the dart to instead pierce the skin of his collarbone. Alec flinched from the sharp pain but his enhanced vision allowed him to find the dart sticking out of his skin before it had fully dissolved. He pulled it out by the end and threw it to the ground.

Alec being shot by the dart had all transpired in 5 seconds and after those 5 seconds were up Jondy lowered the gun and jammed the barrel right into the man's crotch. She didn't fire, but the force she put into her blow was equally as painful, causing him to gasp. "That's for my brother." He lost his hold on the M4 and Jondy grabbed it, knocking it into his chest; hearing ribs breaking; and this time he didn't gasp, he screamed, crumpling to the floor. "And this for my sisters."

"And this is for me," Alec picked up the discarded M4 and shot the man who had fired the dart at him. It wasn't a kill shot, he shot him in the side; enough to painfully incapacitate him.

"Did it hit you?" Jondy asked turning to Alec. She grabbed his shoulder and touched the skin of his neck with her hand, checking for any remaining pieces of the dart in his skin. She knew the ramifications of her actions; but she was in soldier mode, and dealt with things as they came to her.

"It wasn't a direct shot," Alec answered, hearing sounds out in the hallway; their gun battle hadn't gone unnoticed. He had just been injected with a deadly retrovirus, but he was in more threat from dying in gunfire at the moment so he didn't think about it. "And I sure as hell am not planning on dying today. Let's go." The sounds in the hallway –the thudding of many footsteps all running the same direction – were growing closer.

He and Jondy stepped over the writhing man Alec had shot; he clutched at his blood soaked wound; glaring up fiercely at Alec and Jondy. Lydecker had taught them both years ago that an injured enemy was still dangerous; only death would permanently remove a threat. But the feel of the place they were in was too reminiscent of Manticore; and killing a man – even a bastard like him – would bring them too close to a past they were trying to escape from. So they left him to his fate and sprinted down the hallway.

They had run down the hallway, not seeing any of the men they had heard before. Fifteen yards or so down from the laboratory was a large square block of concrete cemented against the edge of one wall. It just sat there like a left over piece from the building's construction. They crouched down behind it, keeping an eye out for anybody coming.

Jondy touched the tip of her communicator, speaking low to avoid being detected. "Logan, it's Jondy, come back."

"Jondy, you two okay?" Logan's voice came through the other end.

"Well those bastards shot up Alec with the virus and I've been touching him, so I'm going to say, no, we're not okay, we're basically screwed."

"If you have the antidote you can administer it to yourselves."

"That would work if the sons-of-bitches didn't stiff us on a crucial part of information." Alec said, aiming the semi-automatic over the top of the concrete structure. "The antidote has to be combined with a portion of Zack's DNA that hasn't been affected by the virus, otherwise it's completely useless. It's their way of being funny and getting a hard on at the same time."

"Damnit!" Logan's curse was so loud through the communicator that it almost sounded like he was in the hallway with them. "There has to be another way."

"Well we'll never know it if your loud mouth gives away the location." Alec snapped.

"Sorry;" There was a deep pause after Logan apologized. "I'll try and shake something loose with Sam, maybe there's something he missed."

"First, can you give us a heads up on where the hell we're going?" Jondy cocked her gun and readied her finger on the trigger. "This place is a maze."

"The part of the complex you're in has no surveillance; it's built like an island. But I hacked into the IP site in Africa and managed to get a map of the building. It's a maze of hallways, but their south ends eventually run into a huge room; there's surveillance in there – a lot of it. I don't know what it's for but I think I can guide you out from there."

"I'm never one to question a coincidence under hostile attack," Jondy radioed back, switching her communicator off. The south end of the hallway was where she and Alec had heard all the noise of men, and she didn't want them to intercept any transmissions with Logan.

She and Alec swept their weapons in a semi circle around them before turning around and heading south, following Logan's directions to lead them to the room he saw on the map.

Both Jondy and Alec were still feeling no symptoms from the virus; they're bodies were pumped full of adrenaline and, for now; it was counteracting any of the antigen's affects. They ran for fifty yards then the ringing of bullets began to sound off. Several winged by them making them duck down to keep from being shot. A group of armed soldier's – rebel army men dressed in faded fatigues and red berets – rained a fire of bullets from old, beat up looking M1 rifles. But the weapons appearances were not related to how they fired; the shots from the soldiers were very accurate.

The gunfire was so intense that Jondy couldn't stand from her crouched position to fire, so she aimed her gun lower, shooting the bottom of a soldier's thigh at the femoral artery in his leg. The man dropped, but didn't loose hold on his gun. But as he fell the muzzle of his rifle slammed into the side of the head of soldier next to him, throwing off the other man's aim, causing his next shot to ricochet off the ceiling and embed itself into the concrete floor.

The confusion in these few seconds allowed Alec to stand from his crouched position and fire off a spray of bullets. His aim hit three soldiers and they cried out and went down. The two remaining men, took up their weapons, but before they could fire Jondy shot one of them in the stomach and Alec slammed into the other one, throwing him to the floor, sending his weapon clattering a foot away from him.

The man pinned under Alec reached across his side, pulling out a side arm Smith and Wesson, but his hand dropped short of grasping the trigger, blood leaking from the hole in his chest where Alec had just shot him.

Blood ran down the sides of the soldier's mouth, and a cynical smile crept up his mouth. He said something low in an African dialect, but then translated it into winded English: "You will die next." His eyes rolled back and his head slumped to one side.

Alec climbed off the man, taking the gun out of his hand and emptying all the bullets out of the chamber. He left the weapon there because it wasn't nearly as affective as his Colt.

Jondy had already moved a foot down from where the soldiers now lay writing on the ground. She kept along the gray wall, aiming her gun ahead of her, and once Alec stood beside her they both advanced farther down the hallway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Max!"

Max could hear Zack call her name from under the pile of fallen concrete that she was under. She pushed through the fallen debris - hearing broken concrete screech around her – and climbed to her feet.

The dull ache she had just been feeling before was now gone, but she didn't feel a strong as she did moments ago. Her body felt sluggish, like she had just come out of a drug-induced sleep.

Zack took her hand and pulled her out of the pile of rubble. They now stood side by side next to a huge gaping hole made into a concrete wall.

They stepped through the hole, first Max, then Zack. The room through the hole was overly lit, casting an intense bright white glow all around them.

The room was completely empty except for a 4-foot circular white stand in the center of the floor. A cylindrical specimen jar sat atop the stand, and floating in green liquid was a tiny, translucent shape.

After Zack and Max stepped closer to the jar they could identify that the shape was that of a human embryo, curled into a crescent shaped position with it's umbilical cord floating above it's tiny abdomen. Closer examination of the jar also revealed something else – a fourteen-digit barcode printed across the top of the plastic container:

33041729159901.

Max focused on nothing else - the strangeness of the place they were in, the floating feeling hovering around her - but what she was looking at. "Zack it's you – except for these two digits." She touched the last numbers on the barcode with the tips of her finger. "What the hell does this mean?"

Zack stared at the embryo in the jar, watching it float in the green liquid. It was too small to see features distinctively; its skin was translucent revealing tiny forming internal organs beneath it.

Zack touched his hand to the glass; and after he did the embryo moved, just slightly.

"Asha's pregnant, this is my child." The hazing effects of this place had robbed him of this realization until that moment. He saw a look of confusion cross Max's face, temporarily replacing the heavy weakness that came as a result of being where they were.

Max looked at the tiny thing embryo and then back up to Zack, her confusion being replaced by something else – a form of realization. "You think its trying to tell you something?" Manticore had taught them that nothing was coincidental. She still had no idea what the hell kind of plane they were on – perhaps the place where death and life crossed paths with each other before coming into being – but them discovering this room was no accident.

"I don't know," Zack answered. "Maybe, but what?" He lowered his hand from the glass. Up until that point touching the jar had created warmth beneath his hand, a physical energy flowing through him. But once he removed his hand from the jar a weighted feeling began to cloud his senses; like a sack of bricks was dragging him down under water. The weighted sensation exploded in his chest causing him to stumble backwards.

"Zack!" Max grabbed a hold of his arm, but his weight pulled her down with him onto the floor.

"Zack?" His was still awake, but his eyes had all but lost their color. Ever since she had woken up in this place something had told her that they weren't dead yet. But after seeing the grayness in Zack's eyes, she knew that death was the place that lay beyond this world.

"Zack you have to hang on, you hear me damnit!" Max's voice was desperately weak, but sparks of passion still existed inside of her and they pushed to the surface in her words. "That kid is trying to tell you something." Max had no time to give into the torrent of emotions Zack's illness had caused before she herself had become sick. But here on this floor, in this world of haze she started to cry. "You're going to be a father Zack; do you fucking know how great that is?" Her faded looking tears fell onto his neck. She cradled his head in her lap, stroking his hair.

Zack's eyes met hers with a piercing look through the grayness that enclosed them. He reached out and gently grabbed her wrist. "I love you Maxie." his voice was almost gone, but there was no defeat in his words. Whatever existed on the other side of this place – heaven or hell – it would not equal the raw, beautiful reality of the life they lived in. So he wasn't telling Max this on the utter of a last breath; he was hanging on with every bit of life he had left, because he wasn't ready to die.

"I love you too." Max leaned down and kissed his mouth, closing her eyes against the unbearable monotony of gray that had begun to seep into the white room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

9:55 PM

"Logan I understand what it is you're saying," Sam said standing in the computer room, a weary, defeated look on his face. "But there is no healthy sample of Zack's DNA, not anymore. The virus has completely overrun his system. It was intelligently designed, they knew that this would happen."

Logan sat at his computer with his black headset on, listening to the staticky silence that came over the speakers. The static was from the speakers themselves; Jondy and Alec had switched off their communicators to prevent anyone from intercepting the transmission. He swiveled in his chair to face Sam. Like the doctor, his eyes were weary, but also angry, not at Sam, but at the suggestion of admitting defeat. "I'm not ready to give up this fight Sam. There isn't just one kind of intelligence. There has to be something they didn't count on." Logan knew he wasn't facing the reality, but did not want to just let a nameless corporation decide on when his wife lived or died – only she had that right. "What about clone DNA? Manticore kept basic cocktails off all their X5's."

"It would work if this DNA still existed. You said it yourself; the DNA lab was taken out years ago. We don't even know if any cocktails survived, and even if they did there's no time to track any down."

"God damnit Sam, we're running out of time!" Logan shouted. He looked about ready to physically attack Sam.

And Sam braced himself for it, should it occur. "I'm painfully aware of that too Logan!" Sam yelled just as loud. He took a step back, wanting to physically move away from Logan regain a sense of calm. "But I can't think of any other options!"

"What about a child?" Asha suggested. She was beside the couch where Zack was, and looked down briefly at his face before meeting Sam's eyes. "If Zack had a kid?"

"That would work," Sam agreed. "Any offspring of Zack's would have his DNA; there'd be enough in his blood to intermix with the antidote. But Zack doesn't have a child."

"I'm pregnant," Asha's declaration was blurted out, just like she had done to Zack when she had first found out.

Both Sam and Logan looked at her in stunned silence that came from at having learned such knowledge in this way.

"How far along?" Sam asked her.

"Seven weeks."

Sam analyzed this information before speaking. "There isn't sufficient blood in the baby's system for an adequate draw, but there should be enough of Zack's DNA in the amniotic fluid."

"So this can save him?" Asha asked. "All of them?"

Sam walked over to Asha, stopping a few inches in front of her. "The only way to retrieve the fluid is through an amniocentesis; but without a sonogram to know the exact position of an embryo this early in development it's very risky. If I rupture the sac in the wrong place you could miscarry."

"I'm doing it," Asha told him. "I have no choice – not if I want to save his life."

Sam wanted to talk her out of it. She was only seven weeks pregnant, there would be a very small amount of amniotic fluid surrounding the baby; and without a sonogram he could puncture the needle too deep and actually impale the embryo. But he knew that none of the risks would sway her, she had already made up her mind.

"I'm going to need you to lie here," Sam cleared away the papers on a table that sat next to Logan's computer. Now that Asha's decision had been made he had to act quickly. He helped Asha lay back on it, before racing to retrieve the empty liquid tryptophane bottle, connecting two syringe heads together to make them long enough to penetrate Ashas's uterus and reach the embryo. "With this small of an embryo, its vitals are almost indecipherable but Logan has a sound wave program." Sam came back into the computer room with his supplies, placing a cushion under Asha's head to give her neck some support. "He can attach a mic to my stethoscope and magnify the embryo's heartbeat so it's audible. At this stage of development there's a small pocket of fluid in front of the abdomen; it should be just in front of the heartbeat. If I don't penetrate too far, I should be able to extract some without hitting the baby." He removed the stethoscope from around his neck, and attached a small magnetic microphone that Logan handed him to the end of it.

Logan opened his sound wave file, turning the volume up as high as it would go. At first the microphone squeaked loudly in the speakers but once Sam pressed it against Asha's stomach the noise died down and was replaced by the swishing sound of bodily fluid. Normally the seventh week of development was too early to hear the heartbeat of an embryo but the microphone Sam had affixed to his stethoscope was hypersensitive, and able to detect the most minute of sounds.

Sam slowly slid the stethoscope across her abdomen, after about 20 seconds had past the microphone picked up a quiet thumping noise; the tiny heartbeat of Asha's baby. "I've got it." He kept the end of the stethoscope pressed against Asha's skin until he moved the tip of the syringe over the same location. "I didn't numb you with anything so this is going to hurt, but you need to keep very still, or I'll hit the wrong spot."

Asha took a deep breath to prepare herself, gripping both hands on the edges of the table "Go."

Sam pierced the needle through her skin, and a hot pain shot through abdomen; almost as intense as she had felt when her sister had stabbed her. She swallowed a cry in her throat and dug her palms hard into the edges of the table, using that pain as a distraction. A few seconds later however she felt Logan release one of her hands and hold it in his own.

Sam held his breath while the place where the two needle heads were connected went into Asha's skin. The connection held, allowing Sam to focus on the more important task, extracting the amniotic fluid. Once the needle had hit the halfway mark Sam moved it slower, gauging its position. After moving it another half inch he felt the tiniest resistance – he had pierced through the amniotic sac. He now had to keep the needle's angle very straight to avoid making the hole in the sac any larger, and to keep the tip submersed in the fluid and not near the embryo. He moved the needle barely two millimeters in further, and let out a quick breath before retracting the syringe's plunger. Relief came over his eyes when only pale yellow amniotic fluid tricked into the syringe. "I got it." He extracted five cc's of fluid.

"Hold your breath," Sam told Asha and then slowly extracted the needle. Once it was out he watched her let out a painful breath. He placed a piece of gauze over the injection site, and secured it there with a piece of medical tape. "You need to lie still for thirty minutes to make sure your blood starts clotting around the injection site."

"Logan, comeback we're in the huge mother of a room." Alec's voice came through the headset Logan had never taken off.

Logan gave Asha's hand a squeeze before sitting back down at his computer. "I'm here guys, give me a second to link into the system.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

CHEYENE, WYOMING

"He says that like we have a second," Alec whispered to Jondy. They were pressed against the wall at the end of the hallway.

They had followed the insanely long hallway, which, like Logan had said, soon opened up into a room that looked almost as big as a football field. The floors and walls were made up of white concrete that was blindingly bright compared to the long stretch of gray hallway that had preceded it. There was no furniture in the vast room, but it wasn't at all empty. At least a hundred soldiers – the same kind that Jondy and Alec had just fought off – moved about the room. They were dressed in camo BVD's and heavy flack jackets. But despite their large number, Jondy and Alec found one flaw – not all of them were armed. There were only about ten soldiers they could see who had new M5's strapped across their backs; the others might have handguns on them, but there were so many of them it was impossible to tell.

"How many soldiers do you need for a damn contingent?" Alec whispered. "What the hell are they all guarding?"

"After what just happened you have to ask?" Jondy whispered back. She was standing on the opposite wall of the hallway, observing the chaos of men in the room. None of them looked organized for any kind of action; some soldiers were walking the perimeter of the room, there were groups of men against the walls talking. Jondy concluded that these men weren't guarding anything. This place was a holding room, somewhere for all the soldiers to wait until they were deployed them to some part of the compound.

"Jondy, I'm in." Logan's voice came over the communicator. "I've got you two on visual."

"Where are the cameras?" Jondy swept her eyes over the entire room; she could see no surveillance equipment.

"They're built into the ceiling, at least a dozen of them, angling every part of the room."

Jondy looked above her head, honing her vision to the ceiling. There were patterns of large circular dots in the center of the concrete. At first she thought they were lights, but her sensitive hearing picked up a whirring hum and she saw one of the discs rotate it's angle thirty degrees.

"There's a shit load of bored looking soldiers in here Logan," Jondy said. "Hurry up and find an exit, I don't want to give them something to do."

"There's only one exit; a single door on the wall directly across from you."

Jondy looked at her communicator like it was actually Logan, and that he was crazy. The wall directly across from them was 30 yards away. To get there they would have to walk right through the group of soldiers.

Alec had also heard what Logan had said, and he too glanced over at the wall that was almost blocked by the bodies of the soldiers and it seemed that most of the armed men were gathered right next to that wall. Alec observed all of this in five seconds, knowing that they didn't have any other choice if they wanted to get out.

Jondy glanced across the hall at Alec He nodded silently at her to keep her attention then reached up into the pack on his back, pulling out a small aluminum metal canister – a smoke bomb. It was only as big as a tennis ball, making it easy to throw undetected, but it was filled with thick concentrated smoke that would release with a wailing diversionary alarm once the bomb landed somewhere.

Alec handed Jondy the Colt. His hands would be occupied with the smoke bomb; she would be the first one to step out into the room and would need the most firepower. Jondy flicked out an empty bullet shell from the chamber of the semi-automatic, catching it in her hand to keep it from making any noise. She held the weapons with their muzzles pointing up, poising her hands on the triggers.

Alec pulled the pin at the top of the smoke bomb, taking half a second to gauge his target area, before throwing the bomb to the right side of the room. The bomb struck the right wall, and a screeching noise cut through the room; followed by a hissing sound as thick white smoke began to billow outwards.

The soldiers – who just moments ago had been almost relaxed while they waited for their orders – all snapped up in full alert. Those that were closet to where the smoke bomb had gone off began shouting orders to the others amidst the haze.

Jondy shot off a spray of bullets in front of her as cover fire. She wasn't aiming directly at any of the soldiers, but many of them were hit, dropping to the floor in painful gasps. She unloaded a full magazine by doing this; but didn't reload the weapon because even ten seconds of exposure would be too much, and instead starting firing with the Vector.

A soldier directly in front of her dropped after she shot him in the shoulder. After he fell she realized that there was a man hiding behind him who was armed. She saw the red pinpoint of a laser sight appear on the center of her chest; then a sudden jolt in her back threw her to the ground. A round of shots sounded off, but not from the soldier's gun. Alec had pushed Jondy down to prevent her from getting shot; and had shot the soldier twice in the chest with the S&W he had lifted. Blood saturated the front of the soldier's camo gear so quickly that it was obvious that he wasn't wearing any form of protective ballistic vest. He dropped to the ground, his weapon hitting the floor first before he collapsed on top of it.

If Jondy's life hadn't been in danger she would have torn into Alec for playing the chivalry card. But there was no time to think about male dominance; she retrieved her weapons and jumped to her feet. The crowd of soldiers had cleared enough that Jondy could see the door Logan had been talking about set into the wall in front of her. Five soldiers were closest to the door; they were unarmed, but they were far from looking like they wanted a truce.

Alec shot one of them in the side, making the man stagger within Alec's reach, and he kicked him hard in his wound, causing him to drop to the ground.

Two soldiers advanced on Jondy, one grabbing her around the neck; holding her, while the second came around, a wrapping of barbed wire around his knuckles. Jondy shot a bullet in his arm, and the propulsion of the bullet tearing through his muscle jerked his arm upwards. At the same time she did this she punched the soldier's side that was holding her. He gasped and momentarily released her; but before he could grab a hold of her again she flipped over him; kicking him into the other soldier into the first one; causing the barbed wire fist of the second man to slam right into the eyes of the other soldier. He screamed and fell on top of the other man.

The remaining three soldiers were either fearful of Jondy and Alec after witnessing their fighting abilities, or they lacked good combat skills; because Alec and Jondy took them out in a matter of seconds; knocking them out with hard blows to the back of the head. But the sound of gunfire soon picked up again as the remaining armed soldiers in the room started coming towards them.

They were now finally standing in front of the door that Logan claimed to be an exit. It was made of shiny aluminum; and had no knob or handle on it and beside it on the right was a circular keypad, it had a computerized lock that would only open with a code. The door was most likely the exit to the outside grounds, but it still had a keypad entrance. This cooperation not only wanted to keep people out, it also wanted to keep people in.

Alec hovered his hand over the keypad, and after he did so an automated voice came on: "Please enter keycode to exit." Alec raised his weapon and shot two bullets into the keypad. There was pop and a tiny explosion as the bullets released the lock mechanism and the door slid open.

"Thank you." The broken doorway proclaimed, like things had been done normally.

Polite bastards aren't they? Alec ran through the doorway followed by Jondy. The door led them outside the complex, fifteen feet from where the perimeter fence stood gleaming from the rotating searchlight. Once outside the doorway slammed shut. There had been no time to contact Logan while they were inside that room. But now that they were outside there still wasn't any time; the yard within the fence had no shrubbery, or any other form of cover. They would have to make a straight dash to the fence; Logan would have to wait.

The distance from where they were to the fence was barely enough space to build up enough force in order to leap over it and the barbed wire. But they had no choice. The bullet Alec fired had jammed up the circuits of the door, but they could already hear the men prying apart the door with a vise. If they tried to scale the fence in two moves like they had done earlier it would leave them too exposed, they would have to scale it one move.

They ran, fast enough to build momentum, then halfway across the yard they crouched in the same position, like a cat, and then sprung forward, leaping over the fence, but just barely. The leather of Alec's jacket tore on the barbed wire on the way down and Jondy's leg got tangled up in the wire, leaving her hanging there upside down for two seconds before the fabric of her jeans ripped and she fell on the opposite side, landing sideways on top of Alec.

"This isn't the time or the place Jondy," Alec remarked to her being on top of him.

Jondy snarled at him and started to pull herself up, but she cringed when she tried to put weight on her right let. The barbed wire had shredded the lower half of her jeans, slicing up the flesh of her leg underneath, which was now hidden under streaks of blood. "Shit!" she cursed under her breath, groping for something to help regain her balance.

Alec grabbed her arm before she fell. "You okay?" it was obvious that she wasn't but it was a question you asked anyway when someone was hurt.

"Peachy fuckin' keen," Jondy snapped, feeling the blood trickle down her leg, causing a sharp stinging pain to shoot through her; but she pushed the pain away for now, there would be time to give in later. "Let's go." She picked up her gun from where it had been thrown when she fell and jumped on Alec's back.

Alec didn't question her move, and grabbed her legs, holding her secure. They had both been trained that this was the quickest way for an injured soldier to travel; it dispersed their weight so they weren't too heavy to carry and it still allowed them to fire on an enemy.

Jondy gripped one arm around Alec's shoulder and kept the other on the trigger of her gun. His hand on her wounded leg made it very painful, but she didn't voice it and kept her eyes alert for any more soldiers as he moved through the darkness They reached the fallen tree that blocked the only way back out to the main road; Alec leapt first on top of it, then jumped down without much difficulty. Jondy only weighed 103 pounds, and he had maneuvered with more extra weight then that during three-hour training missions.

No one was behind them as they made their way down the dirt path, but once they reached the main road they could hear the shouts of soldiers from behind them. A spray of bullets whizzed by them; but the shots weren't aimed at them. So neither Jondy nor Alec returned the fire because they knew it was the just a method to flush out their location.

Alec ran down the crumbling paved road, careful to put as little of his weight on his feet as possible in order to keep his footsteps muffled. But even though he was a trained soldier, having a whole extra person on his back made this task more difficult.

He ran down the edge of the road, and after twenty yards he spotted the pile of branches where Jondy's bike was hidden. He turned and looked in the three directions of the night around him, Jondy doing the same on his back, before stepping off the road and into the forest.

Once he reached the beginning of the tree line Jondy slid off his back. Her leg was still throbbing and she could feel blood tricking down her skin; but walking next to Alec was less noticeable then him carrying her.

The shouts of the soldiers were getting louder. They were obviously very basic level soldiers because they seemed to know nothing about sneak attacks. Alec signaled for Jondy to go first, she was injured and he didn't want to not notice her if she started to lag behind. He turned and aimed his gun behind him while Jondy pushed through the bramble that grew in between the forest's trees. She made it to the spot where her bike was hidden and threw the branches off the motorcycle's body. She gunned the engine before she climbed on because the night had become considerably cooler and she needed to get the fuel circulating. There was no way to revv an engine quietly; but Jondy wasn't concerned about that; she just wanted to get the hell out of there. She climbed on the bike; and Alec jumped on behind her.

Jondy maneuvered the Ninja through all the trees, fallen branches and stones crunching under the black tires. Finally she got the bike back on the road; but barely ten feet to their right she could see the beginnings of a group of soldiers coming down from the compound. They opened fire on the Ninja. Jondy and Alec both ducked their heads, hearing the sounds of bullets wing off the bike's metal body.

Jondy kept her head down; but turned and accelerated towards the soldiers, plowing into them. They jumped back from the motorcycle and Alec fired his weapon. Men started falling; while those behind them continued to fire. Jondy maneuvered the bike back around and rammed into the men again. She drove twenty feet ahead of them then stopped. The soldiers took this opportunity to approach the Ninja, trying to take out the tires.

Jondy turned her upper body in the seat and pulled the pin on a small circular mini bomb, it was little but it was packed with 6 ounces of C4. She pitched it into the group of soldiers and seconds later a fiery explosion shot up from the road; engulfing the screaming soldiers in flames. The shockwave jolted the bike sideways; but Jondy kept it from falling; and speed down the dark road.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What do you mean they got away?" The computer voice demanded.

The man the Director was talking too, wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was new to the organization, having been there only three weeks, a new bioengineering graduate recruit from Stanford. He knew nothing about keep his emotions unseen. His superiors had sent him to speak to the Director about the X5's escaping, not wanting to take the heat of the Director's fury themselves.

"They somehow escaped through the side entrance in the holding room." The man knew that the answer was pathetic even before he said it. He wasn't being reprimanded by his teacher for cutting class; a multi-million dollar covert installation had just let two prisoners escape. "Several men inside were killed, more then several actually."

"I do not give a damn about the men." The Director's words sounded cold; like the computer voice was no longer there, and it was his or her real voice speaking instead. "They were expendable, but what wasn't was the objective. The objective that you and your men just let walk out the door."

"The virus was still successful," The man insisted, feeling more sweat trickle down his face, but this time he let it fall untouched. "Infection of one subject was made before our man was taken down; and there was confirmation that the second X5 made dermal contact with him."

"The antidote-"

"A dud," the man cut the Director's remark off. "It can only work if the first X5 infected had any trace of healthy DNA to intermix with it. But the virus's pathology doesn't allow for that kind of phenomena – the objective is unharmed, every eventuality of this operation has been planned for."

"Are you certain of that?"

Even through the thick black glass the man could feel the Director's eyes glaring into his. It wasn't said, but the man caught the hidden meaning behind the Director's words. Was he willing to bet his life on his reassurance? Everything had been accomplished, but the sterility of the Director's computer words made him doubt the answer to that question.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

3:30 AM

Logan jolted awake; at first it took him a moment to recognize the hard object under his head was his computer desk. He had been waiting for a relay message from Jondy or Alec; but he had fallen asleep, even though he didn't think that was at all possible at the moment.

He cursed under his breath and checked the communicator log on his computer screen to see if any messages were received. The log displayed an output of zero; which meant that he didn't miss anything, but also it meant that Jondy and Alec hadn't checked in for several hours. He had no idea if they even made it out of the complex. They were elite soldiers, trained since childhood how to live up to the status of their identity. But Logan still worried about them; they weren't bulletproof.

His stood up stiffly from his computer chair and stretched his arms over his head. Once the kinks in his neck were somewhat loosened, he removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes with his free hand, and then glanced at his watch.

He was completely exhausted; he had barely slept the last few hours. Being too worried about Max hadn't allowed him to fall asleep completely. Two hours ago she had started seizing again. Sam was at a loss as to what to do, there was no more tryptophane left in the vial. He and Sam had forced a half glass of milk down her throat, but the virus had made her gag reflexes become hypersensitive and she had vomited half of it up. Her seizures had stopped after an agonizing five minutes, but her heart rate had dropped so dramatically after the convulsions that Sam hadn't been able to register it at first. He finally picked up a very faint beat with the stethoscope; but she had become completely non responsive. And Logan just stared at Sam when he told him that at the level of deterioration she was going through she would soon slip into a coma, and then completely shut down. Logan knew what "completely shut down" was referring to, but he refused to think about it.

A high-pitched cry – the noise that had woken him up - echoed on the baby monitor that he had placed on the coffee table.

Logan walked back into the living room. Asha had fallen asleep on top of Zack's chest, one of her hands intertwined with his. Beside the other couch – the one where Max was lying – Sam was checking her vitals. He had done so every fifteen minutes since her last seizure. He raised his head when he heard Logan approaching, his expression as exhausted and beaten looking as Logan's.

"Eight more hours," Sam's words were quiet, watching as Logan registered his words. Both men had never admitted it openly, but they were friends, and it made it that much harder for Sam to tell Logan this.

Logan leaned over the couch and kissed Max's forehead tenderly before gazing back up at Sam.

"There's still time. As long as there's even a shred of hope I'm not giving up on her. She wouldn't want me to." His words were deeply emotional but not broken, he had broken down enough already; he had to find some strength or he would fall apart.

Lucy's cry erupted again through the baby monitor.

"Go," Sam said, touching Logan on the shoulder. "I'll watch her."

Logan backed up a step and then turned in the direction of the hallway. When he passed his bedroom, the door was halfway open. Tinga was asleep on the bed, and at the foot of the mattress he could see Case, asleep as well. He wasn't touching Tinga at all, but he was lying in a mirror opposite position to his mom; a position that would have him curled close to her body had they been touching.

Lucy was still screaming when he pushed the door to the nursery open. He picked her up, intending on walking her to the kitchen to retrieve a bottle, but once she was in his arms her crying started to die down. Babies could sense emotions and the hell of the last day was affecting her; she had just wanted to be held.

Logan rocked her gently. She stopped crying, switching instead to a quiet whimpering noises. "You're okay sweetheart." He kissed her forehead. A small cluster of tears had been left in the corner of one eye, and one fell down her face. He wiped it away gently with his thumb. She looked at him the entire time with her brown eyes, eyes that were so similar to Max's.

"Daddy?"

Logan turned to see Lexi standing in the doorway of the nursery; still wearing the same clothes she had been wearing yesterday. Behind her was Jess; also still wearing the same clothes. They both looked as tired as Logan did.

"What are you two doing up?" Logan asked. "It's late."

"We're worried about mom," Jessie answered for them, stepping inside the nursery; Lexi followed him.

"You need to go back to bed," Logan's voice lacked any firmness, it wasn't an order, he was too tired to issue orders.

"I don't want mommy to die." Lexi's voice was soft and quivering, heartbroken in every aspect. Tears began to streak down her face.

Logan walked over to them, carefully handing the baby over to Jessie, who took her without any protest, holding her tight. He then knelt down next to Lexi, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "I don't want mommy to die either."

Logan's words were like a release for his daughter. She threw her arms around his neck. He picked her up and returned her embrace, kissing the side of her face, then the back of her head.

"Does this mean she'll be okay daddy?"

Lexi had asked the question but Logan could also see it reflected in his son's eyes.

"I hope so baby," Logan could barely get the words out passed the hard knot in his throat.

Logan touched Asha's back, and the contact jarred her. She raised her head from Zack's chest. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"I wasn't asleep." Asha rubbed at her eyes, standing up slowly, like she didn't want to move so far away from Zack.

"You should try and get some rest," Logan told her.

"I don't think I could sleep if I wanted too." Asha returned. "Even in my current 'condition'"

She turned to face him; she was still sore from the injection site of the amino and her movements were pained. "How's Max doing?"

"She had another seizure," Logan said, the incident still painfully raw in his mind. "The tryptophane's gone, and the milk Sam gave her barely had any effect on the seizure, she finally just passed out."

"Damn," Asha cursed.

"What about him?" Logan asked, referring to Zack.

Asha glanced down at Zack. "He seemed to feel my touch before, but now, he's been completely unconscious for the past few hours. "

"And you? " Logan asked, "How are you holding up?"

"I'm not," Asha told him. She stood up slowly to and stretched. Her hair was in disarray and she smoothed it out for something to do. "It's just a crap load of false bravado." She laughed, dryly. "My dad; he used to come home completely wrecked after dealing with rape cases and murderers, but he'd put on this mask so I'd never see his pain. He acted like the whole goddamn evil side of life didn't bother him; it kept him from completely going over the edge." Asha smoothed her hair again, in jerky movements. "And I learned it from him, otherwise I'd be going crazy right now; because I have to watch Zack suffer like this. Watch them all suffer like this. It apparently isn't enough that they all survived child hood torture and being continuously hunted down like animals, so the powers that decided to throw a deadly designer virus in the mix, just for kicks, cause things were apparently getting too normal around here." Her rant cut off and she rung her hands together, biting on her lip to keep the flood of emotions from erupting out of her.

"Things were never normal," Logan insisted quietly.

"Okay fine, but they were good." Asha returned. "God Logan. I love him so much, I don't want to lose him." Her voice dropped to a level below a whisper, her eyes pooling with tears.

Logan pulled her to him and hugged her, and she came into embrace willingly, sliding both arms up both sides of his back. "We're not going to lose any of them." He kissed the side of her face by his ear.

They pulled away from each other "They're strong," Logan reminded her. "And stubborn as hell," he and Asha shared a quiet whispering laugh at this part. "They've been through worse then this. They'll be okay."

"I'm going to hold you to that Logan Cale," Asha told him.

"So am I," Logan returned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

WASHINGTON STATE BOARDER

5:00 AM

Before the Pulse borders between states were little more then lines on maps; not a second thought was given to crossing them. But after Martial Law had been enacted in the U.S state border patrols had been created, guarded by military police that scrutinized everyone coming through, regardless of their citizenship.

A tall looming checkpoint tower – almost as large as some of the trees that surrounded it – stood on a small double lane road. At the base of the tower were Military Police – armed and dressed in full riot gear – examining the vehicles one by one that were lined up on the road. A bright halogen search beam swept into the early morning sky that was coming awake in a pink sunrise that filtered through the trees. Beside the ominous checkpoint stood an old faded metal sign proclaiming: Welcome to Washington.

Off to the side of the checkpoint tower, in the small area of forestland that hadn't been cleared away for development stood Jondy's motorcycle. Jondy was beside her bike, leaning back against the tall trunk of a Sequoia tree. By disobeying all speed limits and military checkpoints, she and Alec had made it to the Washington border in quick time. But as they neared the checkpoint, Jondy's wound had started to throb so much that the muscles in her leg had actually started to spasm, causing her to almost wipe out on the road. She was forced to pull the bike into the clearing to try and regain control of her bearings; but doing so was excruciating. Besides the pulsating wound she was winded, and started to feel hotly flushed; and she knew that it had to be the effects of the virus.

Standing just inches from her was Alec, looking as crappy as she did. And it must have been only sheer willpower that kept them from collapsing, because neither one of them looked like they should still be standing. Jondy didn't even want to imagine how Zack, Max and Tinga were fairing if she and Alec were already this bad off.

Jondy patted her jacket, making sure the antidote vial was still inside her pocket. After she felt that it was she examined the wound in her leg. Trickles of blood ran down her skin, but the wind created from the speed she had been driving had kept the bleeding down to a minimum.

Alec ripped the front hem off his sweater, even this low-energy tasked seemed to leave him tired. He knelt down and wrapped the cloth around her leg.

"I can do it myself!" Jondy snapped in a low voice, then cursed when Alec tied the cloth tightly around her injury. She tried to smack his hand away, but he caught it and tied a knot it the cloth to hold it secure, making Jondy hiss in pain. "Damnit, watch that!"

"You're welcome," he pushed her hand away, and stood back up. The change of positions caused vertigo to settle in him and he stumbled, swaying backwards.

Jondy forgot about her leg for a moment and grabbed his arm to keep him from falling. "You okay?"

"I think we're beyond that question." Alec said, bracing himself on the Ninja's body with both hands for support. "Just be grateful we're both too damn stubborn to die." He rubbed at his eyes with one hand.

Jondy grabbed a hold of both his shoulders and pulled him up right; "Don't you dare throw up on my bike." Despite her snappish words a look passed from her eyes to his.

Alec grasped both her wrists and slid her hands off his shoulders. "Then get back on it, causing throwing up would be the last thing I would want to do on you."

Jondy braced one hand on Alec's shoulder for leverage – her sense of balance was beginning to get hazy like his– and climbed back into the saddle seat of her bike.

Alec slid in behind her. "Are you sure you can still drive this thing, you're not looking as hot as your normally do."

"Neither are you," Jondy told him. "So we don't exactly have much of a choice." She revved up the Ninja's engine and pulled back on the road.

Cars were lined up for almost a full half-mile in front of the checkpoint and many drivers impatiently honked their horns at the slow pace of the MP's at the state line. Jondy drove the Ninja on the very edge of the road, bypassing all the traffic. When she reached the checkpoint, she cut in front of the dirty white Camry that was at the head of the line.

The driver rolled down his window and cursed at Jondy; but she completely ignored him, because his profanities were nothing compared to the three MP's with M-20 assault rifles that had surrounded her bike.

"Back in line!" One of the soldiers's shouted; he stood in front of the bike aiming his weapon at Jondy's head. He was forced to jump back a second later when Jondy gunned the engine and sped past him. The other two MP's opened fire, but the Ninja was too now too far down the road to be hit.

XXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

6: 50 AM

The large picture window in the living room overlooked the entire city. At night the lights of what was now called the High Rise District glittered like earthbound stars in the darkness of night. And in the daytime the sunset rose over the broken city, flashing it's rising array of colors through the clear glass.

This view was one of the reasons Logan had bought the penthouse, because even the devastation of the Pulse could not affect the sunrise. But this morning it's beauty was lost to Logan as he sat on the couch facing this window. Alec and Jondy had not returned yet; and with every bit of brightness the sun cast over Seattle, it took away the time that Max had left.

He had not slept since those fleeting few moments hours ago; he was so far beyond tired, that it felt like everything but the primal functions of his brain had gone offline. He still found himself lost the sunrise so completely. Not for the beauty of the swirl of colors, but because it had broken through the nighttime as it always, and would always do, despite everything that had transpired. So it took him three or four seconds to notice the coffee cup hovering in front of his face.

Sam Carr's hand was on the other end of the cup. "Thought you could use this."

Logan took the coffee from Sam gratefully; but didn't drink it, and instead placed it on the coffee table. He picked up Max's limp hand, and cradled it between both of his. She was very pale and there wasn't one part of her body that didn't glisten with sweat; but she was still beautiful to him. No matter what she would always be physically beautiful; but her beauty wasn't just a contingent of her outside appearance; it came from an internal passion that poured over her physical being. And it was this passion that fought for control over the weakened vulnerability.

"Forget what I said before." Sam could see just how much Logan loved Max reflected in his gaze. She was more then just his wife; their love was on a much higher plane. Logan would have taken the life right out of him and given it to her if he could.

"You're a doctor Sam, you're bound by your professional knowledge." Logan insisted. "You can't even disregard what you've said before." He stroked Max's hand with his thumbs. "Even in this instance."

"I am now," Sam looked down at Max, then up to Logan. He had known Max for a good many years now; and he knew all the strength she possessed, even know when it seemed like she possessed none. "Max is a fighter; and the fight isn't over."

"Logan, are you there?"

Logan's headset communicator was wireless, and he hadn't removed it since he had given the commicators to Alec and Jondy. But it had been several hours since he had heard anything from either of them, so when Jondy's voice broke through the dead air it startled him, but it only lasted a second. He raised the microphone to his mouth "Jondy, are you two okay?"

"We're coming up to your floor," Jondy's transmission cut off after she said this.

Logan ripped the headset off and ran to the door, Sam following him. The other man hadn't heard the transmission between Logan and Jondy, but he could sense that Logan might need his help.

The elevator was across the hallway from the penthouses front door, and when Logan walked through the door he heard the ding of the elevator car reaching the floor. The metal doors slid open and what looked like a irregular shaped form stepped out; but Logan's sleep deprived mind soon came back to normal functioning and he realized that the form was actually Alec, carrying Jondy on his back.

"We got it," Jondy held up a vial, her words punctuated with short, panting breaths.

Alec stepped out of the elevator in staggering steps, looking so worn out that Logan was sure he was going to drop right there on the floor. "The horse is finished, get her off me." Jondy removed her hands from his neck and Alec released her legs, but the virus had severely weakened his muscles and he almost collapsed under Jondy's loose weight.

Sam grabbed Alec's shoulders before he fell, and Logan grabbed Jondy, pulling her off of Alec.

Logan glanced down and saw the blood soaked cloth tied to her leg. "Jondy you're bleeding."

"Life threatening virus first," Jondy's voice was almost gone and she leaned heavily on Logan.

Logan draped her arm across his shoulders and took on most of her weight. However, Jondy's legs were barely functioning anymore, so after a few steps Logan picked her up in his arms.

"Get them inside," Sam said.

Sam supported Alec into the apartment, but halfway inside Alec's legs gave out and his weight was too heavy for Sam to catch. Alec hadn't passed out; the muscles in his legs had suddenly been hit with a firing pain and locked.

"Is Alec okay?" Jondy asked as Logan carried her over to the dining room table and gently set her into a chair.

"I'm good," Alec's words were weak but they still managed to reach Jondy's ears. He was splayed out on the hardwood floor, supporting his head against the sliding wall of Logan's computer room. "Just wake me when I'm not dead." His eyes closed in exhaustion.

Jondy looked up at Logan with bleary, tired eyes. "The other half, did you get it?"

"Relax; it'll be over soon." Logan said.

"No morbid talk please," Jondy insisted, laying her head on the table, in a state of complete exhaustion.

"We got it," Logan answered her question with different words, rubbing her knee from under the table.

Asha came down the hallway into the living room. She had been inside the bedroom to check on the kids, who thankfully had all finally fallen asleep, but she ran back out into the living room after she heard all the noise. She spotted Alec on the floor, and her eyes widened "Oh my god, Alec; is he-"

"He's alive," Sam informed He checked the pulse in Alec's neck. He had taken the antidote vial from Jondy on the way inside the penthouse. The doctor took it to the coffee table where he had set the hypodermic needle of amniotic fluid, sealed with a needle cap to keep it from leaking. He removed the lid off the antidote vial and drew its entire contents into the same syringe. Both liquids combined filled 50 cc's of the hypodermic needle. Sam removed the needle, held his finger over the cylinder's hole and shook it. Whatever the contents of the antidote, its density almost matched that of the amniotic fluid, allowing the two substances to combine. He replaced the needle head, and flicked the top of it to release any air.

He knelt down next to Zack; and lifted his arm, exposing the auxiliary artery –a major blood circulating artery in the body – underneath it. Both the Carotid Jugular Vein in his neck were covered in scar tissue and Sam didn't want to risk breaking the needle by trying to stab it through his jeans to reach the femoral artery in his thigh. He pierced the needle through Zack's skin and slowly injected 10 cc's of the antidote. He couldn't inject any more; there were five other patients to treat with it; all he could do was pray that 10cc's would be enough to counterattack the virus.

Sam held his breath, while he waited for the antidote to take effect. There was no idea as to how long it would take; hours, minutes, Sam was hoping for seconds, because time had all but run out. He placed his stethoscope on Zack's chest, sometimes change would occur internally before any outward signs would appear, and he wanted to hear it if it did.

Asha had pushed her way in-between Sam and Zack, and was sitting on the edge of the couch, watching Zack's face, praying for some kind of change. She rubbed her wedding band with her thumb as she waited, holding her breath.

Sam had dealt with many patients who had been as sick as Zack was when a living saving medication had just been administered to them. And in all cases the transition from violently ill to a form of stability was slow at best; the body took time to recover from such a ravaged condition. This is what he fully expected, for nothing major to transpire as he watched Zack; he would settle for a normal shift in heart rhythm. But two minutes after the injection – Sam had been keeping time on his watch – Zack's entire body convulsed on a deep choking breath.

"Zack?" Asha touched his face, scared at first at his violent response but his eyes flew open at her touch. At first his eyes were hazy, unfocused; and Asha was afraid that the drug had been a form of blackmail and had actually hurt him more; but his gaze soon became lucid, and settled on one spot: her face.

"What-" Zack's voice was lost on a series of choking coughs.

"Take it easy," Sam told him. "You've been unconscious for over a day, your voice won't be very functional."

Zack cleared his throat, but didn't try to speak again. The coughing left him exhausted. Not only was his voice shot, but also his muscles felt soft and painful from lying in the same position for so long; but he wasn't about to admit any of this to Sam; he was already more vulnerable then he wanted to be. He raised his arm and touched his fingertips to Asha's stomach. "The baby?" his question was so low that only she could hear it.

A flicker of surprise came over Asha because in all logic Zack would have no idea what had transpired while he was unconscious. "He's fine." She closed her hand around his. Her surprise quickly disappeared; there were some things that even logic couldn't explain.

Sam checked the pulse in Zack's neck' simultaneously listening more closely to his heart with the stethoscope. "The antidote's working; he's stabilizing," He turned to Logan, holding out the needle to him. "Give 10 cc's to Max." Sam had no idea if using the same needle could still transmit the virus. But Max was already infected, so he was gambling on the fact that she couldn't get the same strand twice because this was the only way for her to receive the medication.

Logan had nothing to use to spot a vein in Max's arm, so he injected the antidote into the large Carotid artery in her neck. There was no change in Max for longer then Logan liked; but then – just as Zack had done – she became conscious with a choking gasping breath and, jerked on her side in painful coughs.

"It's okay," Logan grabbed her shoulders and pulled her against him.

"Logan?" Max's voice was crackly and weak; she took in another painful breath.

"I'm right here baby," Logan rubbed her back, in gentle, reassuring circles. "You're okay, you'll be okay."

Max's leaned heavily against him; her limbs were weak like Zack's from being unconscious for so long. When she turned her head up to look at Logan it felt like the weight of her head would crush her neck. "Zack-"

"He's okay too." Logan reassured her, stroking the edge of her face.

She wrapped his arms around her and furrowed her head into his chest. "Thank you." All the pain, the desperation, the aching fear that she was going to die in such a meaningless way, all that she hadn't been able to release, came pouring out, wrapped up in those words. She had saved Logan countless times over the years, and he had just paid her back, in every way possible.

The sound of her voice and the feel of her body as she settled into his embrace ripped a deep relieving ache in Logan's gut; releasing all the torture of the last two days. But he didn't cry, and instead focused his energy on holding her closer to him, kissing the side of her face deeply.

TWO HOURS LATER

8:50 AM

The penthouse living room was as quiet as it had been for the past 48 hours; but this time it the atmosphere wasn't electric with fear, but rather from a deeply relieved exhaustion.

The vial of antidote had been exactly enough to administer to everyone. And as the minutes passed, they all had steadily begun to improve. Sam had done vital checks on them every fifteen minutes for the first hour; their bodies were still weak from the prolonged exertion caused by the virus, but it was nothing life threatening anymore. Only Tinga faired slightly better then the rest of her siblings because of her pregnancy. Sam had found no abnormailites in the heartbeat of the baby; but his stethoscope was a crude instrument compared to an ultrasound machine; and he wanted Tinga checked out the next day; and she didn't object, because she was too wiped out to say anything.

"Looks like you could use some of this."

Sam glanced up from his medical bag on the dining room table where he had been replacing his supplies. Max was holding out a cup of coffee to him; Her fingers were wrapped shakily around the handle of the mug.

Sam took the mug from her before she lost her grip. "Thanks." He hovered the cup next to him, not drinking it; surveying the tired woman in front of him. "You should really be lying down Max, you're still just starting to recover."

"Sam I've been lying down for almost two days; I need to move," Max's voice was hoarse from disuse, but her all knowing Manticore wit still came through.

She was leaning against the back of one of the black dining room chairs; and it looked like her weight wouldn't hold her for much longer. Sam wanted to make her sit down; but she was such a strong-headed person that he didn't know how to bring it up without offending her. She was stable enough to not need a doctor; now she needed to be respected for who she was.

Sam sipped the coffee she had given him, one quick sip, then set the mug down on the table, hoping his gesture didn't offend Max; but nothing hinting of that crossed her eyes.

"Those bastards could've have checkmated this game; but they didn't." Max's words stalled out, but not from weakness, but because she didn't know where to begin saying what she wanted to say. "We would've died if it hadn't been for you."

Sam placed a hand on Max's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You're welcome." His eyes briefly left her face and traveled over to the sofa. Before Zack had been the one who had been unconscious while Asha watched over him, but this time it was Asha who was lying down in an exhausted sleep with her head and shoulders resting in his lap and Zack was softly stroking her side. "But if Asha hadn't been pregnant, I would've have been able to save any of you."

Max showed no surprise at the mention of Asha's pregnancy, because she had already known about it; and Sam backing up what Zack had said in her 'dream' made her believe all the more that it wasn't a dream at all. Exhaustion finally won out over her muscles and she stumbled slightly.

Sam caught her by the arm, bracing her as he pulled her back upright.

Max steadied herself on his arm. "Think I'm going to go lie down now," her words ended on a quiet laugh.

Sam helped her walk for a few steps; but she soon broke away from him and made the rest of the journey on her own; but he still watched her carefully to make sure she didn't fall.

When Max reached the couch – Jessie – who had been sitting down on it – stood up watching her. "You okay mom?"

Max smiled at the way his concerned words sounded so much like his father. "I'm fine baby." She kissed him on top of the head picked up Lexi - who was asleep across Logan's lap – and settled down with her on the cushions. Logan put his arm across Max's shoulders and kissed the side of her brow. Tinga was asleep on the other side of the couch with her arm drawn around Case, who was spooned against the front curves of her body.

There was no room for Jessie on the couch beside his parents so instead he sat down next to Jondy; who was sitting up in a pallet of blankets made up on the floor.

Logan had insisted that they all stay in the penthouse to recuperate, at least until they felt well enough to leave. Normally this group of X5's super soldiers would've given him an earload of complaints and quips because of such a request. But the virus had wiped them out so much that not even Alec said anything about it.

Jondy pulled Jessie against her body, wrapping her arms around him and rested her chin atop his head.

"You don't know how jealous I am right now." Alec told Jondy. He was half sitting, half lying on opposite Asha and Zack on the couch, his legs splayed out in front of him He gave her the same look she had given him at the Washington border.

Jondy received the look with a knowing silence. "He's prettier then you," she kissed her nephew on the back of the neck, making Jessie smile from the compliment.

"No argument there," Max agreed. She felt Logan kiss the side of her face again. But before he pulled away she turned her head and kissed him for real; and felt him return it eagerly.

XXXXXXX

CRASH

THE NEXT NIGHT

8:30 PM

"Are you two ever going to come up for air?" Alec was sitting at the graffiti covered bar; arms resting on top of it, shooting Max and Logan a look for what they were doing.

Logan broke his kiss with Max and looked over to Alec. "I almost lost my wife; I think I have the right to want to kiss her."

"Logan with the way you two are always all over each other one would think that Max's life is in jeopardy everyday."

Logan ignored Alec's remark, and turned his attention back to Max. "Are you coming back to the table?"

"As soon as Harold here gives up the pitcher," Max responded; smiling at the bartender good-naturedly, who returned the gesture.

"Okay, I'll see you back there," Logan stole another kiss from Max; the corners of his mouth pulling up into a smile at how this action must being annoying Alec.

"Thank god that's over," Alec said after Logan left, finally raising the beer mug to his lips, drinking its pale yellow contents slowly. "If you and Logan had kept going Maxie you, Tinga and Asha could form a Knocked Up sister trio."

"I'm not even gonna waste my time on that remark," Max shot back.

"You don't want to waste your time or you can't think of anything as good?" Alec raised his eyebrows at her.

Max flicked the side of his brow with her finger in response.

"Hey watch it," Alec said. "Remember I'm just getting over being infected from a terrible virus."

"So am I, but you don't hear me bitching about it," Max's response ended on a small smile. After the last two days it felt good to joke about the hell they had all went through; it allowed her to vent out all the pent up emotions she hadn't been allowed to express before.

Cindy came up to the bar, and stood against it in-between Alec and Max, looking them both over in concern. "How ya two feeling?"

"Not bad considering all the circumstances," Alec answered Cindy's question.

Cindy gave Alec's response to her question the pondering it deserved. Logan had called her hours after Max had been infected; and Cindy wanted to do something, to be there for her girl; but Logan told her it was too risky. So she had sat in her apartment in total silence; all her senses tuned into the phone, waiting for any news. And she had been scared as hell, because Logan had sounded scared as hell when he was talking to her. Sitting there in that unnerving silence Cindy prayed for the first time since Diamond had died.

"What he said," Max agreed with a quiet, honest smile. The antidote had worked surprisingly quickly, obviously it's creators never thought that they could utilize otherwise it wouldn't have worked at all, or would have killed them. After a few hours Max felt completely like her old self, almost like she had never been sick at all. But she was painfully aware of how close she and her siblings had come close to dying. And it was this emotion that was taking longer to heal then anything physical. "One thing's for sure, I'm never sending my kids to these guys for inoculations."

Cindy smirked at Max's joke; she knew that Max still had to think about things; but that didn't mean she had to quit being herself. She placed a hand on Max's shoulder comfortingly. "It's over girl."

Max touched Cindy's hand with hers and squeezed her fingers.

Soft footsteps echoed behind Max as Asha approached the bar; and came to a stop next to Max and Cindy. "No booze yet huh?"

"Harold's just making sure it's a good brew," Max said.

"I'll bet," Asha returned; she leaned against the edge of the bar. "This is starting to feel like a ration line. But it's not like I'm drinking anyway."

"And you got the best excuse for abstaining boo," Cindy said, glancing down briefly at Asha's abdomen even though she hadn't started to show yet. "Nothing takes a girls mind off the hooch like being pregnant."

Asha smiled shyly at Cindy's remark. This had been the first time that she her pregnancy brought up in a public setting; it made it official.

"How's the baby doing?" The question came from Max. Asha had saved her life, without thinking about the consequences of her actions. It gave Max an entire new form of respect for Asha; and she didn't want her sister-in-law to have to pay for committing such a selfless act.

"I'm still throwing up like clockwork so everything must be great," Asha joked lightly before actually answering Max's question. "Sam made me get an ultrasound this morning from one of his colleagues; everything's fine."

"So is it a boy or a girl?" Max asked.

"It's still too early to tell," Asha responded. "But I'm not hung up on whether this kid has or lacks a certain appendage, so long as it's healthy."

"Whatever method you have to use to explain away the cliché." Alec quipped.

Asha glared at him, but a second later her face dissolved into a sighing smile. She knew that Alec would never stop his trail of wit on her relationship with Zack; it was just the smart-mouthed, yet appealing way he was.

"Niece or nephew, either way, I owe them big time." Max put her hand on Asha's shoulder when she said this. She didn't vocally thank Asha; there were no words she felt that would express what she wanted to say; but her eyes expression deep, sincere gratitude. A look of understanding passed between them both, one that ended with Max turning to embrace Asha.

Asha accepted the quick, but heartfelt hug, and few seconds after the two women broke apart

Harold the bartender finally set three pitchers of beer on the bar in front of them. "Sorry about the wait Max; the new guy spilled half the supply of Vodka in the back, it was a bitch to clean up." He placed a stack of clean glasses next to the pitchers. "This round's on the house."

Cindy's eyebrows rose at that. Harold was a good guy, but he needed the money from his job so he normally didn't give freebies, even to his regulars. "Damn boy you should hire crappy workers more often," Harold grinned at her in return and went to tend to his other customers.

"C'mon my sistah's." Cindy picked up one of the pitchers, glancing over at Alec "You too Method Man. This party's been in the works too long; it's time to get it started."

Max picked up the other two pitchers and she; Alec and Asha followed Cindy through the people that were thickly cluttered around the bar.

"It's about time," Jondy said as she spotted Max and Cindy approaching the table with the pitchers. "I was this close to swiping Tinga's tasteless club soda."

Max set one of the pitchers in front of Jondy in the center of the table; reclaiming her seat next to Logan.

Jondy poured an almost overflowing glass of beer from the pitcher.

"Jondy you might want to cut back on the drinking. Remember you were violently ill just twenty-four hours ago." Logan reminded.

"But I'm not anymore; so this time I'm getting a say as to what goes in my body." Jondy raised the completely full glass to her mouth without spilling any of the beer inside it. She swallowed three soundless gulps and then set the glass back down; looking around the table; absorbing her surroundings for a moment. "Funny how it seems we just did this."

"Let's just hope that Zack here doesn't get stung by another 'mosquito'," Alec said, claming a hand on Zack's shoulder.

"Let's also hope that you remove your hand Alec," Zack returned.

"Based on Asha's current medical status, you obviously never used that line on her dad." Alec returned.

Zack didn't volley another remark at Alec, and brushed his hand off his shoulder.

"I don't know about the rest of you;" Charlie spoke up. "But I'm counting on an incident free night this time." Tinga had her chair scooted right up next to her husband's and was leaning into his arm that was wrapped around her shoulders. "There's only so much a man can take when it concerns his family," he placed his free hand on Tinga's stomach when he said this, kissing her forehead at the same time. He had been reunited with Tinga the previous morning, and had almost broken down at just the sight of her before he actually took her into his arms. Tinga had gotten the ultrasound that Sam suggested that same morning, and the baby miraculously hadn't suffered from the virus.

"You've got that right," Logan agreed. He squeezed Max's hand, and after she felt the contact she leaned over and kissed him.

Alec watched their exchange and turned to Asha, who was standing next to the table. They had run out of chairs, and Asha had yet to swipe one from another table. "Since everyone else seems to be all over each other, how's about we join in?" He looked over her body suggestively.

"Not on your life," Asha said matter-of-fact. She walked around to the front of the chair Zack was in and sat down in between his leg. Zack slid an arm around her waist after she was sitting down, adding a physical exclamation mark to Asha's response to Alec.

"Fine;" Alec said. "Leave me out of all the action."

"Hello" Jondy shot back. "Did I suddenly turn invisible or something?"

Alec's next remark paid Jondy back from the slam she made against him the day before.

"Asha's prettier then you."

XXXXXXXXXX

OUTSIDE CRASH

10:00 PM

"Promise me you won't catch another horrible disease out here." Asha's joke to Zack was light on her lips.

"I've already checked the shadows," Zack returned. "At least they're not idiotic enough to lurk out here again."

A smile spread across Asha's face; it had been too long since she had heard Zack's witty banter. She kissed him, sliding her arms around the back of his neck.

"Sorry to interrupt your hot moment Romeo."

The voice made them break apart. Across the alleyway stood a group of three men. The one who was talking had along-bladed knife in his hand. The other two men behind him were similarly armed.

The first man walked three paces across the alleyway stepping in spilt beer and semen puddle on the road. He eyed Zack, comparing what he looked like to a description he had of him in his mind. "Not that I blame you." His gazed shifted and traveled over Asha's body so closely that she might as well have not been wearing any clothes. "But you see I have a few things to straighten up with you, so you're going to have to sex-up the Prime-Grade meat later." He was now standing two steps in front of Zack. "You insulted some of my boys night before last, despite your pathetic fighting skills. But we don't let things slide even with pansy little pretty boys like you." The knife raised in his hand as he slashed the blade at Zack.

Zack ducked from the man's attack and grabbed his neck when he tried his maneuver the knife close to him again. He squeezed the man's neck like it belonged on a pliable rag doll. The man gasped, and choked, the knife slipping from his hand.

"There's a clever payback quip in here somewhere, but I'd rather not." Zack's threw the man to the ground on top of his useless knife.

It took the other two men seeing their "leader" sprawled on the pavement at Zack's feet before they finally lunged at him. The first man to reach Zack aimed the blade of his knife the vein in Zack's neck. Zack grabbed his fist, and applied bone crushing pressure to his hand; causing the man to scream and drop his weapon. Zack head butted him and kicked his feet out from under him; knocking him next to his friend.

The third man attacked Zack from behind locking an arm around his neck. But – to his surprise – he was wrenched off.

Max gripped the collar of this man's jacket like a puppy by the scruff of his neck. Even though he was in a very embarrassing position he still leered at her.

"I don't think so," Max said in response to his sleazy look. She slammed her fist into his crotch. He gasped soundlessly and doubled over at her feet.

"This ain't over punk!" The man's words were a pathetic choking wheeze, but he still tried to make them sound tough.

Zack punched him hard in the throat, and his weak voice disappeared completely from the blow.

Max looked up at Zack after he completed his maneuver. "Feel better?"

Zack glanced down at the three men at his feet, completely unconscious from him taking them out, before meeting Max's eyes. "Yeah."

XXXXXXXXX

CHEYENNE WYOMING

The cool night air whispered through the thick growth of trees, and distant birds called to each other, between their branches. The night held a full moon and it illuminated all these activities of night in a pale yellow transparent glow. The soft sound of a twittering Cardinal joined the symphony of birdcalls. Seconds later the Cardinal and all the other birds lit from the branches of the trees as an earsplitting explosion shook the forest.

A huge orange fireball shot up in the night; it's flames sweeping through the clearing, through all the buildings that stood there, ripping apart the concrete masonry. Agonized screams cut through the night air as men – soldiers – tried to escape the inferno only to collapse to the ground, their bodies alight. All the soldiers suffered the same excruciating fate so there was no one to help as each one of them dropped to the ground, burning alive.

Standing on the edge small road that led up to the compound was a single black sedan, it's shape lit up from the brightness of the flames of the explosion. The black tinted window of the driver's seat was rolled down, and the driver of the car observed the fire and smoke through a pair of military issue binoculars. The fire was now towering above the tree line, but the driver's expression was not one of horror, or even stunned confusion. It was the stoic look of someone who had ordered such an event to happen.

The Director observed the blaze a few seconds longer before rolling up the car window. A silver rectangular case rested on the passenger seat, bearing a single monogrammed scripted 'E' in the lower right hand corner. The Director placed the binoculars in this case, then pulled back on the road and drove away in silence.

XXXXXXXX

Okay, I know, a lot of bad stuff keeps happening to Max and her family, but in the show a lot of bad stuff happened to her too. It's because she's a covert super soldier who ran away from her creators; not exactly the lifestyle of someone who's biggest fear is one of her kids getting into a school fight.

I didn't realize until after I wrote it that there's a bit of a joke in the name Tinga picked out for her baby – Will. Tinga's last name is Smith, so we now have Will Smith, heh.

My next couple of chapters may be long in the making. I start nursing school next month and my schedule will be very busy. I'll write whenever I have a free moment, certainly I'm not going to quit writing. No, that's crazy talk, I love it too much, but I have to prioritize.

Please feel free to drop a review.

Peace,

Mystic


	29. The Manticore

Choices-28 "The Manticore."

Mystic25

RATING: PG for language

DISCLAIMER: I don't own them, and I never will…satisfied snooty James Cameron?

Summary: Jessie finally asks Max about her past.

A/N: No real comments on this one; for once I'll let the story speak for itself. Enjoy.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

SEATTLE - SECTOR SEVEN

PRESTON AVE - RESIDENCE OF LUCIA AND RICK WESTON

3:45 PM

The quiet, melodious humming of: "Wade in the Water," falling from Lucia's lips stilled when the sound of the front screen door closing echoed into the kitchen. She set the blue-bordered china plate she had just been watching on the wooden drain board beside the sink. She had never been a cop; but years of working with law enforcement personnel in hostage situations had heightened her level of caution when it came to noises.

However before she could verbally question the situation a very familiar child's voice called out to her.

"Nana?"

Lucia's caution level returned to normal and a smile spread across her face at hearing her grandson's voice. "I'm in the kitchen baby." She pulled off the bright yellow latex gloves she had on, hanging them over the edge of the drain board so they could dry. She waved at the honking of a car in her driveway; the parent of one of Jessie's friends who had just dropped him off at the house.

Jessie emerged onto the kitchen's eggshell colored tiled floor a few seconds later. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, white sneakers and a new red hooded sweatshirt with the Japanese characters for "Integrity" painted in black up the side of the right sleeve. He had outgrown his old favorite red hoodie when he was five so for his last birthday Lucia had given the new one to him. It took three hours of searching in five black market stalls at South Market, but she had managed to find it; made by what used to be a clothing brand called: "Old Navy"

The black pack he had bulged heavily on his back, making Lucia suspect that it must be hurting his small body to be carrying such a load.

"Hey sweetie," Lucia hugged him, sliding the backpack off his shoulders as she did so; the bag was even heavy in _her_ arms, confirming her earlier suspicions. Schools loaded kids down with too many books; as if a herniated disc would help further a student's education.

She could tell that her gesture greatly relieved a physical stress from her grandson; even though he didn't say it out loud. He may very well be his mother's son, but he wasn't as strong as her yet, at least not physically. Mentally though he was Max's child, he had a way of not expressing emotions he didn't want others to see.

"Sit down baby, you want something to drink?" Lucia set the backpack down on the table and pushed one of the wooden oak chairs out for him.

"I'll get it Nana," Jessie skirted around the edge of table and opened the white door of the refrigerator. He peeked his head inside the temperature-controlled air, searching for a moment, before emerging with a half full plastic bottle of grape juice.

"There's a clean glass on the drain board," Lucia told him, watching him walk the short distance from the refrigerator to the countertop by the sink.

Jessie pulled a blue tinted glass from the drain rack, turning back to look at his grandmother. "Do you want some?"

"I'd love some baby." Lucia smiled at his manners, which were as polite as his father. He was getting tall like Logan too. And his soft brown eyes, though still childlike, were becoming beautifully dark like Max's; all this coupled with his growing agile body made him a very handsome boy.

Jessie came back to the table a few seconds later, carrying a glass of juice in each hand. "Here Nana," he set one of the glasses in front of her, and sat down in the vacant chair next to her.

"Thank you kiddo," Lucia would have kissed him but he was already sitting down and wearing the look of a growing boy who didn't want to get kissed for every little thing. So she settled on drinking the juice he had just brought her to express her thanks physically.

Jessie drank half of his juice in one breath, dark purple stains on his bottom lip noticeable after he set the glass down but not once did he spill any of the horribly staining liquid on his clothes.

"Nana?"

The tone in Jessie's voice when he called Lucia was so inquiring that she quickly finished the sip of juice she had been working on. He was only seven, so his facial features were still soft and childlike, but the expression he wore on his face was still very serious.

"What is it sweetie?" Lucia asked.

"It's about mom."

Lucia sensed there was more to what he wanted to tell her then just those few words he said. "She'll be back in an hour Jess, don't worry."

The uncalculating aspects of the universe had caused a conference with Lexi's teacher and Lucy's non-reschedulable monthly wellness checkup to occur at the same time. So Logan had agreed to take the baby to the doctor's while Max attended the conference, much to the dismay of Lexi. Lucia's oldest granddaughter would just as soon _not_ have her mother hear why her teacher had called the conference. Lucia wasn't sure why it was needed either; she had a grandmother's prejudice after all; but Max had said Lexi's teacher had caught her "acting out in class" two days before.

But despite what Lucia thought, the conference had to be held, which made Lucia volunteer to take Jessie after class until Max was done at the school.

"I know," Jessie responded to Lucia's reassurance, pulling up his sleeve and wiping the juice off his face with the back of his hand. His gesture was done in such a way that it was obvious that it wasn't out of general neatness, but because he loved his red shirt too much and didn't want to stain it. Thoughts ran loudly through Jessie's head, adult ones that his young had been trying to process for weeks; a question that he wanted the answer too.

"Nana where was mom born?"

"What do you mean baby?" Jessie's question seemed innocent enough, a child wanting to know about his mother's past; putting the question to his mother's mother; someone who obviously knew the answer. But of course it _wasn't_ that easy, nothing concerning Lucia and her daughter was easy. "Your mom was born in a hospital."

She could tell that her answer didn't satisfy him. He had been skipped ahead to second grade this year; and was starting to learn about the world beyond the scope of stories and Playdoh.

"What was the hospital's name?"

"It was a long time ago, I can't remember." Lucia said; and this wasn't a total lie. After she woke up in solitary confinement after her C-section she was so delusional from whatever they drugged her with that she _couldn't_ remember what had happened. It took three months for her to remember fully about what she had endured during her pregnancy.

"But Nana you were there." Jessie insisted. There was no trace of a childish whine in his voice; rather it was a tone that wanted clarification.

"Yes sweetie I was, but having a baby is tough work; you don't remember anything else, not even hospital names." Lucia knew her story wasn't going to fly with Jessie. He had been old enough to remember when Lucy was born, and Max had remembered fully where she was at the time of his youngest sister's delivery. The only thing Lucia could hope for with her tale was that it would allow for a minute of necessary staling.

"Was it Manticore?"

Lucia had stopped drinking her juice two minutes ago so she had nothing to choke on, but surprise still settled on her features. She tried to mask it, but she knew he had already seen enough. "Where did you hear that word from honey?"

"Mom and dad talk about it. Not to me, they don't know I'm listening. I tried to ask dad about it before, but Lexi kept following me and wouldn't let me really talk. I asked mom before; but she just looked at me like you did and wouldn't tell me. What _is_ Manticore?" Jessie's words hung on anticipation, waiting for Lucia to respond. When she didn't his head s slowly dropped in a downtrodden gesture; like the popular kids at school had left him out of a secret because he wasn't deemed cool enough.

"I'm not a baby anymore Nana," Jessie looked down into the bottom of his glass, hidden through the small remaining amount of grape juice.

"I know you're not sweetie," Lucia said, moving a hand up to his hair and gently musing up the soft brown strands.

Jessie abandoned looking at his glass, and the look in his eyes had intensified to a maturity that transcended his age. "Then why won't anyone tell me about it?"

The echoing of a thousand responses hung greedily above them, beckoning Lucia to use one of them to explain everything all away in a simplified created lie. She lowered her hand from Jessie's hair and laid it on his shoulder, snuffing out all the lying thoughts in the process. Children weren't stupid; they weren't as easily sated with lies as adults would like to think.

Manticore was a dark, deep complex issue to discuss with a child who wasn't even eight-years-old yet. But Jessie was Max's son; Manticore was as part of him too, a part he deserved to know about.

Jessie could tell that what he said had hit a mark with his grandmother, so he kept his gaze steady on hers, not accusing, just waiting for the moment that he knew was coming.

Lucia let half a sigh escape from her, only half of one because what Jessie really needed to hear was her words, not her breathing. "I want you to trust me with what I have to say next Jess. Because I'm not just saying it because you're a kid and I'm a grown up. You need to ask your mom about Manticore; not me, not your dad. We both know about it too; but this is _her_ story okay? She needs to tell it you."

Jessie didn't say anything, but Lucia could tell that he agreed to her terms. She leaned over and kissed the side of his face; and he didn't complain about it because he was too lost in processing the new information he had just received.

Lucia had wished for an instant after the final word of her explanation had escaped her mouth that she could take everything she had just said back. But reality didn't work that way, and she loved her grandson too much to lie to him. She just hoped Max would forgive her for the consequences that would result from it.

XXXXXXX

P.S. 12

SECTOR SEVEN

The front office of Public School 12 was a giant semicircle. Administrative offices were located in the curve of the circle behind peeling wood veneer doors partially hidden behind fake plastic ferns. Each office door boasted a gold plated nameplate. Some – if it was in the administrator's personality – also had pinned photos and faded posters from the Pre-Pulse era. But most had simply the nameplate because the Sector Police would randomly stop by to inspect the school and would arrest anyone with had anything that was deemed to be "anti-government," even an old movie poster from "Beauty and the Beast" cost one employee her position. So employees became more subdued, dealing with the limitations on personal expression if it allowed them to keep their jobs.

In the exact center of the semi-circle sat the secretary's desk, a long gray tin thing that stretched out five feet in length, making it seem more like a lunch table then a desk. Despite the size of the school only two secretaries ran the front office. One of the two cushioned back swivel chairs where the workers sat was empty, and the woman in the other chair showed all the exhausted signs of someone who had to work solo in a huge establishment because of an co-worker that had called in sick.

"Hi," Max greeted the secretary. She was less then halfway to the desk, but the woman looked so frazzled that Max wanted to give her a heads up on her approach.

The secretary glanced up, her honey colored brown hair frayed out in odd angles, no doubt from an unconscious stress habit she had been redoing all day. She gave Max a once over with her eyes, short enough that an average person wouldn't notice, but Max wasn't average so she noticed.

Max was wearing jeans and a white crew neck long sleeved shirt under her leather jacket, causal, but still appropriate for a school conference. She had taken off early from work and wasn't about to change into a business suit for a kindergarten parent/teacher conference. But a once over of the secretary herself told Max that the woman wasn't snubbing her for her clothes. She was looking at her in a way that said how dare such a beautiful woman stand there, showing no signs of being a parent of one of the hyperactive children at the school and waste the secretary's time.

"I got a call for a conference about my daughter; Alexis Cale." After Max finished talking she watched the secretary undergo a new metamorphises. _Now_ the woman was looking at Max asking herself how dare such a beautiful woman – who showed no signs of redeposited pregnancy weight _anywhere_ – stand here and show her up while she sat there looking wildly unkempt from stress.

But of course the secretary didn't _say_ any of this; she stilled smiled an overly done sweet smile and said in a friendly voice: "You want the door at the end of right side there Mrs. Cale; your daughter and Ms. Vaughn are already in the conference room."

"Thank you." Max returned the smile the woman gave her with just enough of an edge to it to let the secretary know that she didn't like being unfairly judged. The woman's smile fell away from her mouth after she realized that Max had picked up what she was thinking. There was no time to save face because Max had already walked away from her desk; leaving her feeling embarrassed, which was the effect that Max had been going for.

Max followed the secretary's easy directions and pushed open the conference room door; she felt no need to knock since she was already expected. The room was small, with walls made out of the same colored wooden veneer as the door. Framed class composite photos from various grade levels covered the wall behind a long white folding table where four chairs sat on each side of it. A black suit jacket hung on the back of one of the chairs, absent from its owner. But a few moments after Max arrived a narrow door on the left wall opened and an auburn haired woman stepped inside dressed in a pair of black slacks and white button-up blouse.

"Max, hi." The woman – Lexi's kindergarden teacher Ms. Anna Vaughn – smiled broadly and extended her hand. Her tone was nowhere near as formal as the secretary's had been. Anna had been Jessie's kindergarden teacher before Lexi's and through that had developed a relationship with Max.

The two women shook hands in professional courtesy; Though Anna knew Max for several years; this was still a conference and she had to adhere to formality. "Please," Anna gestured to the chair across from her, and sat in the chair where her abandoned suit jacket was resting. Anna waited until after Max was sitting down to start talking again: "Alexis is waiting in the other room. I wanted to talk with you first so we can both address the issue to her on an equal level. But first let me say how much I love having Alexis in my class; she's intuitive and very smart, just like her brother. You have some great kids."

"Relax Anna; I'm not rich and upper crusted enough to sue," Max said giving Anna Vaughn a lighthearted smile that made the woman laugh quietly.

"I'd never expect it of you Max," Anna said. "It's just the introduction the school board requires me to give. And now that that's over, we can focus on Alexis. Like I said before she's a wonderful kid; and I never had any trouble with her, until today."

Max knew how much Anna cared for her daughter by how long it was taking her to continue talking about something that would mar Lexi's reputation; so Max imputed the next line: "What happened?"

"First let me set up the scenario for you. Everyday in the morning I let the kids have fifteen minutes of free play; it gives them a chance to talk and interact with each other without structured supervision. Lexi is one of the most sociable ones at this time, playing and laughing. Which was what she was doing yesterday morning; so at first I didn't think anything of the volume of noise I heard from the back of the room where I was setting up the morning lessons. But then when I went to check on them I realized that all the noise was coming from my students circled around Lexi, and her classmate Tyler Fisher, who were fighting. I don't know how it got started, but Lexi clearly had the upper hand, she had pinned Tyler on the ground and was wrenching his hair out. I immediately broke up the fight and by this time both Lexi and Tyler were crying, but Lexi admitted to starting the fight. But when I asked her why she did it she wouldn't tell me. She didn't talk back to me, she just told me she didn't want to tell me. I put her and Tyler in time out, then talked to each of them separately. I met with Tyler and his parents yesterday. Apparently Tyler instigated the fight by saying something that upset Lexi, something pertaining to you."

Max's brow knit in an inquiry position. "What was it?" Lexi and her peer group were five and Max knew at that age kids were into making fun of everything different they saw. But she couldn't imagine Lexi jumping – and this is what she suspected the action was like – her classmate for talking about her mom.

"Forgive my next question Max, but your tattoo; it's a barcode on the back of your neck right?"

Max slowly nodded, her mind going into analyzing mode, wondering where Anna was going with this.

"Lexi told me as much. I'm not putting it down; your choice of self-expression is your own buisness; but I finally got it out of Lexi before you came here that this is what started the fight yesterday. Lexi either told Tyler about your tattoo or he somehow observed it on his own; and he made the remark to her that it was freaky to have a mom who came from a thrift store. I know both Tyler and Lexi are too young to understand the double entendre of Tyler's words; but Lexi said it was Tyler's use of the work "freaky" that upset her. And – sorry to be so crude here – but Lexi was kicking the crap out of Tyler. She's never acted out this way before so I knew there had to be something bigger going on then just grade school teasing." Anna's next question was so standard she could've prerecorded it before the school year started and played at every parent/teacher conference via a tape recorder. "Have there been any problems at home recently?"

It _was_ a standard question; but for Max one without a typical answer. A normal mom might respond that her daughter was acting out because of school anxiety, or simply being teased too much at home from her other siblings. Not that several months ago she had been placed in seclusion while her mom went to take down a lethal ancient cult; or more recently that she had to watch while mommy and her aunts and uncle almost died because a covert government agency had infected them with a bioengineered virus. When you were the daughter of a transgenic super soldier 'problems at home' were _always_ recent.

But Max wasn't about to tell all this hard-hitting truth to Anna. The two women knew each other well; but there was a line between Max's disclosed friends and her child's teacher. Still she had to tell Anna something; silence wasn't enough of an answer.

"Lexi's uncle –my brother Zack – was violently ill last week, he almost died; Lexi loves him very much."

A look of understanding sympathy passed over Anna's eyes. "I'm sorry Max; children often don't have any mechanism to express their fears other then acting out. It certainly explains Lexi's outburst. But I'm afraid I still have to discipline her, certainly not _harshly – _what happened to your brother must have been terrible for her and your whole family – but if I let what happened today slide I'm afraid Lexi won't learn to find a way to talk to you or me about what's bothering her." Anna looked at Max completely apologetically. She'd never admit it to her other students, but Lexi was one of her favorites; and punishing her would be hard.

Max's eyes shifted into a look of understanding. She bypassed a formal response that would only make Anna uncomfortable in favor of a more casual remark: "I guess it's time to bring my little defendant in for sentencing." Her words had their desired affect; Anna smiled gently before standing up and walking over to the same narrow door she had entered in and pushed it open.

"Come on in sweetie," Anna's said softly to the person behind the door, and a few seconds later Lexi came through the opened door into the room. Her clear blue eyes met Max's just for an instant before she averted them from her mother to look at the floor as she walked. Lexi knew that her actions wouldn't sit well with her mother; and she didn't want to meet her eyes just yet. This was the first time she had gotten into any kind of trouble at school and she was scared.

"Have a seat Lexi okay? In the chair next to your mom." Anna spoke gently to the girl; she could tell she was already nervous; being harsh would just be cruel.

Lexi sat down very slowly, not looking at Max the entire time she was lowering herself into the chair. Max had fixed Lexi's hair into a neat single braid before she left for school; but now clumps of hair stuck out of the braid at random intervals and one of the two barrettes holding up the hair by her ear hung at loose angle; done up quickly by her small shaking hand immediately after the fight with Tyler.

Max took in the sight of her daughter's appearance. As a parent, of course, she was relieved that that she wasn't hurt and was upset that her daughter had gotten into a schoolyard fight. But also a small part of her – the solider side that mixed into every other aspect of her life – was proud of how well Lexi could handle herself.

But in Max's internal battle of parent vs. soldier, the parent won out. "Baby, are you okay?"

Lexi nodded, still not meeting Max's gaze, being overly interested at the ribbing on her pink sweater. "I'm sorry mommy." Her words were a quick admittance to guilt that she believed would give her less of a punishment; like her mother Lexi was smart enough to know the value of owning up to her actions. But the next remark that came out of her mouth proved that she was still a child: "But Tyler started it, he made fun of you!"

The force at which Lexi said this to Max caused Max's eyebrows to rise. She didn't reprimand Lexi verbally; but her shift in facial expression was not lost on her daughter. Lexi echoed another "I'm sorry," keeping her attention fully on her sweater the entire time.

"What you did was wrong," Anna began, in a firm, but gentle voice. "But I already know you know that. I also know that you're not the kind of girl who gets into fights everyday; today was the first time I ever saw anything like what you did. And me and your mom just want to help you so this won't happen again."

Lexi's eyes were still downcast, looking everywhere but up at the eyes of her teacher or her mom.

Max reached out and laid a comforting hand on her back, feeling the small muscles there rise and fall in jerky hesitance.

"You shouldn't have fought with Tyler honey; it was wrong. But thank you for thinking of me." She wasn't about to reward Lexi for getting into a scrape with her classmate; but protecting the people you love was something that Max prided her self on and was a trait she wanted her daughter to have.

Lexi's eyes finally rose after hearing Max's words. The smallest sheen of tears glistened at the corners of her eyes but none broke free.

Max rubbed Lexi's back with her thumb gently to divert the tears from coming out of her eyes because she knew Lexi was getting to be a big girl, and wouldn't want to cry at school in front of her teacher.

Anna watched the exchange between mother and daughter in admiration, allowing it to go on for a few more moments before she had to interrupt it. "You're going to have to hear your punishment now Lexi okay? But I promise it won't be anything all that bad."

Lexi blinked, letting her eyelids swallow up her tears; she sat up straighter in her chair, and finally graced Anna with the intelligent blue eyes she had inherited from Logan. "Okay."

Max smiled warmly at her daughter. "That's my girl."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

PRESTON AVE

4:40 PM

"There's my pretty baby," Lucia held the screen door open waiting for Logan – who was carrying Lucy in her car seat – to climb the three step stairs up to the front door. "And my sweet granddaughter." She gave her remark all the suggestiveness that it deserved. Lucia's opinion had nothing to do with a mother-in-law's prejudice, and everything to do with a woman's observation. Logan was a very handsome man; his blue eyes alone were a serious threat.

Logan smiled warmly at Lucia when he finally got up to the door. "Just don't tell Max I'm cheating on her with you Luce."

Lucia returned Logan's smile. "Max understands the code of the soldier honey, "don't ask, don't tell."

Logan's smile broadened. "That works for me," he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. And as he did so Lucia quickly and expertly lifted Lucy out of the carrier as Logan walked past her into the house.

"Sorry Logan, but the entrance fee is one cutie pie." She kissed the tops of Lucy's flailing fingers on her right hand. The baby's brown eyes widened in excitement as she recognized her. Lucy's eyes held a look that couldn't be passed up, especially not a grandmother. "I think this is going to count as a kidnapping, and I'm sorry but negotiations are out of the question."

Lucia carried the baby inside the house, leaving Logan to mentally shake his head at his mother-in-law. She reminded him so much of Max that he believed that this is what Max would be like when she was Lucia's age; not loosing a bit of her witty sarcasm; rather, making it sharper as the years went on.

Logan walked through the white washed door, hearing the screen door softly slam behind him as he entered the house. Lucia had moved into it with Rick after the Pulse had forced them out of their home in Tacoma. It was weather worn, and badly needed repair on several spots on the roof and back porch, but once you stepped inside the house you'd never suspect it because of all the work Lucia had put into making it look like the home she had left behind.

Logan stopped a few paces inside the house to gaze about the kitchen before spotting Jessie seated at the dining room table with an open math book and a stack of notebook paper in front of him.

"Hey," Logan walked over to him. He suspected that the boy wasn't all that engrossed in his homework because Jessie's head had risen as soon as he heard his father's footsteps on the floor. It was a maneuver that Max had done to him countless of times and his son mirroring his mother caused a smile to come across Logan's face.

"What is it dad?" Jess put down his pencil; his brow creasing in puzzlement at the smile he saw on Logan's face.

"Nothing," Logan cleared his throat as a diversion. He knew Jessie was at an age where anything too sentimental would be deemed as "gross" so he didn't elaborate on his thoughts. "Did you finish all your homework?"

"All but this last one," Jessie responded, looking back down at his math book. The notebook paper in front of him was already filled with eleven problems, the last one of which was partway completed.

"What's the problem?" Lucia asked. She was sitting in the chair across from Jessie, bouncing Lucy on her lap.

"It's a word problem," Jessie responded. "Three plus a number equals twenty-five minus two-"

"Just take your time and think it through sweetie," Lucia told him gently.

Jessie paused to ponder the problem, before a visible light came across his eyes. "It's twenty. Twenty-five minus two is twenty-three, and three plus twenty equals twenty-three. I didn't know it because an unknown number is usually shown as an X or a Y."

"Did you learn that in school?" Logan asked. He shared a slightly baffled look with Lucia at Jessie knowing about algebraic variables when he hadn't even learned long division yet.

Jess shook his head. "It just made sense that way, mom says that's how some things are sometimes."

"She's right," Logan agreed, earmarking the discussion with Max for how far Jessie's knowledge was advancing for that night in his brain. "There are some things that you just know."

"Like the things I know," Jessie stated.

"Which things are those Jess?" Logan asked.

"About Manticore."

The planned discussion Logan had just book marked in his brain flew out after hearing his son's words. But before he could say anything to that remark Jessie spoke again.

"Is that the place where mom grew up?"

Logan felt winded and completely baffled all in the same moment. He always knew in the back of his mind that one day he would be asked this question from his son; but to hear the words in actual reality was something totally different. But the moment he looked into Jess's eyes he knew that he was beyond the age where lying would be regarded as the truth simply because it came from his father.

"Yeah-" Logan lost all words after the first one escaped his mouth. Father's who thought that having the 'sex talks' with their sons was one of the hardest discussions to have were fooling themselves. "It was."

Jessie sensed the hesitation in Logan's voice, the same hesitation he had encountered all his short life whenever he broached this topic, but this time he wasn't backing down so easily. "Nana said that I have to ask mom about it, that it's her story."

Logan stole a glance at Lucia; a part of him wanted to be angry with her for telling that to Jess, but it was snuffed out by the reality that she didn't tell Jessie anything that wasn't the truth.

"She's right Jess. This is Max- I mean _mom's_ story to tell to you," Logan caught himself on the slip up, but when it happened he had be drawn back in time seven years ago, to when he and Max had had the same conversation Jessie was about to have with her.

And he knew it would be even harder for Max to tell now then back then.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

4:30 PM

"Hey, where is everybody?" Max came through the doorway of the penthouse. Lexi walked ahead of her, removing her pink jacket and throwing it on top of the couch.

"Hang that up baby, please," Max reminded.

"Sorry mommy, I was just hot," Lexi apologized. She picked the jacket up and carried it through the living room, heading towards her bedroom.

Jessie was coming out from the bedroom he shared with Lexi just as his sister was rounding the hallway that led to it.

"Is mom home?" Jessie asked.

"That's who picked me up goofball." Lexi returned, smirking quietly to herself at her 'goofball remark.'

"Did you get in trouble with your teacher?" Jessie ignored her childish remark; knowing that if he said anything to it, she'd draw him into a match of childish name-calling.

Lexi shook her head vigorously. "Ms. Vaughn said I just have to apologize to Tyler tomorrow, that's it. He's a poop-face, but mommy says I have to do it."

Jessie laughed quietly behind closed lips at Lexi calling Tyler a 'poop-face', a good slam in his mind. "Act like you mean it or Ms. Vaughn and mom will know."

"Mommy's not gonna see me do it," Lexi returned. "But I hafta mean it or she'll get mad." Lexi sighed into her coat in reluctant acceptance of her punishment.

Jessie gave her his best 'hang in there' smile. "You want to play Spades later? I can show you the rules." He watched Lexi's eyes light up at his suggestion. She been pestering him to teach her the card game for weeks, and thought it might be something that would cheer her up, and he was right.

"You won't fool me right?" Lexi asked in apprehension.

"Not if you pay attention really well," Jessie returned.

Lexi's face broke out into a grin. "Okay!" She leaned over and gave her brother a long wet sloopy kiss on his cheek, knowing that it would gross him out. She giggled at the face he made and disappeared into their bedroom before he could say anything.

"Mom!" Jessie called out, walking out into the living room, wiping his cheek as he went.

"In here baby!" came Max's reply.

Jessie followed the sound of her voice and found his mother in the kitchen slicing a pear into wedges. He climbed up on one of the black leather barstools, and wiped his cheek hard with the back of his hand.

Max saw the look on Jess's face and the gestures he was making and came to their combined logical conclusion: "Lexi kissed you again didn't she?" She couldn't help smiling at the way her son practically shuddered at the thought.

"Did you ever kiss Uncle Krit, Uncle Zane, or Uncle Zack like that?"

"Only if I wanted to gross them out," Max returned. She held a pear wedge out to him. "Here, have some nature's candy, it'll help take the edge off."

Jessie bit off half of the pear in one bite. "Mom?" he talked while he chewed.

"Hmm?"

"Why haven't you ever told me about Manticore?"

Max nearly sliced through her finger when she heard his question. She was fast paced with responses to any form of question posed to her; but this time she found herself in completely new territory, so it was Jessie that beat her to the return:

"Please don't lie to me." Jessie had a quiet seriousness that loomed behind his dark brown eyes.

"I wasn't going to," Max wasn't pretending to tell him the truth. She knew the value of lies; but she also knew that the truth was more valuable still.

Max's past was a story that she had only read to a select few, to Logan, Original Cindy. But it was something entirely different to have to tell it to Jessie. Not because he was only seven-years-old, but because he was her son.

Max abandoned cutting up the rest of the pear she had been working on and walked out of the kitchen. "Let's have a seat over here baby," She sat down on the large couch in the living room, feeling the cushion next to her sink gently at the weight of Jessie sitting beside her.

If Max were someone who outwardly displayed her emotions she would be ringing her hands, or biting her lip. But despite the fact that she really _was_ scared as hellher demeanor was completely void of any nervous gestures. She had known that this day was coming ever since Jessie had been just a flicker of life in her womb. But true to the soldier that she was, she hadn't planned anything to say. She wanted what she would tell him when the moment came to be real, not a rehearsed monologue.

"What do you want to know?" There were a million ways Max could've began this very complex discussion, but she chose to answer her son's question with a question, to allow him to direct where his inquires would go.

Jessie had Logan's way of loosing himself in his brain and her way of masking his emotions, so it was only after he spoke that she knew what he was thinking: "Everything." He knew the how heavy the weight of his answer was because his gaze on his mother was just as strong as her gaze on him. But he didn't lessen it; and he knew she wouldn't want him too.

Max's eyes hazed over in past memories, a past that she said she always wanted to forget, but the past and present are one, so it can never truly be forgotten. "Manticore-" She blinked, and she was back in the steel coldness of the training room, sparring in a room full of soldier children just like her; hearing their battle cries that would one day be cried out in real combat. She blinked again and she was back on the couch with Jessie. "It's where I was born, not just me, your aunts and uncles too-"

"So it was a hospital?" Jessie asked.

"No," Max shook her head, knowing that her son didn't know how wrong he was. "It wasn't a hospital-" She searched a second in her mind for a comparison that would be real enough to describe Manticore. "It was like a boarding school-" She paused for a second, knowing that after she said what she was about to say there wouldn't be any coming back from it. "Except we weren't taught how to be students, we were taught how to be soldiers." Max was back again in the forest outside the facility, crawling through the underbrush; a rifle tucked against her chest, hearing the pelting of real gunfire going over her head.

"Soldiers?" Jessie's voice betrayed confusion. Not because he didn't know what soldiers were, he did. But because he had never associated his mother with that description. A realization suddenly came to his mind over past memories he had often wondered about, all the times Max had come home hurt, or the way he had seen her fight off people that looked much too big for his mother to take by herself. "Did you to learn to fight the way you did there?"

"It's the way we were born Jess," Max corrected. "Like how you have brown hair, and how Lexi has blue eyes. It was already inside us how to fight, we weren't taught it, it was brought out of us."

"So Uncle Zack, Aunt Tinga, Uncle Zane-"

"They have it inside of them too." Max responded. "Manticore made sure that everyone who came from there was very strong."

"If you were learning how to be strong, why did you leave?"

"It wasn't a place you wanted to be baby," Max said, her voice dropping low. "Manticore taught us to be strong by beating us down until we either had to be strong or be broken. Things happened there when I was a kid that I would _never_ wish for you or your sisters to go through. We had no choice but to leave." Max blinked and she was nine-years-old again, breaking through the glass of the windows, landing hard on her feet in the thick snow, the alarm screeching a warning into the still cold night.

"You said Manticore made you really strong; did you ever kill anyone?"

Jessie's question made Max's next blink draw her back to the present. Yes she knew that the day would come when she would have to explain the existence of Manticore to her children. But there were the dark areas about Manticore that she hoped that she would never have to tell; things that she didn't wish she knew how to do.

Max didn't answer Jessie's question, but she didn't have to for Jessie to find the answer in her eyes. She watched his young mind process everything she had just told him.

She knew this moment could've gone several different ways. Jessie was only seven, he could've thrown a tantrum; choosing a youthful fit to cover up his real emotions; or he could've acted like everything his mother had told him was a lie. But she knew her son better then that that he wouldn't do either.

Jessie's expression hovered somewhere between disillusion and shock; but his look chose neither, and instead his gaze turned to hurt. What kind of hurt Max had no idea, because – in manner that almost mirrored her own actions in tense situations – her son stood up from the couch.

"I'm thirsty."

Jessie's pretense for walking into the kitchen was to get a drink, but Max knew that he was looking for a way out of the world that she had revealed to him. You didn't have a son with so many of your personality traits without knowing the actions of his mind.

Max didn't follow him; what was she going to do? Yell at him and send him to his room until he accepted the fact that his mother had been trained to kill; had sometimes killed without any remorse in her childhood? In tense situations like this Max would normally jump on her bike and drive around for hours on the streets of Seattle until the fog of her mind thinned out enough for her to see a little clearer.

But Logan had gone down to the market and she couldn't just abandon her children because of her own headspace. She wanted to scream, to punch holes in the walls. But she couldn't do that either. She was foremost a mom at that moment; and being a mom reflected many aspects of being a soldier; she couldn't allow herself to lose control.

"Mommy she's hungry."

Lexi's voice pierced through Max's mind as she saw her daughter awkwardly carrying her little sister in her arms; moving at a very slow rate, more because their combined weight was too much for Lexi to handle then because she was trying to be extremely careful.

"Baby, she's too big for you to carry," Max chided, taking Lucy from her before either of her daughters crash-landed on the floor.

"She didn't want to play with any of the toys I gave her, she only wants to eat," Lexi kept her voice even, despite the fact that she was worried that she would get back into trouble with Max; considering what had happened earlier.

Lucy's high-pitched coughing cry that came a moment later was testament to what Lexi had said.

"Okay kiddo, mommy hears you," Max adjusted Lucy in her arms so that she was cradled against her body. Lexi coming in with the baby had distracted her from Jessie. She wanted the moment to continue; to give them both some time to sort things out. But it wasn't meant to be because of what happened next.

"Jessie?"

Max heard Lexi's voice again after she had gotten Lucy to start nursing. She watched the girl take a seat at the dining room table next to Jessie. He was sitting in one of the black chairs that was still just slightly too big for him. True to his word he had gotten a drink – a glass of orange juice sat in front of him – but the glass had not been emptied at all.

"Is that yours?" Lexi's question was rhetorical; she knew that the glass was Jessie's, but she was thirsty, and the glass was right there.

"Here," Jessie picked up the glass and set it in front of her.

Lexi accepted the glass by picking it up in her hand; but she paused just short of drinking it, eyeing the juice like it was alive. "What did you do?"

"_Nothing,"_ Jessie insisted, "I'm just not thirsty anymore."

Lexi took a cautionary sip; then after concluding that it tasted like orange juice was supposed to taste; she drank more. "Can we play Spades now?"

"Not now," Jessie answered. He saw her crestfallen look; and he wasn't old enough to answer with a moody pubescent retort. "We can play tomorrow; after school."

Lexi still looked disappointed that she'd have to wait that long, but she dealt with it. "Okay." There was something in Jessie's face that creased her young brow into a quizzical expression. "Are you sick?"

Lexi was only five; being sick was the only thing she could think off that would make her brother have that strange look on his face.

"I'm just thinking about all that homework I have," Jessie was lying. He had finished his homework at Lucia's house. He didn't know if Lexi really believed him; but the look that came across her face told him that she was content with accepting the lie because it contained a problem that was easily amended after a few hours of work.

Max listened to Jessie and Lexi's discussion from the couch. The youngest of her three kids created light rippling pressure on her body as her tiny hands pressed into Max's breasts to find a better position. Max blinked; and melted again into a memory of her childhood.

xxxxxxxxxx

"_Why can't we tell them who we are?"_ _Max's was whispering too low for her voice to be heard by any one other then who she was talking too. . She stared through the barred window of the barracks at the thick carpet of snow that had fallen on everything out in the yard. _

_Zack stood beside her and watched the snow falling from same window. Over a dozen delicate ice crystals added to thousands of others below in mere seconds. He turned from the window to her face. "They wouldn't understand Max."_

xxxxxxxxx

XXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

6:30 PM

Logan cursed on his way up the elevator; and again as he exited the car and walked to his front door. He had only gone to the market to pick up a loaf of bread. Not even a specialty loaf like sourdough or pumpernickel. Just ordinary common white bread loaded down with bleach and preservatives. But there had been a fifty person line at the Bread Stall – the owners didn't want to call it a Bread Line; anything to keep them from remembering that they were in a bottomless depression. It had taken him almost an hour to get up to the line for a five-minute purchase; and then on his way out Sector Cops had set up a new roadblock and were doing searches on _every_ car going out of the market.

Logan was so pissed off by the pointless search by time his car was being combed over that he would've pitched his Wonder Bread at the Sector Cop's head; if he wasn't aware that such an action would've gotten him arrested and delayed him further still.

Logan wasn't surprised that the door was unlocked when he turned the knob. Most people tended to lock their doors; especially with three young children in the house. But Max never locked the door when she was home; stating that locks could easily be picked; but the burglar would have to deal with her once he got in.

When he stepped into the front foyer Kaja bounded over to him; but because she was so well trained she merely sat in front of Logan; her tail slapping back and forth on the floor in excitement.

Logan scratched her ears; and she whined high and happy in the back of her throat. She followed him into the kitchen when he put the bread in the cabinet. He poured some kibble into her silver dog dish situated on the floor next to the counter and after she started attacking it Logan went off in search of Max.

"Max-" He only got as far as saying her name before he found her leaning back against the black leather couch with Lucy tucked up against her chest. The baby was asleep; and Logan thought the same was true of her mother, but as he neared the couch he saw Max's head raise and her gaze shift up towards the noise he was making as he came closer.

"Hey," Logan expected her to respond with the '_hey yourself'_ remark that had become their signature; but when his wife started talking she said something entirely different.

"Jess asked me about Manticore."

Jessie had brought up the subject at Lucia's house just hours before; so to say that Logan was shocked was a lie. However he _was _surprised that his son would ask Max about it so soon. "What did you tell him?"

"The truth, or how much I thought he could handle right now."

"Max-"

"Remember when he was this small?" Max cut Logan off and looked down at Lucy cradled against her. "He'd sleep just like this."

"He still could sleep like that but he'd probably have a problem with it."

Logan's remark made Max's mouth pull back into just a hint of a smile. She knew that he was trying to remove some of the tension; and she allowed him to crack some of her resolve.

"Seems like forever ago doesn't it?" Max gently removed Lexi's hand off her breast from where it had been planted when the baby had fallen asleep; stroking the tiny fist.

"Every kid has to grow up sometime." Logan saw how his remark struck a chord with Max by the way she held his gaze for longer then a casual look.

"Here daddy," Max stood up carefully with Lucy in her arms, gently passing him the baby. "The kid that hasn't even come close to growing up yet is ready for bed."

Logan rocked Lucy gently to make sure that she wouldn't wake up. "What's mommy going to do?"

"Ask a few questions myself."

Max's remark was so cryptic that Logan would've questioned her on it, had the underlying tone behind her words expressed that he not.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

PRESTON AVE

"Rick you're not being a very good father," Lucia watched her husband throw another piece of fat off the roast on his plate to the two huskies who jumped on it the minute it hit the floor. "Giving into their every whim will only spoil them."

"It's a broken world out there baby; kids need to be spoiled sometimes." Rick tossed another piece of meat at the dogs, and this time Kira – the older of the two – reached it first. Rick turned his attention back to his meal after he saw the look Lucia was shooting him. It wasn't so much that she cared if he fed the dogs; she was just surprised at how much fat he was finding on the cut of meat she had prepared.

"Here, wipe the grease off your hands Santa Claus," Lucia balled up a paper towel and pitched it at his head. The ring of a phone cut through the air. "And then get the phone."

"Yes dear," Rick said standing up from the table. He threw the paper towel back at her; which she caught before it could hit her. Rick saw his wife laughing to herself at his return fire despite the fact that she just had a greasy paper towel thrown on her.

Rick picked up the black cordless phone that hung from a wall unit beside the kitchen cabinets.

"Hello?"

"_Hey Rick it's me."_

"Oh hey Max," Rick immediately recognized the voice of the woman on the other end. He saw Lucia's ears and eyes perk up at the mention of Max. "Did you need something?"

"_Don't I always? I mean isn't that the only reason I call?"_

"I don't know how insulted I should feel just now," Rick returned. "Here I thought you liked me."

"_I never said I didn't."_

"Oh good." Rick was not as close to his wife's daughter as she was – at least not yet. Max was the kind of person that would teach people to like her. "So in all fairness then I'll say I like you too." Rick heard her smile through the line.

"_Is mom around?"_

"Yeah, hang on she's right here." Rick passed Lucia the phone. "It's your daughter."

"Wow you're powers of deduction are _amazing."_ Lucia returned, taking the phone from him.

She laughed a second later when Rick balled up a clean paper towel and threw it at her.

Lucia put the phone in her ear. "Hey baby."

"_Am I interrupting something?"_

"Rick only wishes," Lucia responded. "What's up?" She poked at the remnants of her dinner so that she would be able to hear Max talking without be interrupted by the sounds of chewing.

"_I told him."_

Lucia stopped playing with her food and set down her fork. "Told him what hun?" Max had only said three words but Lucia knew exactly what she was referring to. But she had asked a rhetorical question in order for Max to repeat her thoughts out loud so Lucia wouldn't back out of the confrontation she knew was inevitable.

"_You know what I'm taking about."_

Lucia sighed; she should've known that her daughter wouldn't fall for that kind of trap. "I'm sorry Max; but he asked me about it today-"

"_I'm not blaming you,"_ Max returned definitively. _"I couldn't hide the truth from him forever. I never expected him NOT to bring it up one day."_

Lucia stood up from the table, leaving her half eaten food where it sat on her plate to deal with later; and headed into the living room. "Did he handle it okay?" Many parents had asked this same question about their grandchildren over such matters as the first day of school, or the first visit to the dentist. But what her daughter had just told her grandchild ran much deeper then those kinds of mundane things.

xxxxxxxxx

Max heard the echo of Tinga's voice in the same question she had asked about Logan all those years ago. But Logan had sought _her_ out; had already known about the existence of a super soldier in Seattle; Jessie hadn't.

"I don't know," Max was taught to never answer with an-in-between. Either she knew something or she didn't; but with this situation she didn't know the answer. "There's something to be said about having a child who grows up to have the same mannerisms as you."

"_Jessie's not grown up yet sweetie, he's just a boy; and as such he needs reassurance from his mom."_

"I don't know how well that kind of advice will work in this situation; after all _I'm _the one who just dropped a bomb in the middle of his childhood."

"_You had to tell him, it's a part of him too."_

"So you think I did the right thing?" Max's question was straightforward; yet unsure at the same time. She wanted to be reassured; but she was a grown woman and didn't want to be lied too.

"_Yes I do,"_ Lucia's answer didn't hint at anything else other then what she was saying. "_You told him the truth; no one can hate someone for that."_

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

There was such a profound silence over the phone that Lucia thought that Max had hung up. "Max-"

"_Hate always finds a way into every situation."_

"Oh honey no;" Lucia could hear the echo of the lonely child inside Max that still lived inside the part of her that would always be tied to Manticore. "Jessie could never hate you; you know that. He loves you."

"_Don't lie to me Lucia,"_ Max's use of her mom's first name, coupled with the low growl behind resulted in her voice sounding angrily hurt. _"My son just found out that his mother could snap his neck in his sleep-"_

"Max stop it!" Lucia was almost screaming, making Rick turn to look at her on the couch from where he was washing dishes at the kitchen sink. Lucia waved her hand at him to let him know that things were okay; as much as she loved her husband; this was a moment that she didn't want him to be involved in. "It was something he needed to hear; no matter how shocking it was."

"_And when he's older he'll appreciate it right?"_

"I know that's a complete cliché, but yes. A child will not love someone simply because they're related to them; they really have to feel it. That boy loves you Max."

"_I would hardly call what I just did to him love;_" There was a pause on the other end and then the moment where Lucia could hear the sad smile coming across Max's face. _"X5's shouldn't have children mom; their lives are screwed from day one." _

"Max-" There was a click as Max disconnected the call; leaving Lucia to stare at the receiver for seconds afterwards before hanging it up in frustration.

XXXXXXXXX

CRASH

9:30 PM

Laughter echoed behind Alec as a long legged brunette – whose hair must've been slicked down with ten gallons of gel in order to make it look as wet as it did – pressed her breasts up against his back as she passed the bar where he was seated.

Alec turned seconds before the woman walked out of his line-of-sight, catching her smoky blue eyes set above a pair of glossed red lips. Alec smiled at her but didn't make a move to follow the suggestion her body just gave him. He and just ordered a bottle of overly priced beer and wasn't about to give up his seat to chase ass; if the woman wanted him that badly she would have to come to _him_.

Alec took a sip from the green bottle; wiping the foam his maneuver created off his top lip with a quick downward movement of his tongue. He was one stool away from the very left end of the bar. There were only two other people seated at the bar with him. A spiky haired white teenager who seemed to view himself as a pimp boss because he wore a ton of gold jewelry in his ears and had on an orange anorak lined with white fur. The other person was seated at the very right side of the bar; and was a lot less phony and much easier on Alec's eyes.

Alec gave up his seat to the bar wolves he knew would jump on it as soon as he walked away and headed down to the opposite end of the bar.

"Having a mid week eye opener?" Alec eyed the three empty shot glasses in front of Max as well as the fourth full one in front of her.

"Shut up," Max didn't look at him when she said this and downed the last whisky shot, feeling the hard sting of the liquor burn down her throat.

"Not a fruity-drink girl I see," Alec said; very much impressed how well Max could shoot whisky. He leaned his elbows up against the bar and drew closer to her. "Speaking of fruity-drink girls, your sister-in-law Asha's starting to show she's been ravished."

"She's only two-months pregnant; she can't be showing." Max retorted, still not looking at him.

"I was talking about her breasts," Alec returned. "They're getting very – ample. It must be how yours got to be so perfect."

Max turned to face him after that remark, a scowl streaked across her face. "Was there something I can help you with?"

She didn't curse at him, but the raw anger in her voice made Alec drop his eyebrows in confusion. He did the dance of ribbing Max all the time and it had never annoyed her to this extent before.

"I think I should be helping _you_ with something Max," Alec picked up one of the shot glasses; sniffing it's contents. The odor emitting from the remnants of the whiskey smelled so strong that Alec wondered why it hadn't eaten through the glass. "You and Logan have a marital spat?"

"_No"_ Max spat, glaring at him. "How about you mind your own business?"

Alec didn't give into her threat; it wasn't in his nature to back down. "The little rugrats okay?" He could tell that his question was spot on because of the shift of emotion that erupted from behind Max's eyes. The glare was still evident on her face; but it was lacking something. She was like a Kabuki actor who was, in reality, desperately sad; but whose face was painted in a permanent state of happiness.

"Are they sick?" Alec questioned.

"I_ said_ mind your own damn business!"

"Your male heir; Jessie's in trouble isn't he?" Alec remarked in the smart-ass sarcasm he was known for. "It's always the boys that rebel first."

"Jessie didn't _do_ anything," Max hissed back with enough anger; that had it been applied as an energy source, it would've made electricity obsolete. Her eyes were rigidly hard for several seconds before her face lost its Kabuki-like mask of anger; and dissolved into a quiet defeated sadness. She turned her eyes back down to the empty shot glasses in front of her. "Just leave me alone Alec okay?"

Alec laid his hand on her arm, not about to tease her again. He wasn't a child getting out his prepubescent ya-yas. His hand on her arm tightened into a grip. "Come on, you're going home. I'm not letting you trash yourself like some piss drink with an over inflated sob story." He pulled her to her feet; but once Max was standing she yanked her arm away from him.

"I'm not drunk Alec; I can kick your ass for this."

"Okay fine; but, you're still going home." Alec laid cash payment of twenty dollars on the bar to pay for the shots Max had ordered.

"Alec-"

"You became a mom for a reason Max; and it wasn't to get drunk in dives." Alec was a constant smart ass; but he was also_ smart._ He knew Max was running away from something; even if she hadn't left the city limits to do so. But he had spent enough time running to know that it was futile; things eventually caught up with you.

He dangled the keys to her Ninja in front of her; knowing that she knew that he had just picked her pocket, but she gave no indication of caring. "Only single loners looking for some action like me hang around here alone." He handed her back her keys. "Go."

A haze of a look settled over Max's eyes, but she didn't say anything to allude to what it was. She sighed inside her throat and turned and left the bar.

XXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

10:30 PM

The darkness that filled the room wasn't absolute; no darkness was. It wasn't just an _absence_; darkness had varying shades; depending on the negative light that colored it.

The particular type of darkness that filled the space where the two children slept was a silky blackness broken up burst of orange that emitted from the small plug in nightlight that was imbedded in-between the two beds. The sound of soft breathing also broke up the blackness; making it dance with the translucent essence of dreams that came from the sleeping pair.

Max watched her children in a state of such quiet that had they awoken; neither one of them would've known she was standing there. A long time ago she had learned the secrets that only statues knew for stillness; and she used this talent to watch them without the threat of anything robbing them from their uninhibited moment.

Lexi was almost completely buried underneath her pile of blankets; they circled her face so that no part of it was visible. Max pulled it down carefully to allow the girl more air to breathe. Mr. Whiskers had long ago fallen on the floor from her movements in the bed. Max picked up the stuffed bunny and tucked it under her daughter's arm, watching Lexi cuddle with it. She smoothed her soft brown hair down before leaving her to an unwatched sleep.

In the next bed over Jessie was asleep on his back; his dark hair unruly across the pillow; looking like a miniature version of Logan with her brown eye color that she couldn't behind his closed lids. His breathing was even, allowing Max to believe that no nightmares were plaguing him. She was thankful for this small favor because of all the recent nightmares that he had undergone in his waking life.

He seven-years-old; that was only two years younger then she had been when she had escaped from Manticore. Watching him sleep; Max came to realization of just how young she was when that happened; and also of just how young she hadn't been Jessie was the same way; brown eyes weren't the only things he had inherited from her.

She wasn't naive; she had too much of an understanding of reality to believe that she could protect him from everything bad in his life. But she didn't want him to grow up afraid; especially not of her own past.

She brushed back his hair; the same way that she had just done with Lexi; and kissed him on his forehead.

She exited the bedroom as quietly as she came; a Ninja's stealth had nothing on hers; and walked down the hallway back out into the living room.

Logan was nowhere to be found in the living room's leather furnishings; but a very faint tinkling of glass made her turn her gaze and find him standing in the kitchen with two crystal stemware glasses each half filled with red wine.

Logan watched her approach him with observant eyes. He had been married to Max for seven years and her habits had long ago worn off on him. "You alright?"

"I will be if you put that away," Max brushed away the wine glass he was offering her. "I have enough of a headache as it is."

"Downing four straight shots will do that to you," Logan said, setting one of the wine glasses on the table.

Max was smart enough to not be offended by his remark. She knew that _he_ knew she wasn't a lightweight; her headache came more from the reason she had gone to Crash in the first place; the whisky only amplified what was already there.

Logan took a quick sip from his wine glass, more because he didn't want to waste it then because he really wanted it. Max's reaction to his statement had made drinking a second priority. "Are we talking about this?"

"What's there left talk about?"

"Max," Logan set down his wineglass next to her unused one. "You had to tell him."

"So everybody keeps telling me," Max said in a voice not like her usual confidant voice at all. "So why do I feel like I've done something wrong?"

"You told your son who you really are, that isn't wrong."

"It's just complicated as hell."

"Pretty much."

"You're a big help," Max returned.

"I seem to recall a while back ago that you said you didn't need anybody's help."

"That was then," Max insisted.

Logan laid a hand on her shoulder. "He'll understand." He knew that she needed physical proof of things; not just words. Words without actions; were as useful as planning the extinguishing of a fire without ever actually doing it. He just hoped his simple gesture was enough until he could offer her something better.

"And if he doesn't?" Max's question wasn't even really a question; rather it was in-between a question and a demand.

Max had grown up in reality all her life. While fantasy was more comforting, reality was the air she would have to breathe in as long as she was alive.

"He will." He moved his hand from her shoulder to her face.

Max allowed his caress of her face to go on for three seconds, creating almost a sighing pause before she moved into his arms.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_While I was watching you did a slow dissolve  
While I was watching you did a slow dissolve  
While I was watching you did a slow dissolve_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The hallway was long enough to allow for sufficient undetected creeping. However this kind of maneuver wasn't necessary because the attention of the two people being watched were completely drawn into each other.

Jessie had woken up at the sound of Max leaving his room; and had slipped out in silence once the sounds in front of him gave indication that Max had left the hallway. He hadn't yet mastered the art of standing as quiet and still as his mother; but his skills were adequate enough for him to go unnoticed by his parents.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

_Did I imagine or do the walls have eyes  
Did I imagine they held us hypnotized  
Did I imagine or do the walls have eyes_

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just as Max had watched him in a moment when his guard couldn't be brought up; he now watched her, listening to how she viewed him when she didn't know he was there.

He watched her slip into Logan's embrace; trying to imagine her as what she had told him she was; even as she was wrapped in his father's arms; even when she appeared just as she always had.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Life in slow motion somehow it don't feel real  
Life in slow motion somehow it don't feel real  
Life in slow motion somehow it don't feel real_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

XXXXXXXXXXXX

7:30 AM

Jessie stood alone in the room he shared with Lexi – she had already abandoned him in favor of eating the breakfast she smelt being prepare din the kitchen. He was standing in front of the low white oak dresser where his clothes were kept. He was already dressed in a pair of jeans and a dark blue Henley; two items that complimented his small frame and skin coloring very well. Though he hadn't planned this coordination of his clothes. He was too young – but more importantly too _smart _–for vanity. Most of his other shirts had already been tossed into the laundry hamper and this was the only thing of the long sleeved variety that was still clean.

On the wall in front of him hung a wide mirror framed in the same wood as the dresser that sat just underneath it, He looked at his reflection in it, at his eyes; they were a brown so dark they were almost black. His mother had the same eyes; and everyone had told him so, saying it in a manner of a compliment.

He drew closer to the mirror's image and touched the tip of a finger just underneath his bottom lid; as if whatever gave his eyes their darkness would allow a drop of itself to fall upon his skin so he could feel what it really was.

"Jess, you're going to be late for school!" Max's voice called out to him.

Jessie blinked, letting the mystery of his eyes disappear back into his genes. He hurriedly grabbed his backpack off the top of his bed and dashed out of the room.

"We can't be late Jessie!" Lexi's complained when she spotted her brother coming out of the long hallway that connected the bedrooms to the rest of the house. She loved school so much that she would have slept there if she were allowed too.

"Sorry I overslept," Jessie slid his backpack on and walked into the dining room where Lexi was her jacket already on; and her small legs shifting from side to side in impatience.

"Your son's getting to be more like you everyday Max," Logan said from the kitchen where he was pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Thank you," Max said with over-coated sweetness, and bumped into him enough to make some of his coffee spill on him in an act of retribution. She walked over to Jessie; noting what he was wearing. "You look good today baby."

"Thanks," Jessie said in embarrassment; he wasn't used to being complimented on his appearance.

Max smiled in return, taking a quick sip from her own coffee cup. "You ready to go?"

"Can't we walk there by ourselves?" Jessie asked. Everything that she had told him still repeated itself in his ears; he didn't think he could walk with her just then.

"I don't think so Jess," Max responded. "This city's too full of Sector stops and people for two kids to be walking out alone."

"Please?" Jessie tried again. "I know the way and I'll make sure Lexi doesn't get lost."

"I won't get lost!" Lexi snapped in return.

Max shook her head. "I'm sorry kiddo; no deal."

"I'll take you," Logan suggested. He didn't know why his son didn't want to walk with his mother; but forcing him too wouldn't help the situation. He set down his coffee cup and walked into his computer room to grab his leather jacket from where he had hung it on the back of the chair.

Logan slid into the leather jacket; looking up at Max. "I can get Mrs. Moreno to watch Lucy if you need to go to work baby."

"You'll be back before I have to leave; it's fine." Max reassured.

"Okay, but don't ever say I never do anything for you," Logan returned.

"I won't, at least not to your face."

"I love you too sweetheart," Logan volleyed back, kissing her. He turned back to his kids. "Let's go guys."

"Bye mommy!" Lexi's wave was as high as her voice when said goodbye to her mother.

Max smiled at her daughter's exuberance. "Bye baby." She was about to repeat the same words to her son; but then she caught sight of something in his eyes, so the words never left her mouth.

Jessie waved at her as he walked out the door; and Max waved back with a small smile; watching them leave.

Once the door closed she was left with a profound silence, a deafening one before the echoing of the question Jessie had asked the day before ended it:

"_You said Manticore made you really strong; did you ever kill anyone?"_

Visions assaulted Max's senses; faces of men she had never asked names from before she attacked them. Every neck she had snapped cracked again; every dying cry of those she had broken died again in her ears. If they had just been hellish nightmares Max could've dealt with them, because all nightmares were chased away by consciousness. But these were memories, real moments of things that wouldn't go away because she had actually done them.

She snapped back to the present like a lightning bolt had struck her; and the fury from her everything she had just relived was channeled into the coffee cup she flung against the refrigerator; smashing it with a loud clatter into fine white dust.

XXXXXXXX

P.S. 12

8:57 AM

Laughter emitted from the kids seated at the rows of wood veneer desks; despite they're best efforts to be absorbed in the reading lesson their teacher put before them. They only had three more minutes until their designated fifteen-minute 'snack break' and the anticipation of the event kept them from maintaining any sort of well-behaved mannerisms.

Their teacher Mr. Steed – a smart man in his late 40's who genuinely loved teaching – raised his hands to the class in an attempt to quiet them down. "Okay guys; let's not risk getting into trouble this close to break. You have time to read one more sentence from the story before I let you go. All but you Jessie."

Jessie raised his head. "Sir?" He knew that he was being called on because he was the only Jessie in the class; and he tried to keep the worry out of his voice at being called on in class when it didn't pertain to answering a question on the board.

"It's your turn to take the discarded papers up to the office recycling bin. It will take several minutes out of your morning break, so I think you should get started now. You can catch up on the reading after we come back."

Jessie let out an internal sigh of relief. "Yes Sir." He closed his reading book and placed it into the desk's cubby before standing up.

"_Yes Sir,"_ the repeated remark was coated in childish sarcasm; following by echoing kissing noises. It had come from one of the students in the middle three desks of the classroom. The two other boys next to him smirked in amusement at what their friend had just done. Jessie had been skipped ahead to the second grade this year – making him the youngest student in the class. A fact that those three boys never failed to taunt him about.

"That's enough!" Mr. Steed ordered, looking over at the dark haired boy with the amused grin still on his face. "Steven; since you've already taken some of Mr. Cale's time away from him to do what I ask, why don't you help him so he can get caught up?"

Jessie hadn't responded to the remark; nor had he stopped in his actions of tying up the bag that contained the papers headed for the recycle bin. But he knew that Mr. Steed had wanted Steven to help him in order to punish him for what he had said.

Steven stood up angrily from his desk, not wanting to go along with the suggestion, but knowing that he had no choice. He snatched the bag of papers away from Jessie and pushed his way out the door.

Jessie followed him out of the classroom and onto the long sidewalk that connected all parts of the school together. But he lagged behind a few paces; Steven wasn't someone he wanted to walk by and hold hands with.

Jessie's action that made Steven turn to him angrily. "Will you keep up, this is _your_ dumb job!" Steven dropped the bag right in the middle of the sidewalk making the knot come undone from the top.

Jessie ran to re-close the bag; there was enough of a cold wind to toss the papers all over the place if he didn't tie the bag right.

Steven simply watched Jessie complete the task; not bothering to help at all. "You're a slow as your mom!"

Jessie had no idea where Steven's remark had come from; but he gave up on trying to double knot the top of the bag; letting the plastic pieces fall away from his hand. "You don't even know my mom!"

"Yeah I do," Steven said with an arrogant insistence that was too old for him. She delivered a box of my grandmother's cookies to our house; I watched how long it took her to find our address." Steven's comment was only based on the fact that the numbers had long ago fallen off the front support posts on the front porch of his house and it had taken Max fifteen minutes to locate the unmarked building.

"Take it back!" Jessie demanded.

"No I won't," Steven said, not letting his joke die when it should have never been started in the first place. "Because she is. And you're just like her; slow as the stupid policemen who sit in their boxes and drink beer all day." He laughed because in all his eight-year-old glory that was a very funny joke.

Jessie's eyes narrowed angrily; and he reached out and hit Steven across the face with the open flat of his palm. It wasn't hard enough of a hit to draw blood, but Steven was so shocked at being hit that he took an unsteady step backwards and lost his footing; landing hard on his butt on the concrete.

Jessie lowered his hand; the same shock evident on his face from hitting Steven as Steven had from being hit. A handful of kids who had been at the playground at the other end of the school had been alerted to the two boys fighting and were starting to descend upon them.

_It was already inside us how to fight; we weren't taught it, it was brought out of us. _

Jessie felt the weight of Max's words punch him in the stomach. He stared back down at his hand; as if it were unattached from his body and had acted purely on it's own in its attack.

He heard the footsteps of the curious kids coming closer and he turned and ran, leaving Steven still sitting there in the middle of the sidewalk.

XXXXXXXXX

JAM PONY

9:45 AM

"Here," Alec held up a dented can of an ancient looking energy drink in Max's face. "For the headache. The best way to cure a hangover is to kill it with other drugs."

Max pushed the can away. "I wasn't drunk last night Alec," she shut the door to her locker, and spun the lock's combination.

"I just call it like a see it Max," Alec returned.

"So that means you know what I'm about to do next?" Max threatened.

"Yeah, but we shouldn't do those kinds of things in public," Alec grinned.

"Step off," Max borrowed one of Original Cindy's well-used catch phrases, forcefully pushing Alec away from her and moving out of the locker area.

Alec followed her for every step; walking along side her like someone sharing in a private secret. "I'm just trying to gain a little insight so I can help. Your choosing getting hammered isn't exactly a regular occurrence."

"I don't need a father; Lydecker screwed up any semblance of that already so why don't you just go away?"

"Come one Maxie; we both know that you're having some kind of problem; so why don't you just drop the act?" Alec asked this question just as he and Max approached the dispatch desk.

"I'm not as adept in scamming people as you Alec," Max said.

"She's got you there," Normal remarked from behind the desk where he was pretending to be completely absorbed in his record book. But in reality he was still listening to most of their conversation to make sure nothing was said that would cause his business any harm. "So let's no waste anymore company time with this useless squabble shall we?" He slid a lumpy manila envelope in the slot under the chain links that encased the dispatch area. "Here get to work."

Max took the package from him; looking up at Alec. "I mean it this time; leave me alone." She walked away with it to go collect her bike.

"That woman's as irritating as they come," Alec snapped.

"No means no pal," Normal said. "So maybe you should divert your attention away from hitting on her." He slid three more bulging envelopes out through the slot.

Alec narrowed his eyes at the other man. "Do you honestly think I would try and hit on a married woman who would just as rather make it with her brother then make it with me?" Alec didn't mind jokes; but was getting a little tired at being labeled a sleazy skirt chaser by everyone. "You really need to find a new hobby Normal; this one's wearing a little thin," he picked up all three of the packages in one motion; and walked away from the dispatch desk.

He opened the flap of his black and gray messenger bag; and placed the packages inside, re-closing the flap a second later. He started walking again; but only got two steps further because of someone running right into him.

Alec recognized the person immediately to be a child because of how small the figure was. He "Hey watch it kid;" He untangled himself from the child's body. "This isn't the playground-"

Alec words cut off in the middle of his remark as he recognized the face of the kid who had just collided with him.

"Jessie?" Alec stared into the face of Max's son. "Aren't you a little young to be playing hooky?" A familiar glare settled on Alec's face; one that would've been mildly threatening on its original owner, but worn across Jessie's face it was amplified.

Jessie's glare on Alec wasn't followed by any angry words; he had run into Alec by happenstance. He pushed past Alec as forcefully as his small body would allow.

"Whoa; slow down there buddy," Alec grabbed Jessie's arm to halt his movements.

"Let me go!" Jessie had instantly begun to struggle as soon as he was grabbed. "Let me go!" He screamed the last repetition of the word, pulling harder to get away.

"Take it easy!" Alec said jerking his arm slightly; hoping it would be enough of a shock to calm him down then a slap in the face. Jessie was only a kid; he couldn't backhand him back into reality.

By this time a crowd of Jam Pony workers had stopped in their tasks to try and see what all the noise was about. Roughhousing and fighting went on regularly at the delivery service; but it wasn't normal to see a small child in hysterics. None of them were dumb enough to believe that the boy was being abused in any way, but they still feared getting involved.

All except Normal; who came out from behind his dispatch desk; walking over to Jessie with a purpose driven stride. "This isn't a place for roughhousing young man! You need to leave _now!"_

Jessie jerked hard again; and this time Max's genes and his own pent up emotions were on his side; so he managed to pull free from Alec's grip and dodge by Normal who made an attempt to grab him by the back of his shirt; his _scruff, _if he had been a wayward puppy.

"Jessie!" Max grabbed his arm. She had heard him screaming and had dropped her bike and ran back out front where she found him.

"Jessie; what is it?" He looked terrible; pale and haggard; his skin held a freezing cold sensation that permeated through fabric of his jacket. He looked like he had been jumped by someone; and had run ten miles to escape. Max kept turning his body; trying to get him to look up at her; but he kept shifting in return; avoiding her eyes. "What's wrong? Talk to me."

"NO!" His words were an expression of the raw; desperation that had been festering inside him since yesterday; but no type of human emotion could ever express such agony; so rather they instead formed around the framework of desolate anger.

This time he didn't have to struggle free because Max released his arm; feeling the electric current of his emotions jolt through her own body from where they were connected.

Jessie finally drew his eyes up to her; his beautiful brown eyes had been shaped agonizingly by the powerful nameless emotion that was screaming inside of him. "Tell me it's not true!" His small chest was heaving, on the verge of drowning inside his own words. "Please, tell me you didn't do those things; _tell me!!"_

Max felt her heart and the internal mechanism that contained all of her raw rage shatter at the same moment. No matter how strong it had made her; no matter how many brothers and sisters it gave her; she could never forgive Manticore for what it had done to her son.

"I can't," Max's sadness was so far beyond crying that no tears escaped her eyes. She put her hand on his body again; this time on his shoulder; holding it in place hard because she didn't want him to run from this anymore. "I can't baby."

Jessie seemed to crumble at her words. The part of him that had run from Steven that had run from the school to here, wanted to run again. But that part of him was overwhelmed by the force that turned him around and made him throw his arms around his mother.

Max bent down and kissed the top of his head. "I'm sorry." She picked him up in her arms like she did when he was smaller; and felt him grip her neck in return; holding himself to her body. "I'm really sorry."

XXXXXXXXX

JAM PONY

10:50 PM

Normal's tiny office had no windows; and built with walls that resembled gray steel. His desk almost sat against one of these walls in the back of the room; and behind it were dozens of faded newspaper clippings about his mentor; former President George H.W. Bush. In the right corner beside that collection of paper sat a mustard yellow and faded green small studio couch; several of it's rusted springs poking out through the fabric. This office was Normal's sanctuary, one that he never allowed another foot but his own to step into.

"Here," Normal held out a white ceramic mug of black coffee. "I'm not sure how great the caffeine will be for him; but it will warm him up."

Max took the mug from him, not questioning his generosity on the gesture or his allowing her to use his precious office. "Thanks."

"Not a problem," Normal's voice held no trace of his usual anal attitude, and held something that wasn't exactly full-fledged concern, but was very close to it. His eyes shifted over to where Jessie was seated on his couch; wrapped up in Max's dark blue hooded jacket. He had no idea what had brought on Jessie's breakdown; but it didn't take his Harvard PhD to know that he shouldn't question Max about; it wasn't his place too. "Just let me know if you need anything else."

Max stood; almost protectively; in front of the couch between Normal and Jessie; but Normal could tell that she was genuinely appreciative of what he did. She nodded her approval to him; and he turned to leave as soon as he absorbed all it's meanings.

Once he opened the door the sunlight coming through the huge entranceway of Jam Pony allowed a horizontal light to filter inside the room.

Alec stood to the side of where Normal was walking; allowing the man to walk by him to the point where they wouldn't trip each other up if Alec moved at the same time, before entering Normal's small office.

Max knelt down next to sofa; and held the mug out to Jessie. "Here baby; It's bitter; but it'll help you get warm." She held onto the mug until she was sure Jessie had grasped it completly.

"How's he doing?" Alec was still near the doorway when he asked this question.

"Better," Max rubbed her hand up and down his arm through her jacket as he took the first few sips of the black coffee.

Jessie's face formed into a barely noticeable scowl at the harsh taste of the coffee; but he continued to drink it in silence.

He may have only been seven-years-old but Alec picked up on the silent maneuver Jessie was initiating to Alec so that he would leave him alone with Max. A youthful version of what Alec was sure would become the same skillful manipulation his mother was so adept at.

"I should get back to my job," Alec said. "I mean assuming I still have one after being caught in Normal's secret room." He glanced over at Jessie. "Take care big guy; put in a good word for me with your Aunt Jondy."

"Alec-"

"Oh come off it Max," Alec interrupted her. "You know she's got it just as bad."

"Shut up and let me finish," this time Max interrupted _him_, turning her head up to meet his eyes. "Thank you," She kept the glare in her eyes down to a bare minimum because it wouldn't be a good tactic to make him mad with the gratitude she was trying to show him.

"No problem," Alec accepted the underlying apology she didn't say – but was evident in her words – without any anger. He was a super elite soldier after all; snappish retorts were better left up to taunting children. He turned and walked out of the room, throwing one last remark over his shoulder as he left: "Forget that part about Jondy okay?" The door closed quietly behind him, or as quiet as a splintering old wooden door _could_ close.

Max stood back up to her full height and then sat down next to Jessie on the couch. "Alec doesn't have to be right Jess; if you're not really better, you can tell me." She brushed the hair out of his eyes with a caress of her hands, pulling her jacket tighter around him to keep him warm.

Jessie had been avoiding her eyes all that time; but there was only so much of an excuse he could come up with for staring into the liquid blackness of the coffee in his cup. He raised his eyes up into the set they had originated from.

Max waited for the question she knew he was about to ask her. She didn't know exactly what he would ask; but she prepared herself to answer whatever it was. She knew that she would have wanted the same thing had she found any adult inside Manticore with enough respect to tell her the truth about herself.

"Did they hurt you?"

Max had prepared herself for any kind of anger Jessie had for her; any question he would ask that would reopen the reality that she could never escape from; but this wasn't what she had expected. Still she knew the answer; she had known it all her life.

"Yeah," She knew she had to focus on her son, but he was a part of the world that had brought them both to this moment. "Yeah they did."

Jessie grabbed her hand with his holding it in his smaller one; and then laid his head in her lap, drawing her hand up under his cheek.

Max stroked the side of his head with her free hand; leaning over to give him a long kiss on his temple before wrapping her other arm around him.

xxxxxxxxx

_Max absorbed his Zack's word; but she shook her head at them. She had lived her whole life – that was nine years – inside Manticore; but she didn't think that they were so different from the ones outside. Otherwise all of Lydecker's talk of integrating them into that place would be nothing but useless words._

"_Someone will understand." _

_Zack only stared back at her in silence; so she didn't say anything more, watching as he gave the signal with a silent movement of his hand. And then she and her unit broke through the glass and landed into the building carpet of white._

xxxxxxxxx

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

FOGLE TOWERS

3: 45 PM

"Jessie!" Lexi attacked her brother as soon as he walked through the door, hugging him so hard that he choked for breath. She pulled back when she felt him pull her arms off him. "Where'd you go? You weren't there after school!" Her eyes betrayed how scared she was that instead of walking home as usual Logan had picked her up at the front of the school alone in the Aztec.

"Sorry," Jessie apologized again.

Lexi's face scrunched into all the anger she could muster as she punched him hard in the stomach, making him choke again for the second time. "Don't do that again!" She turned with a dramatic swivel of he body and stormed off angrily, her lace up Sketchers thudding loudly on the floor.

Logan let daughter plop herself down on the couch in her huff before he turned to address his son; gauging the way he looked before asking the question out loud: "Are you okay?"

Max had called Logan from work to tell him what had happened to Jessie. By then the emotions that had kept the boy in turmoil all day had left him exhausted; and he had fallen asleep on Max's lap. Max had convinced Normal to let Jessie sleep in the office; and he had slept there undisturbed until three in the afternoon with her checking in on him every chance she wasn't on a delivery. Once he had awakened Max also talked Normal into leaving work early so she could take him home. Though Max didn't really have to convince Normal to go along with her. He had followed through with what he said earlier about letting him know if she needed anything; and had agreed to requests without any argument.

Jessie nodded slowly to Logan's question, not saying anything, letting his head do the talking.

"Good," Logan words too short to sense any of the emotion behind it, but he put much more emotion in the hug he wrapped Jessie up in.

Jessie had gotten into a fight and had run away from school; but Logan knew he couldn't yell at him for those things. Because of the torment his son had already put himself through in order to erupt to those points.

Logan let the hug last for several moments more before pulling back. "You don't have to hide from us Jess. Whatever you're going through; whatever happens, you can tell us. "Because chances are we might have gone through the same thing." Logan lifted his eyes up to Max at the end of his statement, watching her hold his gaze.

"Yes Sir."

"Thank you," Logan returned. "But you don't have to be so formal buddy, okay?" He was glad that he had taught his son enough manners that he had learned how to be polite on his own. But now was not the time to glorify proper etiquette. Logan didn't have to be a _'sir'_ in order to be his father.

"Okay dad," Jessie's voice was slightly more relaxed when he said these words.

Logan reached out a hand and roughed up Jessie's brown hair, then leaned down and kissed him on top of the head. "Go get yourself something to eat. Lexi's been waiting to learn how to play Spades from you, and you'll need the energy."

Jessie's face pulled into the first smile he had smiled all day. Logan could see the shades of himself and Max in that smile, and also the part of it that came from Jessie himself.

"Just keep eight free tonight Jess," Max told him. "We have a date."

Jessie's face lowered in confusion. A date was usually planned out in advance and this was the first he had heard of what Max was telling him; a "But it's a school night."

"I think the rules can be bent this one time," Max said. "I have something I want to show you."

Jessie's face lowered in even more confusion; wondering what it was. But before he could question it Lexi grabbed his hand so hard and so forcefully that it made him forget everything.

"Hurry up, I want to play!" She pulled him across the living room, leading him into their bedroom.

Jessie followed her; guessing he would just have to wait and find out what it without any hints from his mom.

XXXXXXX

xxxxxxxxxx

"_You can't tell him Max," Zack stared at the baby Max was holding; the nephew he just broken into Logan's penthouse and found out he had. "As soon as he's old enough to comprehend what you're saying he'll never accept it, even if he is your son."_

_Max looked down at the infant sleeping in her arms, his small body wrapped up in a green blanket. His breathing was soft on her skin of her neck. "You don't know that."_

xxxxxxxxx

XXXXXXX

8:25 PM

The night was blotchy with a haze that seemed to rise up from the city itself, shrouding the tiny pinpoints of lights from windows of broken buildings in a gray mist. The stars set in the sky competed for attention with the earthbound lights shining their way through the miasma.

The air blew in an invisible swirl around the structures that were embedded into the ground, and as such had no choice but to be caught up in it.

But one structure towered above the rest; like a giant tree of twisting metal. The cylinder that sat on the top of it was also made from this same material; but years of graffiti had covered up the cylinder's surface so that it seemed only those who had seen it before it had been damaged would know that the top was made out of more then just paint.

Two forms were atop the Needle. Sitting over all the graffiti whose very existence was futile because not enough people would be able to see its inscriptions at such a height.

Max felt the swirling wing blow through her hair; and up the unzipped portion of her leather jacket, but she wasn't cold. She had been coming up to this spot for years; and welcomed the feeling.

"I brought you up here once before," Max turned to Jessie who was sitting beside her on the cold metal, only a few inches away from her. "You may have been too little too remember."

Jessie traveled his eyes over glow of a real-life painting the city had created for him to see. He sat with his knees drawn up to his body, having no trace of his father's fear at being so high up. He remembered a little about what Max had been talking about, but he couldn't be sure if those memories were actually his or ones that he had just created from being up there now.

"Did I like it?"

"You enjoyed it as much as I did, and as much as I do," Max answered, gazing back out over the city. "I come up here when I have to think about things."

"Like Manticore?"

Max took her eyes off the view she had grown accustom to seeing stretch out before her as she sat here and placed them on his face. "A lot of times, yeah. It made up a big part of my life, and it still does."

She watched the same wind that had brushed by her play with the edges of Jessie's hair. "You can't help who you're born to be Jess, even if it makes you sit up in broken places like this alone with the thoughts it gave you."

Jessie felt the wind blow on his face again, blowing his mother's words to his ears. "I'm sorry Manticore hurt you."

Max took in his thoughtful remark. He was still a very young boy, but after hearing those words. Max knew that he would grow up to be a good man. "I'm not. If it weren't for everything that I went through there you wouldn't be sitting here with me. Having you was worth all that hurt."

Jessie released his arms from around his knees and used them to brace himself as he leaned over and kissed Max on the cheek.

"I love you mom."

He stood up slowly in order to not loose his balance, and took careful steps over to the edge of the Needle. The wind was much stronger here then where they were sitting because the curve of the metal didn't break up its power. Jessie felt this strong wind blow through his face and jacket, and he enjoyed it just as much as Max did.

JESSIE (VOICE OVER): _"Sometimes I wish mom never told me the truth; or that what she said wasn't something real. But it isn't her fault. She can't take back what that place did to her. Even if it still makes her sad."_

Jessie turned the upper part of his body around slowly, so he wouldn't fall over the edge, and set his eyes on Max watching her watch him back.

JESSIE (VOICE OVER): _"I don't want mom to be sad, because she loves me, and she told me the truth."_

XXXXXXXXX

This may be tooting my own horn, but I'm _very_ pleased with this chapter. I enjoyed giving Jessie more, well _more_ in the story. He's still just a kid, but he's growing up enough that he should get more complex stuff to deal with…the little boy I created in 2001 is growing up _sniff,_ I'm so proud….This went a little deeper then I had originally planned but I liked the way it turned out. Stories can't always take the path you want them too; they have their own ebbs and flows and you follow them if you want them to come out the way that they should.

Cindy wasn't in this chapter, but I was going for something that centered around Max and Jessie, so I wasn't about to just stick her in there for story's sake, BUT Lucia was there, she was on hiatus, and now she's back.

The song used was: "Life in Slow Motion" by: David Gray

R/R Please.

Peace

Mystic


End file.
